Heat-pump-assisted reactive distillation for direct hydration of cyclohexene to cyclohexanol: a sustainable alternative

•A heat-pump-assisted reactive distillation is proposed for cyclohexanol production.•Compressor discharge pressure is optimized to 3.2 atm to minimize operating cost.•A comparison with the other four processes is performed.•Good performance in terms of energy consumption, cost and CO2 emission is realized.