Isopropyl Alcohol Production from Acetone

The process under analysis comprises two main sections: (1) reaction; and (2) purification.

Reaction. Hydrogen is compressed and fed, along with liquid acetone, to the upper part of a circulation reactor. The circulating mixture passes through a gas-liquid separation vessel. Part of the liquid is cooled - removing the heat generated by the exothermic reaction - and recycled to the reactor. The remainder is cooled and routed to a second reactor, followed by a second vapor-liquid separation stage. The liquid portion obtained after the second vapor-liquid separation is sent to purification. The vapor portion is mixed with the vapors from the first gas-liquid separation and also sent to purification.

Purification. In the purification, the vapors from the reaction are fed to a condenser, where Isopropanol and acetone are recovered. Most part of the uncondensed vapors are recycled to the hydrogen compressors. The remaining part of the hydrogen-rich gaseous stream, the condensate from the condenser and the liquid product from the reaction are fed to a deaeration tank to remove any gases dissolved in the crude liquid product. The crude product is then subjected to dehydration by means of molecular sieves and finally fed into a purification column, from which purified Isopropanol product is withdrawn as a side stream. Low-boiling components are separated as the column's overheads product, while high-boiling impurities are obtained as the bottoms product.