Reactive distillation, simultaneous reaction and separation within a single unit, represents an exciting alternative to conventional processes, leading to significantly reduced in capital and operating costs. Process design for reactive distillation is facilitated by fast and effective methods for synthesis and conceptual design that take into account reactions that do not instantaneously reach equilibrium. This work presents a new methodology for synthesis and design of single-feed kinetically controlled reactive distillation columns. The design method allows rapid and relatively simple screening of different reactive distillation column configurations. Feasibility is assessed and operating conditions are determined using an extension of boundary-value methods. The approach is limited to systems with four or fewer chemical species. Both fully reactive and hybrid columns are considered. The methodology is illustrated for a metathesis reaction and for MTBE production. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.