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This is an assignment for the course Chemical Process Simulation and Design (EP313)
using Unisim software (Version R 390) by Honeywell. Throughout the semester, we have acquired
the soft skill of using Unisim to create steady-state and dynamic models for plant design,
In order to complete the assignment, we have seek for a lot help and guidance from lecturer.
Here, we would like to grab this opportunity to express our thankfulness and gratitude to our
lecturer, Mr MohdNazri bin MohdFuad, from the Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Build
Environment (FETBE), UCSI University. Numerous consultations and patient was given to us in
We would like to extend our gratitude to all those who has contributed successfully in
completing this assignment. Furthermore, our team members had always suggested valuable
Chemical Engineering from UCSI University for including Chemical Process Simulation and
Design courses in such a way that students are not only study from the book but also acquired soft
1.1 Objective
- To understand the processing steps and operating condition for the production
- To achieve the target production of mass flow rate and purity of Ethylene Oxide
wt% point)
0 0 100 1.0000
0.5 - - -
1 -0.4 - -
2 - - -
3 -1.3 - -
5 -1.6 58 0.9977
20 10.4 32 0.9816
30 11.1 27 0.9658
40 10.4 21 0.9500
60 7.8 16 0.9227
80 3.7 13 0.9005
kJ/kg
Combustion
Decomposition -3051
Polymerization -2324
Hydrolysis -2064
Basically the production of ethylene oxide is from oxidation of ethane, raw material used
are only ethylene and pure oxygen gas. It is done through a process known as direct oxygen
process. In 1914, BASF has manufactured the first ethylene oxide using ethylene chlorohydrin
replace with direct oxidation process as this route tends to produce higher yields and less downtime
(ICIS, 2010). Below proposed with the physical properties of ethylene with meet the specific
Ethylene
Formula C2H4
critical temperature
Liquid Density @ 70°F (lb/ft3) Signifies that at 70°F, the compound is below
Oxygen
Formula O2
critical temperature
Liquid Density @ 70°F (lb/ft3) Signifies at 70°F, the compound is above its
critical temperatur
Gas Density @70°F 1 atm (lb/ft3) 0.0828
In direct oxidation process, the silver alumina catalyst is used as well to increase the rate
of reaction and increase the conversion rate. Silver catalyst was investigated to support on a
series of alumina which they were pretreated at different temperature between 300-1800°C
before entering the conversion reactor for ethylene oxide production process. Steady activity and
selectivity at a set of reaction conditions were depends on the surface area of catalyst which was
Ethylene oxide is known as oxirane (by IUPAC) which is an organic compound, which is
a colorless and flammable gas by direct oxidation process of ethylene in the presence of a silver
catalyst. Due to its molecular structure, ethylene oxide is easily involved in addition reaction, thus
allowing it to be easy polymerized into larger compound. Therefore, it has a range of uses in the
chemical sector.
terephthalate (PET)
(iii) Ethylene glycol ethers – used as key component of brake fluids and paints
From above, the synthesis of ethylene glycols is the major application of ethylene oxide
worldwide. It’s share of overall uses from various region in the world, such as, from 44% in
Western Europe, 63% in Japan, and 73% in North America to 90% in the rest of Asia (Chemical
Intelligence, 2009).
