CHE-453A: Chemical Engineering Design

Project Report

Design, Optimization and Control of

Acetone production

Submitted By : GROUP-4
Abhishek Tiwari Gaurav Agrawal
Himanshu Divyanshu Patel
Vaibhav Vaidya Narendra Vidda
Nikhil Shrivastava

Project Adviser
Prof. Nitin Kaistha
Department of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Acknowledgement

We would like to take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to our course Instruc-
tor Prof. Nitin Kaistha whose guidance, direction and encouragement made this project
possible. We gratefully acknowledge the Phd students from Dr. Kaisthas Lab, IIT Kanpur
who helped us with great patience and efforts from their side. We also highly appreciate
our fellow undergraduate students from Y13 batch who contributed their own inputs to-
wards the improvement of the same. Lastly, we would like to give special mention to Prof.
Paul Kenis, Department head, Chemical and Biochemical engineering, University of Illinois
who eagerly helped us in providing the research article necessary for the completion of this
project.

i
Contents

Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Product Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Product Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Physical hazard information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Preparation of Acetone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Cumene process for Phenol and Acetone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Direct oxidation of Propylene using air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Dehydrogenation of Isopropyl Alcohol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Selection of process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Reaction kinetics of the chosen process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Validation of kinetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Fluid package validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Optimization and Economic analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Flow-sheet and its rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Section-1(Reaction section) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Section-2(separation section-A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Section-3(separation section-B) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Heavy-out v light-out comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Dominant design variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Optimization of columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Reactor optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

ii
Contents iii

Cost analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
List of Figures

1 Conversion comparison at T=300K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Conversion comparison at T=403K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3 Conversion comparison at T=408K . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4 Validation for NRTL package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5 Validation for UNIQUAC package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6 Validation for WILSON package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7 Flow-sheet specifications of major equipments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8 The designed flowsheet divided in 3 sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
9 Separation section-A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
10 Separation section-B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
11 terdist column ternary diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
12 Ternary diagram at P=1000kpa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
13 Ternary diagram for separation at P=10bar in T-106 . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
14 Ternary diagram for separation at P=1bar in T-104 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
15 Ternary diagram for separation at P=1bar in T-104 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
16 heavy out first arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
17 light out first arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
18 Temperature dependence of conversion and selectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
19 TAC dependence over length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
20 Column optimization for T-102 and terdist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
21 Column optimization for T-104 and T-106 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
22 Conversion and pressure drop with length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
23 Cost for major reactor equipments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

iv
List of Figures v

24 Final cost results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

List of Tables

vi
Problem Statment and Abstract 1

Problem Statement
Acetone is typically produced in commercial quantities as a by-product during the forma-
tion of phenol. However, acetone manufactured thus generally contains small amounts of
the reactant benzene and the desired product phenol. In the past, these impurities were
deemed to be within allowable limits. However, recent downward revisions of these limits
by the US Food and Drug Administration has made alternative processes (which do not
involve benzene) more attractive. We wish to achieve the following problem statement by
one such alternative process.

1. Synthesize, design and optimize the industrial production of Acetone for a required
purity of more than 99% at a production rate of 100 kmol/hr.

2. Demonstrate dynamic process operability for feed composition changes to keep the
flow rate and purity of acetone at the desired values.

Abstract
Acetone is an organic compound with formula (CH3 )2 CO. There are majorly two methods
for Acetone production. One is the Cumene process and other is using Isopropyl Alcohol
(IPA). Given process uses Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) as the raw material. This is a viable
commercial alternative, and a few plants continue to operate using this process. The
primary advantage of this process is that the acetone produced is free from trace aromatic
compounds, particularly benzene.
The production of acetone was done by following the process of dehydrogenation of IPA.
The kinetics has been cited from the available literature. The flowsheet is designed in
Hysys V8.8. After Vapour Liquid Equilibrium (VLE) and Liquid Liquid Equilibrium (LLE)
validation NRTL fluid package was selected. The unit operations involved at each stage
was then investigated in detail and their corresponding simulations were performed.
An azeotropic mixture of IPA and water is feed initially. It is mixed with the recycle stream
containing unreacted IPA and water mixture. Then stream passes through a heater for
preheating before being fed to PFR for the reaction. Along with the desired reaction of
dehydrogenation of IPA, a few side reactions also take place in the reactor. After exiting
the PFR a cooler brings down the reactor temperature and then the process of separation
takes place. For separation, the flowsheet structure followed the light-out first design.
Along with various components, a vaporizer and four distillation columns are also used for
the separation part. Cost optimization for the designed flowsheet was done to obtain an
optimal condition on the reactor design and other dominant design variables out of the
numerous design DOFs. The work also included with the heat integration to reduce the
operating costs further.
2 Introduction

