Isobaric vapor–liquid equilibria and distillation process design for separating ketones in biomass pyrolysis oil

Abstract Biomass pyrolysis oil is a renewable resource and some of compounds (such as ketones, phenols and furans) in biomass pyrolysis oil are very useful compounds that can be used as raw materials for production of fine chemicals. Vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data are critical and fundamental for designing distillation separation process. The VLE experiment and calculation of ketone-related binary systems (2-butanone + cyclopentanone, 2,3-butanedione + cyclopentanone) at atmospheric pressure are studied in this work. Binary interaction parameters of activity coefficient models (NRTL, Wilson and UNIQUAC) are obtained by correlating VLE experimental data. The new group CH2COCH2 is defined and the new group interaction parameters are presented and used to predict VLE data by UNIFAC-DMD model. The distillation separation process of ketones is designed and simulated based on VLE results. This work will provide theoretical basis and technical guidance for industrial separation process of biomass pyrolysis oil.