Simulation of 1,3-butadiene extractive distillation process using N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone solvent

A computer simulation was performed using a commercial process simulator, Aspen Plus, for NMP (Nmethyl-2-pyrrolidone) extractive distillation process to separate 1,3-butadiene from the C₄ hydrocarbon mixtures. The Redlich-Kwong equation of state and NRTL activity coefficient model were used to calculate thermodynamic properties in the simulation of the extractive distillation process. Binary parameters of the NRTL model not provided in the simulator were estimated using the UNIFAC method. The simulation results of the 1,3-butadiene recovery from the C₄ mixtures were in good agreement with the plant operation data. The process simulation showed that the material balances in the extractive distillation were successfully predicted for various NMP solvent flow rates. The results obtained in this work provided the optimum solvent rate and the reflux ratio for the NMP extractive distillation process to separate 1,3-butadiene from the C₄ mixtures.