Compared to a conventional reactive distillation(RD)process combining reaction and separation in a single unit

the distillation column coupled with side reactors(SRC)as an advanced integrated reaction and separation technology can be applicable to the reaction system whether the conditions for reaction and separation are harmonious or mismatched.For the typical consecutive reaction system of benzyl chloride production

the mathematic models of RD and SRC were firstly established.On this basis

under the same total column stages and bottom vapor boil-up rate

process simulation was performed for the given RD and SRC processes

in which the pressures for reaction and separation were set to 101.3 kPa.The results showed that there were consistent vapor and liquid flow rates

temperature

and composition profiles in the given RD and SRC flowsheets.Furthermore

for the given RD and SRC processes operated under the same pressure of 101.3 kPa

and the SRC process

in which the pressures for reaction and separation were respectively fixed at 101.3 and 10 kPa

feed flow rate of chlorine and distribution ratio of chlorine as two critical variables deciding production capacity were optimized by minimizing total costs.Optimization results showed that consistent system performance was achieved in the RD and SRC processes operated under 101.3 kPa

while obviously increased production capacity and improved product purity were observed in the SRC process with reaction and separation operated under different pressures.