Introduction

Product Description
1. Acetone belongs to ketone family (dimethyl ketone) with scientific name 2-Propanone.
It is a common building block in organic chemistry.
2. Acetone is a clear, colorless, low-boiling, flammable and volatile liquid characterized
by rapid evaporation and a faintly aromatic, sweetish odor. It readily mixes with
most organic solvents and mixes completely with water.
3. In 2010, the worldwide production capacity for acetone was estimated at 6.7 million
tons per year.
4. The United States had the highest production capacity with 1.56 million tons per
year (2010). The second largest production is in Taiwan and followed by China
(2010).

Chemical properties of Acetone

Chemical Formula (CH3 )2 CO
Molar Mass 58.08 g/mol
Density 0.7845 g/cm3 (25o C)
Melting Point -94.7o C(178.5K)
Boiling Point 56.05o C(329.20K)
Vapor Pressure 9.39kPa(0o C)
30.6kPa(25o C)
Refractive index 1.3588
Viscosity 0.295 mPa.s(25o C)

Table 1: Properties of Acetone

Product Uses
Roughly 75% of the available acetone is used to produce other chemicals, and 12% is used as
a solvent. Applications range from surface coatings, films and adhesives to cleaning fluids
and pharmaceutical applications. Some consumer and commercial applications include-

1. Lacquers for automotive/furniture finishes.

2. Cellulose acetate films and fibers.
3. Photographic films and plates casting.
Preparation of Acetone 3

4. Coatings, inks, Resin thinners and clean-up operations.

5. General purpose cements, Degreasing and degumming agents.
6. Paint, varnish, lacquer strippers, Nail polish removers.

Physical hazard information

Acetone is a highly flammable material in both the liquid and vapor forms, has a relatively
high vapor pressure, and should be handled only with adequate ventilation and in areas
where ignition sources have been removed (e.g. matches and unprotected light switches).
The flash point for acetone is -4o F /-20o C.

Preparation of Acetone
There are primarily three methods used in industries to prepare Acetone. Each of them is
briefed below.

Cumene process for Phenol and Acetone

This process converts two relatively cheap starting materials, benzene and propylene, into
two more valuable ones, phenol as the main product and acetone as the side product.
Other reactants required are oxygen from air and small amounts of a radical initiator.
Cumene process is a process of producing phenol (C6 H5 OH) and acetone (CH3 COCH3 )
from benzene (C6 H6 ) and propene (C3 H6 ).

Direct oxidation of Propylene using air

Acetone can also be produced by the direct oxidation of propylene using air. In this pro-
cess the catalysis consists of a solution of copper chloride containing small quantities of
palladium chloride. The reaction takes place under a moderate pressure and at 100o C. It
is exothermic by 61 kcal/mole of acetone produced. The overall reaction is as follows:
4 Selection of process

Dehydrogenation of Isopropyl Alcohol

In this process, an aqueous solution of isopropyl alcohol is fed into the reactor, where the
stream is vaporized and reacted over a solid catalyst. The reactions occurring within the
reactor are as follows:

The primary advantage of this process is that the acetone produced is free from trace
aromatic compounds, particularly benzene. For this reason, acetone produced from IPA is
favored by the pharmaceutical industry.