From the Transparency Market Research publication, growth will be sustained by robust
demand for PET resins and polyester fibers, as well as demand for automotive antifreeze. In year
2011, the value of ethylene oxide market is at $29 billion dollar, compound annual growth from
year 2013 to 2018 is projected at 5.7%, thus, at the end, the market of ethylene oxide will valued
terms of volume as well as revenue. This scenario is mostly due to industrialization progress in
Asia Pacific region which is foreseen to reach $49 billion dollar by 2020. Follow by North America
region, those countries in the region also setting up their plant and focus on the growth of this
In this assignment, the process selected is direct oxidation process from ethylene using silver
alumina catalyst. All ethylene oxide direct oxidation plants are based on the original process
chemistry discovered by Lefort in 1931. The direct vapor-phase oxidation of ethylene to ethylene
oxide over a silver catalyst at 220-300°C and 10-30 bar pressure produces few bi-products other
High purity oxygen is mixed with fresh ethylene and fed into a conversion reactor with
conversion rate of 15%. The effluent gas, containing ethylene oxide is not pure enough and is
mixed with other composition of products. These effluent is heat exchanged with cold reactor fed
gas before it enters the absorber to continue on the separating process. In the absorber, the
ethylene oxide is dissolved in the absorber water to produce a dilute aqueous solution and then is
compressed to proceed to stripper column. The vapor product from the stripper column is sent to
carbon dioxide stripper to strip out the carbon dioxide gas, while the liquid product is sent to
another stripper column to strip out high purity ethylene oxide form water. Another distillation
column is need to get more purifier ethylene oxide, which is 99.5% purity. The bottom distillate
product from the column will be water, these water from stripper column and distillation column
The main disadvantage and inefficiency of the direct oxidation process is the lower
selectivity of ethylene oxide per unit of feed ethylene consumed, result from the loss of 20-25%
of the ethylene to carbon dioxide and water. Though, in this process, the carbo dioxide will be
recycle back.
1.6 Identification of reactor type and reactor’s operating condition
There are few types of reactor in Unisim software. The type of reactor applied in this
manufacturing process is conversion reactor. This reaction is the simplest reaction type that can
be simulated, since it does not require any thermodynamic knowledge, just to input the correct
There are two major reaction occurs in this process, one is the stoichiometric reaction,
when two moles of ethylene react with half mole of oxygen will produce one mole of ethylene
oxide with the conversion rate of 15%. When ethylene is reacts with excess oxygen, which is one
mole ethylene and three moles oxygen with the conversion rate of 5%, side products will formed
The selectivity of ethylene oxide from this reaction is set to be 75% and 25% selectivity
For the reactor, the reaction has to be set optimum temperature and pressure to ensure the
conversion of ethylene to carbon dioxide is in a right amount in order to obtain the target 99.5%
purity of ethylene oxide. A low reaction temperature is chosen as 225°C with 101.3kPa to ensure
higher yields are obtained towards the end of process with silver alumina as catalyst in the
reaction.
In direct oxidation process of ethylene to produce ethylene oxide, after the conversion
reaction, the effluent products might not pure enough, thus, several separators need to be
introduced to obtain high purity ethylene oxide. Such as, after the conversion reactor, the effluent
products is heat exchanged with cold reactor fed gas and enter to the absorber at 50°C and
101.3kPa. In the absorber, the ethylene oxide is dissolved in absorber water to produce a dilute
aqueous solution. The top vapour product from the absorber which contains higher mole fraction
of ethylene is sent to stripper column to strip out the carbon dioxide, left unreacted ethylene. The
bottom liquid product from the absorber send to another stripper column to strip out ethylene
oxide from water. Both the product gases from the absorber enter the stripper column at around
28.52°C and 101.3kPa. Finally, the ethylene oxide from the stripper column is not totally pure,
thus, it is sent to distillation column again to separate ethylene oxide and water. The temperature
and pressure operating for the distillation column is 30°C and 80kPa respectively. Both water
from the stripper column and distillation column are recycled back to use in the absorber.
Chapter 2: Methodology
For producing the ethylene oxide, reactant and product were added in the main
component list in Unisim which are ethylene, oxygen , ethylene oxide, water and Carbon
dioxide.
Fluid package is crucial for calculating the thermodynamic or fluid properties of the
components in simulation. Hence, for this case study, PRSV was selected as the fluid
package in Unisim.
There are one main reaction and one side reactions. The main reactions is where the
ethylene reacts with oxygen gas to produce ethylene oxide. The side reaction is where the
ethylene reacts with oxygen gas to produce carbon dioxide and water. The total
conversion for the ethylene is 20% where the selectivity of ethylene oxide is 75% and the
selectivity for carbon dioxide is 25%. Hence, the conversion for each reaction side is
calculated by multiplying the total conversion with the selectivity. The conversion for
ethylene in main reaction is 15% where for side reaction, the conversion is 5%. These
values are added into Unisim to set the conversion for both reaction.
