LAUSR

Formic acid (FA) is an important chemical with many applications in the industry. Nevertheless, its manufacturing process has not received much attention in the open literature. In Part I of this series (da Cunha et al., Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2018, 57, 9554–9570), FA process was simulated and optimized for the production of 98 wt % FA. Total annual cost (TAC) of the optimal base case process was 0.686 USD/kg. This process was then retrofitted via integration of two distillation columns into a dividing-wall column (DWC), but such retrofit was not profitable. Here, in Part II, FA process retrofit via reactive distillation (RD) and reactive dividing-wall column (RDWC) are investigated in detail. Results show that RD retrofit is not attractive as it increases TAC of the process. However, retrofit via RDWC is profitable, resulting in a thermal energy savings of 20.4% and a TAC savings of 0.020–0.042 USD/kg (by 3%–6%).