Conceptual Design of Novel Processes for 4-Hydroxybutyl Acrylate Production

This paper is the first to present novel solid-based catalytic processes for the production of 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate (HBA): three conventional reaction-separation-recycle (RSR) systems, and one reactive distillation-based (RD) process. Each of them tackles the selectivity and difficult separations in various ways, achieving a final HBA product within the required specification. While the RD process is less capital and energy intensive, each process has its trade-offs that are worth further optimization, followed by a rigorous comparison on economic basis.