Reactive distillation (RD) is a great process intensification concept taking advantage of the synergy created when combining (catalyzed) reaction and separation into a single unit, which allows the concurrent production and removal of products. This feat improves the productivity and selectivity, reduces the energy usage, eliminates the need for solvents, and leads to highly-efficient systems with improved sustainability metrics (e.g. less waste and emissions). This paper provides an overview of the key features of RD processes, with emphasis on novel catalytic/reactive distillation processes that can make a difference at large scale and pave the way for a more sustainable chemical process industry that is more profitable, safer and less polluting. These examples include the production of: acrylic and methacrylic monomers, unsaturated polyesters resins, di-alkyl ethers, fatty esters, as well as other short alkyl esters (e.g. by enzymatic reactive distillation). The main drivers for such new RD applications are: economical (large reduction of costs and energy use), environmental (lower CO₂ emissions, no or reduced waste) and social (improved safety and health due to lower reactive content, reduced footprint and run away sensitivity). Hence RD technology strongly contributes to all three pillars of sustainability in the chemical process industry. Nonetheless, the potential of RD technology has not been fully tapped yet, and there is still undergoing research to improve it further by various means: e.g. ultrasound or microwave assisted RD, use of high-gravity fields (HiGee), internally heat integration, cyclic operation, or coupling RD with other operations such as membrane separations.

反应蒸馏（RD）是一个很好的过程强化概念，它利用了将（催化）反应和分离合并为一个单元时产生的协同作用，从而可以同时生产和除去产物。这一壮举提高了生产率和选择性，减少了能源消耗，消除了对溶剂的需求，并导致了具有改善的可持续性指标（例如减少废物和排放）的高效系统。本文概述了RD工艺的主要特征，重点介绍了新颖的催化/反应蒸馏工艺，这些工艺可以大范围地发挥作用，并为更可持续，更有利可图，更安全且污染更少的化工行业铺平道路。这些示例包括以下产品的生产：丙烯酸和甲基丙烯酸单体，不饱和聚酯树脂，二烷基醚，脂肪酯以及其他短烷基酯（例如，通过酶促反应蒸馏）。此类新的RD应用程序的主要驱动因素是：经济的（大幅度降低成本和能源消耗），环境（更低的CO ₂排放量，无浪费或减少的浪费）和社会的（由于较低的反应物含量，减少的占地面积和失控的灵敏度而提高了安全性和健康性）。因此，RD技术为化学加工行业的可持续发展的所有三大支柱做出了重要贡献。尽管如此，RD技术的潜力尚未得到充分挖掘，并且仍在进行研究以通过各种方式进一步改进它，例如超声或微波辅助RD，高重力场（HiGee）的使用，内部热集成，循环操作，或将RD与其他操作（例如膜分离）耦合。