Selection of process

Comparison between the processes

Cumene process Propylene oxidation IPA dehydrogenation
Primary product is phenol Acetone is the primary Acetone is the primary
Acetone is by product product product
Purity of acetone is low Purity is high Purity is high
Propylene used should be Aqueous solution of the iso-
99% pure propyl alcohol can be used
Conversion to acetone is low Conversion to acetone is low Conversion to acetone is
high
Unconverted benzene Not a dangerous compound Not a dangerous compound
present along with ace- present along with acetone present along with acetone
tone is dangerous to some
process
To purify acetone large Less separation process re- Less separation process re-
number of separation pro- quired and production cost quired and production cost
cesses are required which in- is low is low
crease the production cost

Table 2: Comparison of procesess

Reaction kinetics of the chosen process 5

Major disadvantage of the production of acetone from cumene process is that some
amount of reactant benzene is present along with desired product which is toxic. The
disadvantage of production of acetone from propylene oxidation process is that propylene
required for the process should be 99% pure. So our process for the production of acetone
is dehydrogenation of isopropyl alcohol.

Reaction kinetics of the chosen process

The reaction to form acetone from isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) is endothermic, with a
standard heat of reaction of 62.9 kJ/mol. The reaction is kinetically controlled and occurs
in the vapor phase over a catalyst at a temperature of 350o C and a pressure of 1.8 2
bars in the presence of catalyst. The reaction kinetics for this reaction are first order with
respect to the concentration of alcohol and can be estimated from the following equations

1 K
CH3 CHOH CH3 CH3 CO CH3 + H2

2 K
2 CH3 CHOH CH3 (CH3 )2 CH O CH(CH3 )2 + H2 O
K3
CH3 CHOH CH3 CH2 CH CH3 + H2 O

In practice, two side reactions can occur to an extent shown above. First reaction is the
main desired reaction. Second reaction is the condensation reaction IPA to di-isopropyl
alcohol, this reaction is expected at very low temperature hence can be ignored at our
present conditions. Third equation is the dehydration of IPA to give propylene and water,
which occurs at significantly higher temperatures. The kinetics for the main (1s t) and the
side (2n d) reaction is follows:

-ripa =K1 Cipa + K3 Cipa kmol/m3 reactor.s

Where K=Aexp(-Ea /RT)Cipa kmol/m3 reactor.s
The data for constants in above equation is presented in the table below:

rate constant pre-exponential fac- Ea (MJ/kmol)

3
(kmol/m reactor.s) tor (m3 / m3 reactor.s)
K1 3.51*105 72.38
K3 5.7*105 83.5

Table 3: Values of constant

6 Validation of kinetics

Validation of kinetics
The experimental data for the reaction kinetics has been taken from [1] for different sets
of conditions. In the first run, temperature was fixed at 300K while the inlet pressure
was 1atm. The feed contained 10mole% IPA and 90mole% H2 . The reactor volume was at
3.9*105 m3 . In the second run, temperature was fixed at 403K while the inlet pressure was
1atm. The feed was same was above. The reactor volume was at 3.97*105 m3 .In the third
run, temperature was fixed at 408K while the inlet pressure was 1atm. The feed was same
as above. The reactor volume was at 1.77*105 m3 . At these experimental conditions, the
designed flowsheet was simulated at different inlet feed rates. The conversions obtained
from the simulation seem to be in good agreement with the data available in the journal
cited[1]. The tables and plots below show the results and comparisons.

T=300K, P=1atm, V=3.9*105 m3

Feed Rate (gmol/hr) %Conversion(Experimental) %Conversion(Simulation)
6.67 4.45 4.5
8.89 3.2 3.4
15.6 2 1.955

Table 4: Validation data at T=300K

T=403K, P=1atm, V=3.97*105 m3

Feed Rate (gmol/hr) %Conversion(Experimental) %Conversion(Simulation)
3.33 23.5 25.82
4.44 18 20.32
6.67 13.8 13.99
8.89 11.3 10.72
11.3 9.1 8.7

Table 5: Validation data at T=403K

T=408K, P=1atm, V=1.77*105 m3

Feed Rate (gmol/hr) %Conversion(Experimental) %Conversion(Simulation)
6.67 2.76 2.97
8.89 2.2 2.24
11.1 1.78 1.79
13.3 1.43 1.5

