Effective recovery of acetic acid from wood vinegar by reactive distillation using tungstophosphoric acid-active carbon catalyst

Abstract

The recovery of acetic acid from wood vinegar by reactive distillation using tungstophosphoric acid-active carbon as catalyst has been studied. Methyl acetate is obtained as esterification product at the top of column. The loading capacity of tungstophosphoric acid on active carbon was optimized using batch distillation. In addition, the influence of various factors such as feed flow rate, MeOH vapor rate, rectifying section height and reflux ratio, on the conversion rate of acetic acid were investigated by using a model solution. A 71.94% recovery of acetic acid is obtained from wood vinegar under the following optimal conditions: loading capacity 33%, feed flow rate 60 g/h, MeOH vapor rate 114 g/h, rectifying section height 250 mm and reflux ratio 9:1.