A new separation method of reactive extractive distillation is proposed for the separation of isopropanol and water, using the mixture of ethylene glycol (C2H6O2) and glycollic potassium (C2H5O2K) as an entrainer. Vapor-liquid-equilibrium (VLE) measurements confirmed that the entrainer was effective for this separation. Using a feed/solvent volume ratio of 1:1, isopropanol with a concentration over 96.0% weight fraction was obtained by the reactive extractive distillation process and the azeotropic point was eliminated. A novel process of separating isopropanol and water is designed on the basis of reactive extractive distillation to obtain the product with different concentrations, which may have a lasting value in industry.

Linear alkylation (LAB) is an important intermediate in the detergent industry. This work deals with the suspension catalytic distillation (SCD) column used for synthesis of C12 alkylbenzene with benzene and 1-dodecene.Anovel solid catalyst, which is friendly to environment, was selected. The kinetic equations using this catalyst were measured in a fixed-bed reactor. The mathematical models of equilibrium (EQ) stage and nonequilibrium (NEQ) stage for alkylation of benzene and 1-dodecene were, respectively, established by incorporating the kinetic equations to simulate the SCD column. By comparison of the results from experiments, it was concluded that the NEQ stage model was more accurate than the EQ stage model for the simulation.

The selective oxidatiou of n-butane to maleic allhydride (MA) oll a vanadium-phosphorus oxide (VPO) catalyst was studied using on-line gas-chronlatogr&phy combined with mass spectrometry (GH-MS) and transient response technique. The reaction intermediates, butene and furan were found ill the reaction elfluent under near industrial feed condition (3% butane+15% O2), while dihydrofuran was detected at high butane concentratiori (12 butane. 502). Some intermediates of MA decomposition were also identified. Detection of these intermediates shows that the vanadium phosphorus oxides are able to dehydrogenate butane to butene, and butene furl her to form MA. Based on these observations, a modified scheme of reaction network is proposed. The transient expetrinents show that butane in the gas phase may directly react with oxygen both on the surface and from the metal oxlde lattice, without a proceeding adsorption step. (Gas phase oxygen can be adsorbed and transformed to surface lattice oxygen but it can not participate in selective oxidation. Adsorbed oxygen leads to deep oxidation, while lattice oxygen leads to selective oxidation.