Table 6: Validation data at T=408K

Validation of kinetics 7

Figure 1: Conversion comparison at T=300K

Figure 2: Conversion comparison at T=403K

Figure 3: Conversion comparison at T=408K

8 Fluid Package validation

Fluid package validation

The selection of a fluid property package is necessary before proceeding to the simulation
of the flow-sheet. Various packages use different equations and parameters for calculation
and the proximity to the experimental results is taken as a criteria for the selection.
We wanted to find out about the best fluid package for acetonepropanol system. The
value of RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) is taken as the parameter of selection and
all the relevant graphs are plotted. Three models WILSON, NRTL and UNIQUAC were
observed and analyzed to select the appropriate fluid package. Only these 3 packages have
been suggested by [2]. Pressure vs. XY (mole fraction of acetone in liquid and vapour phase
respectively) is plotted at temperature equal to 25o C. Thus the comparison was made for
these packages only. We compared the deviation of fluid package from the theoretical one
and decided to go ahead with the NRTL package as error for it was minimum. Below the
figures feature this comparison.

Figure 4: Validation for NRTL package

Figure 5: Validation for UNIQUAC package

Optimization and Economic analysis 9

Figure 6: Validation for WILSON package

RMSE comparison
Type NRTL WILSON UNIQUAC
P-X 0.7187 0.7470 0.7452
P-Y 2.5144 2.5239 2.5214
Y-X 0.0338 0.0337 0.0336

Table 7: RMSE values for the 3 fluid packages

Optimization and Economic analysis

This section covers the analysis to evaluate the economics of the dsigned process. The term
economics refers to the evaluation of capital costs and operating costs associated with the
construction and operation of a chemical process. The methods by which the one-time
costs associated with the construction of the plant and the continuing costs associated
with the daily operation of the process are combined into meaningful economic criteria are
provided. Total Cost includes initial capital cost and yearly operating cost. The following
relation was used to calculate the Total Annualized Cost (TAC):

TAC = Total capital cost / 3 + Yearly operating cost

Capital Cost includes costs of Catalyst Reactor, Heaters, Pumps Compressors, Distil-
lation Columns (Condenser, Re-boiler, and Tray), and Cooler.where as yearly Operating
Cost includes costs of raw materials (IPA), Steam required for heating purpose, molten salt
required for reactor and Cooling water and also the energy cost coming from the consumed
electric power by the equipments.
10 Optimization and Economic analysis

Flow-sheet and its rationale

The designed flow-sheet has been divided into three separate parts and the rationale of each
part with the description of every major equipment have been described in this section.
The first section is the reaction section which contains the major components such as the
plug flow reactor, the fired heater and the heat exchanger for the process. The second
section is the gas separation section which separates the side product propene and also
separates hydrogen gas from the reactor effluent. The major components of this section
are vaporizer, distillation column and separators. The third and the final section is the
azeotropic separation section, which separates out the main product and also the recycle
streams going towards the first distillation column and towards the reactor inlet stream.

Figure 7: Flow-sheet specifications of major equipments

Section-1(Reaction section)

Section-2(separation section-A)
Cooler E-101 : The product stream from the reactor at 327o C is sent to FEHE from the
shell side and further to a cooler to cool it down to 25o C.
Optimization and Economic analysis 11

Figure 8: The designed flowsheet divided in 3 sections

Flash V-100: This unit disengages the vapor and liquid effluent from E-101. In this
separator, all hydrogen in the feed enters the vapor phase. Other components distribute
according to the property model you choose at the temperature and pressure of E-402.
The combination of E-402 and V-401 is called a flash operation.
Absorber T-100: Hydrogen, propene and acetone are the components that escape as
vapor from the flash. Absorber will enable us to recover acetone and let hydrogen and
propene escape which can be collected and sold as fuel. The entrainer that we use is IPA.
The reason we do not use water as entrainer is that acetone gets dissolved in water and
escapes from the top of the absorber along with hydrogen.
Mixer 101: Recovered acetone is combined with the the liquid phase outlet from the flash
V-100. We need to ensure that hydrogen fraction in the feed going into distillation column
is as less as possible because boiling point of hydrogen at normal pressures is extremely
low (around -250o C) . At quite lower pressures the boiling point gets lower and around
feasible and practical ranges but then the condenser temperature still remains at subzero
values and since we will be using cooling water as coolant, we want the temperature at
condenser not to drop lower than around 20o C.
Distillation Column T-101: Before we send the final feed to the 3 column distillation
train as a ternery mixture of IPA, water and acetone we need to remove the propene side
12 Optimization and Economic analysis

product formed due to the dehydration of IPA. All of the propene is not able to escape as
vapor from the flash. Some of it comes down as liquid. On increasing pressure in the flash
along with propene even more acetone also starts escaping and hence we need a separate
column for propene separation. At a column pressure of 1000Kpa almost all of propene
escapes from vent in vapor form. Higher pressure is again because under normal pressures
boiling point of propene is around -30o C.

