Rigorous design and economic optimization of reactive distillation column considering real liquid hold-up and hydraulic conditions of industrial device

• A pseudo-transient reactive distillation model incorporating tray hydraulics and liquid hold-up in both downcomers and trays was developed for rigorous simulation and optimization. • Ignoring downcomer liquid hold-up leads to significant errors in column diameter, weir height, and number of stages, potentially causing hydraulic infeasibility. • The proposed model enables simultaneous optimization of operating and structural variables for industrial RD columns, demonstrated on ethylene glycol and methyl acetate systems. • The study provides a systematic design framework that ensures hydraulic feasibility and economic optimality in reactive distillation processes.