For a reactive distillation column involving reactions with high thermal effect, process intensification can be reinforced with the prudent adjustment of operating pressure within its feasible region bounded by the given hot and cold utilities. Three specific situations can be identified and should be dealt with cautiously during process synthesis and design. For a reactive distillation column involving reversible endothermic reactions, the enhancement of the operating pressure increases reactant conversion and reaction heat load, thus facilitating process intensification between the reaction operation and the separation operation involved. For a reactive distillation column involving equilibrium-limited exothermic reactions, the abatement of operating pressure increases reactant conversion and the reaction heat load, thus reinforcing process intensification between the reaction operation and the separation operation involved. For a reactive distillation column involving kinetically controlled exothermic reactions, the complicated relationship between operating pressure and reactant conversion and reaction heat load must be dealt with carefully, thus being likely to benefit process intensification between the reaction operation and the separation operation involved. Six hypothetical ideal and two real reactive distillation systems involving either equilibrium-limited or kinetically controlled reactions with high thermal effect are studied to evaluate the proposed philosophy. It has been found that with the appropriate selection of operating pressure, a considerable reduction of utility consumption can be secured beside a possible abatement in capital investment. These striking results evidence the strong necessity of deepening process intensification through the adjustment of operating pressure in the synthesis and design of reactive distillation columns involving reactions with high thermal effect.