Figure 3 and 4: The main reaction and side reaction and their conversion
Firstly, two feed streams which were ethylene and oxygen were added into Unisim as
the reactant. Then, the oxygen was compressed and mixed with the ethylene to become one
stream. The stream was then heated to compensate with the conversion reactor’s operating
conditions. The conversion reactor was set with the reaction set (one main reaction and one
side reaction) in order to simulate the reaction. After the reactor, the output stream was in
Absorber where the top inlet was the water source and the bottom inlet was the stream from
the reactor. After passing through the absorber, product which was ethylene oxide was
carried away with the water stream to the bottom outlet where the unreacted reactants and
the side product gases which was carbon dioxide were coming out on the top of the carbon
dioxide absorber. The gas stream from the top of the absorber was then transferred to the
Carbon dioxide (CO2) stripper to remove the remaining Carbon dioxide from the stream
which left with the unreacted reactants. These unreacted reactants would be sent to another
The bottom outlet stream from CO2 absorber was then transferred to the water stripper
to remove any water inside the stream where total of 91% water content is removed and
recycled back to the top of CO2 absorber to reduce the water usage. The top product from
the water stripper would mainly consists of Ethylene oxide and small amount of water.
Then, it was transferred to the distillation column to separate the ethylene oxide and the
water where the reflux ratio, pressure and temperature were adjusted to achieve the target
5. Simulation of base case operation to achieve target production (50000 metric tons per
a) Feed stream
Two feed streams which were ethylene and oxygen was added in Unisim with the same
temperature and pressure condition around 25oC and 1.013bar. The molar flow rate was
adjusted to 1000kgmole/hr and 500 kgmole/hr for ethylene and oxygen respectively.
Figure 6 and 7:- The properties of the feed stream
The oxygen was then compressed to 16.6 bar with 75% adiabatic efficiency. The
compressed oxygen was then mixed with the ethylene to form mixed stream and heated
For the conversion reactor, the reaction set was added into the reactor and energy
stream was attached to produce products with specific temperature. In Unisim, 300o
C was added into the vapour outlet of the reactor. The heat stream for the reactor
obtained was negative which indicated that the reaction is exothermic where it released
heat from the reactor in order to achieve the outlet temperature that specified.
Figure 9 :- The properties of vapour outlet
In order to conserve the energy, Cooler was added to reduce the vapour temperature to
around 50oC where the heat stream from the cooler can be used for heat recovery. Then,
the stream was attached to the CO2 absorber at the bottom inlet where water inlet with
molar flow of 1x106 kgmole/hr was attached on the top inlet of the absorber in order to
Figure 12:- The mass flow for each components in upper products.
splitter would be used to be represented as the stripper where it would separate any
unwanted components from the stream. For water stripper, it would be separate the
water at the bottom product around 99% of water content in order to recycle the water
back to the CO2 absorber. The top product would be mainly ethylene oxide and
remaining water content. For CO2 stripper, it would be remove any remaining CO2
from the gas stream and left with the unreacted gases so that it can be sent to another
similar plant as reactants. In Unisim, the split was adjusted in order to simulate like the
stripper functionality.
Figure 13, 14 and 15:- The properties of the oulet and its configuration for the water
Stripper
Figure 16, 17 and 18:- The properties of the oulet and its configuration for the CO2
Stripper
f) Distillation Columns
The most crucial equipment in the process as it would help in separating the
components and also increase the purity of the ethylene oxide production. In Unisim,
The number of stages were 10 where the inlet stage was at stage 5 from the top. The
condenser pressure was configured at 0.78 bars and 0.98 bars for reboiler pressure
where the pressure drop was around 0.2 bars. For the parameter in the monitor section,
the reflux ratio was adjusted to 0.35 and the component mole fraction is 0.995 for
ethylene oxide on the top outlet. Top product would be ethylene oxide where the bottom
product would be the water which would be mixed with the recycle stream and recycled
Hence, the mass flow obtained for the ethylene oxide was around 6124.4 kg/hr.
Hence , purity of 99.5% with 50000 metric tons per year of ethylene oxide was