Figure 9: Separation section-A

Section-3(separation section-B)
Ternary Distillation column (Terdist)- After removing all of the gases (propene and
hydrogen); Feed enters into ternary distillation column where by method of light out first,
minimum boiling azeotrope of acetone is separated in distillate. Rest of the mixture comes
out of the bottoms of the ternary column, which primarily contains iso-propanol and water.
Which is illustrated by the Residue curve maps below.
T-106 (Acetone purifier) Column- Distillate from the ternary distillation column
which has acetone purity of 97.6 mole% is needed to be further purified to get product
purity of 99.5 mole%. Since this composition stands at the edge of distillation boundary
in the residue curve map and distillation boundary cannot be crossed to get the desired
purity, hence pressure swing is required to shift the distillation boundaries.
Pressure Swing- It is a method of shifting distillation boundaries by changing the pres-
sure so that desired separation can be obtained. The azeotropic compositions at p=1000kpa
Optimization and Economic analysis 13

Figure 10: Separation section-B

is shown below:

In this case we need to operate the column at 10 bar with shifted distillation boundaries
we get 99.5 mole% pure acetone in bottoms and azeotropic mixture of acetone of water
in the distillate which also contains traces of propene, hence it is recycled to propene sep-
aration section. Process has been illustrated by the residue curve map above in the figure-9.

T-104 (Water Purge) Column- The bottom stream from ternary column which con-
tains mixture of iso propanol and water is fed into column T-106. This column is operated
at 1 bar distillate we get azeotropic mixture of propanol and water while in bottoms we get
pure water. Pure water stream is get purged and mixture of propanol (reactant) and water
is get recycled and mixed with fresh feed stream in the reaction section. This process is
illustrated through residue curve maps as follows:

Heavy-out v light-out comparison

In light out first we take out Acetone water azeotrope from the top and rest goes from
the bottom. The bottom contains a major part of IPA and water. This is passed through
another column and in that column from the top IPA water azeotrope system comes out
and from the bottom pure water. The top product is sent off for recycle. The acetone water
azeotrope system contains around 98% acetone which is less than desired so we use the
method of pressure swing in which the pressure of distillation column is increased abruptly
14 Optimization and Economic analysis

Figure 11: terdist column ternary diagram

to shift the point of azeotrope then it is separated into desired product and rest is recycled.
Similarly in heavy out first system from column 1 water is taken out from the bottom which
is heaviest component. Next IPA water system is taken out from the bottom and sent for
recycle. The acetone water azeotrope is seperated using pressure swing technique. The
sum of duties for both light out first separation as well as heavy out first is almost equal.
But since light-out first section marginally edges out, light-out arrangement is chosen.

Comparison between duties of the 2 arrangements

Type Duties (kW)
light out 6277
Heavy out 6310

Table 8: Comparison between the heavy-out and light-out arrangements

Optimization and Economic analysis 15

Figure 12: Ternary diagram at P=1000kpa

Figure 13: Ternary diagram for separation at P=10bar in T-106

16 Optimization and Economic analysis

Figure 14: Ternary diagram for separation at P=1bar in T-104

Figure 15: Ternary diagram for separation at P=1bar in T-104

Figure 16: heavy out first arrangement

Optimization and Economic analysis 17

Figure 17: light out first arrangement

18 Optimization and Economic analysis

Dominant design variables

After the extensive degree of freedom analysis, the following independent variables have
been manipulated in order to optimize the process:

1. Temperature of the reactor.

2. Volume (Length) of the reactor.
3. Pressure of the reactor.

Effect of temperature of the reactor

As the temperature of reactor is increased the conversion increases of the main reaction
but at the same time selectivity of main reaction also decreases. The reason for decrease
in selectivity is that the side reaction rate which produces propene increases significantly
as temperature rises. Thus we come at a stage where the temperature has to maintained
as high as possible to get higher conversion but at the same time the temperature should
not be too higg due to decrease in selectivity. This optimized value of temperature men-
tioned in many literatures and verified by the designed simulation have taken to be about
350o C. This temperature is also suitable because the catalyst being used is not immune to
temperatures above this temperature. The catalyst starts getting destroyed if temperature
is further increased. Below, the plots are shown for the trend followed by conversion and
selectivity as a function of reaction temperature.

