This study is the first to provide a systematic approach to assessing the potential of advanced reactive distillation technologies to expand the applicability of reactive distillation. The work presented here focuses on the synthesis of advanced reactive distillation technologies, proposing a conceptually based methodology for earlystage screening. The methodology uses basic thermodynamic and kinetic data to navigate a decision-making flowchart in four steps: compositions and splits, basic properties and operating windows, kinetics, and phase equilibria. The results qualify advanced reactive distillation technologies as advantageous, technically feasible, or not applicable. Five industrially relevant case studies illustrate the application of the methodology to develop preliminary process flowsheets. The proposed methodology aims to guide technology selection using basic data while providing flexibility to meet the objectives of the design problem. This methodology contributes to integrating a technology-oriented approach normally followed in process intensification studies into a process systems engineering approach by developing a conceptual flowsheet in the early stages of process design.
<p class="Mabstract">A microwave hydrothermal treatment was used for the chemical production of lactic acid from alginate extracted from the brown seaweed <em>Padina Durvillaei</em>, collected in the coastal area of Ecuador. The microwave hydrothermal treatment was studied through a response surface methodology based on the Box-Behnken design, using temperature, reaction time, and catalyst concentration as the manipulated variables and the yield as a response factor. The characterization of alginate was performed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The lactic acid produced was quantified using Gas Chromatography - Ion Mobility Spectrometry (GC-IMS). The results show that temperature and catalyst concentration played the most critical roles in alginate extraction and lactic acid production. The optimal experimental conditions for alginate extraction from brown seaweed were: temperature = 92.91°C, time = 110.81 min and catalyst (Na<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub>) concentration = 2.60%, with a yield = 29.19%. Although the experimental evidence indicates a positive influence of microwaves' use on the production of lactic acid from alginate through hydrothermal treatment, a new study considering temperatures above 220°C and reaction times below 60 min should be developed.</p>
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