The earliest case of catalytic distillation was thought to have dated back to 1966;[1] however, the idea was officially patented in 1980 by Lawrence A. Smith, Jr.[2] The process is currently used to purify gasoline, extract rubber, and form plastics.
These substances tend to be highly reactive which can significantly speed up the rate of the reaction making them effective catalysts.
[5] In terms of shapes, catalysts are usually packed on rings, saddles, balls, sheets, tubes, or spirals.
Before the catalysts are introduced into the system, they are either bagged, attached on metal grills or screens, or placed on polymer foams.
By catalyzing and heating the reactants at the same instant, the newly formed products are rapidly boiled out of the system.
Because of this, an internal recycling system, known as the reflux, is implemented right after the condenser (an area within the column where escaped gases are cooled down to liquids).
[8] The reflux also returns a portion of the condensed liquids to the column to ensure only the products with the lowest boiling points are captured.