Figure 18: Temperature dependence of conversion and selectivity

Volume (Length) of the reactor

The length of the reactor profoundly affects the total annualized cost of the reactor. With
the increase of the length of the reactor, the total capital cost starts to increase while at the
Optimization and Economic analysis 19

same time the total running energy cost start to decrease because of of the lesser reboiler
duties required and the recycle flow decreases. Thus the TAC gets an optimum value at a
particular length of the reactor. The plot below shows that the TAC gets minimized when
the length of the reactor is set at around 6m.

Figure 19: TAC dependence over length

Pressure of the reactor

If reactor pressure is increased, which drives the reaction toward the reactant, the reactor
temperature must also be increased to maintain the same conversion. Since we have already
optimized the reaction temperature to be fixed at 350oC, the pressure alos becomes fixed
and thus cannot be further increased.

Optimization of columns
The separation columns were also optimized individually in order to reduce the capital and
energy costs for each column. This was done by varying the number of trays and observing
the TAC for them to get the optimum number of trays and thus minimising the cost for
each column. The figures below show the variation TAC with respect to number of trays
for each of the separation column.
It can be easily seen from the above plots that the tray variation results in increase
of thr tray capital cost while decrease in the energy cost of each of the column. Thus
20 Optimization and Economic analysis

Figure 20: Column optimization for T-102 and terdist

Figure 21: Column optimization for T-104 and T-106

attaining an optimum value at which the TAC for the column is minimum. Thus the
number of trays are decided for each column which do the desired separation requiring
least cost. For the column T-102, it is seen that the minimum TAC is obtained around
50 trays. So the trays which were used in this column are near 50. In the column terdist
the mimima arrives at 49-50. In T-104 optimum trays gets minimzed at around 28 and
stay constant afterwards. For the column T-106 not much variation in TAC was obtained
because of the already small cost of this column. Thus the number of trays for this column
were obtained through shortcut distillation scheme.

Reactor optimization
The conversion for the main reaction increases as length of plug flow reactor (PFR) in-
creases. But doing so also increases the catalyst required in the reactor. Thus more catalyst
is required which can indeed increase the cost for the process. Thus reactor was operated
Optimization and Economic analysis 21

at the optimal length of 6m calculated above in figure-8. This length also provides a
significantly optimum value of conversion.

Figure 22: Conversion and pressure drop with length

Cost analysis
The cost analysis of each section was done separatly in order to calculate the TAC. Dif-
ferent cost functions were used for each equipment of the flow sheet. The cost function
primarily followed the function which can be in general written as:

log10 Cp = K1 + K2 log10 (A) +K3 [log10 (A)]2

Where Cp: Equipment price(USD) and A: Equipment capacity

Parameters for cost function

Capital K1 K2 K3 A
Reactor 4.102 -0.468 -0.0005 volume(m3 )
Trays 3.3322 0.4838 0.3434 area (m2 )
Tower 3.4974 0.4485 0.1074 volume(m3 )
Surge drum 3.5565 0.3776 0.0905 volume(m3 )
Reboiler 4.4646 -0.5277 0.3955 area(m2 )
Condenser 4.3247 -0.3030 0.1634 area(m3 )
Pumps 3.3892 0.0536 0.1538 power (kw)

Table 9: Parameters of cost functions

22 Optimization and Economic analysis

Material rates
Catalyst 20$/kg
Feed material (IPA) 1.378$/kg
Methane 0.3$/kg
Steam 10$/GJ

Table 10: Rates of different materials used

Figure 23: Cost for major reactor equipments

Optimization and Economic analysis 23

Figure 24: Final cost results

24 Optimization and Economic analysis