Patent ID: 8562921

Claim:
A reactive distillation system comprising: a feed stream comprising ethanol; a reactive distillation column configured to separate hydrogen from ethyl acetate, wherein the reactive distillation column comprises: a dehydrogenation catalyst disposed within the reactive distillation column, an ethanol feed configured to pass the feed stream comprising ethanol over at least a portion of the dehydrogenation catalyst to produce ethyl acetate, an overhead product hydrogen removal passage, and a bottoms product ethyl acetate removal passage; a side reactor in fluid communication with the reactive distillation column, wherein the side reactor comprises a second catalyst; an inlet in fluid communication with the side reactor and the reactive distillation column, and configured to pass a fluid from the reactive distillation column over the second catalyst, and an outlet in fluid communication with the side reactor and the reactive distillation column, and configured to pass the fluid from an outlet of the side reactor to the reactive distillation column.