Modelling and Simulation of an Electrolytic Cell-based process for Acetic Acid Concentration from Aqueous Solutions
Abstract
The acetic acid-water system is of significant scientific and industrial interest due to its relevance in processes, such as wastewater treatment and chemical manufacturing. The industry’s continuous demand for highly concentrated acetic acid arises from its role as a feedstock in the production of high-added value chemicals, coatings, and polymers, and as a catalyst solvent in the synthesis of purified terephthalic acid (PET). Over the years, various configurations have been proposed, such as azeotropic and extractive distillation, pervaporation and reverse osmosis with the main objectives being process efficiency and the reduction of energy consumption. Despite extensive research, the separation of acetic acid from water remains challenging because of the system’s strong non-ideality. Acetic acid forms hydrogen-bonded dimers in both the liquid and vapor phases, an association further influenced by water, leading to significant deviations from ideal vapor–liquid equilibrium behavior. Moreover, the close boiling points of acetic acid (118 °C) and water (100 °C) exacerbate the difficulty of achieving effective separation, making this system a long-standing benchmark for complex thermodynamic modeling.
In this seminar, the potential use of an ion-exchange membrane as the first stage of separation will be discussed as a means to eliminate the need for co-solvent in the concentration of aqueous acetic acid streams. The presentation will include an overview of the underlying physicochemical phenomena occurring within the electrolytic cell and outline the modeling and simulation strategies used to describe and optimize the process.