Acetic acid, the reaction with nothing left over
Methanol carbonylated with CO over the iridium-based Cativa catalyst, the unreacted CO flashed off and the product purified.
The actual dark-mode canvas: methanol and carbon monoxide carbonylated to acetic acid, the unreacted CO flashed off, and the product purified with methanol recovered overhead.
The reaction with nothing left over
Methanol carbonylation converts every atom of both feeds into product — there is no stoichiometric by-product, which is why the route displaced every alternative. Scope note: the homogeneous iridium catalyst is not a flowing component here; only the carbonylation stoichiometry is modelled.
Unit ops shipped for this vertical
Combines multiple streams into one, closing the mass and energy balance.
A specified per-pass conversion on a key component — the shortcut counterpart to the equilibrium and kinetic reactors.
Single-stage vapor-liquid equilibrium split at a fixed temperature/pressure.
Wang-Henke MESH column solver — the same rigorous solve at any scale.
Stream reactor pressure, CO vent rate and column overhead purity from the plant's OPC-UA server into this flowsheet's twin comparison — CO slipping to the vent instead of reacting is a yield loss the solved balance makes visible immediately.
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- ✓Methanol carbonylation at 100% atom economy
- ✓Rigorous MESH purification with methanol recovered overhead
- ✓The iridium Cativa route, not the older rhodium one