Liquid esterification for the production of alcohols

摘要

Purifying and/or recovery of ethanol from a crude ethanol product obtained from the hydrogenation of acetic acid. Separation and purification processes of crude ethanol mixture are employed to allow recovery of ethanol and remove impurities. In addition, the process involves returning acetaldehyde separated from the crude ethanol product to the reactor.

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 crude product; removing one or more non-condensable gases from the crude product to yield a liquid stream; reacting the acetic acid and ethanol of the liquid stream in a second reactor, under esterification conditions, to produce an ester enriched stream comprising ethanol and ethyl acetate; and recovering ethanol from the ester enriched stream, wherein the ester enriched stream comprises less than 10 wt. % acetic acid.