Esterification of vapor crude product in the production of alcohols

摘要

Ethanol production process for recovering ethanol from a crude ethanol product obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid. Ethanol recovery is improved by esterifying a vapor crude ethanol product to reduce unreacted acetic acid concentration.

主权项

1. A process for producing ethanol, comprising:
hydrogenating acetic acid from an acetic acid feedstream in a first reactor to produce a first crude vapor product; reacting at least a portion of the first crude vapor product in a second reactor to produce a first ester enriched stream; and recovering ethanol from the first ester enriched stream.