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A simulated annealing-based algorithm (MSIMPSA) suitable for the optimization of mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problems was applied to the synthesis of a non-equilibrium reactive distillation column. A simulation model based on an extension of conventional distillation is proposed for the simulation step of the optimization problem. In the case of ideal vapor}liquid equilibrium, the simulation results are similar to those obtained by Ciric and Gu (1994, AIChE Journal, 40(9), 1479) using the GAMS environment and to those obtained with the AspenPlus modular simulator. The optimization results are also similar to those previously reported and similar to those using an adaptive random search algorithm (MSGA). The optimizations were also performed with non-ideal vapor}liquid equilibrium, considering either distributed feed and reaction trays or single feed and reaction tray. The results show that the optimized objective function values are very similar, and mostly independent of the number of trays and of the reaction distribution. It is shown that the proposed simulation/optimization equation-oriented environments are capable of providing optimized solutions which are close to the global optimum, and reveal its adequacy for the optimization of reactive distillation problems encountered in chemical engineering practice.

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