New round of scientific and technological revolution is accelerating with industrial transformation in the world. China's economic development is facing a difficult task of industrial upgrading and the transformation of old to new kinetic energy. Higher engineering education must deepen reforms to build emerging engineering educations for future industrial needs and technological development trends, and cultivate diverse and innovative engineering talents. Advanced separation engineering is closely related to chemical industry, but the traditional teaching process focuses on the explanation of theoretical knowledge, and lacks the training of students’ capabilities to solve practical engineering problems and design. This paper takes the construction and implementation process of reactive distillation process of methyl acetate hydrolysis as an case study example, and introduces how to strengthen the cultivation of students' practical ability, and analyzes the application of case study in the teaching of advanced separation engineering.