Development of a novel catalytic distillation column

A new type of catalytic distillation column has been developed for catalyti c distillation processes. The catalysts are loaded loosely in the downcomer of the new column, so that they can be replaced easily. A new type of colu mn plate structure has also been proposed to accommodate the new distillati on column. Experimental results show that the new column and plate structur e have much improved performance, with high plate efficiency, low pressure drops across the plate and very good operation flexibility. The novel catal ytic distillation columns could be employed to many catalytic distillation processes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.