Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, and Thermodynamics

Fall 2002
Design Project
Production of Ethylene Oxide
Ethylene oxide is a chemical used to make ethylene glycol (the primary ingredient in
antifreeze). It is also used to make poly(ethylene oxide), and both the low molecular weight and
high molecular weight polymers have many applications including as detergent additives.
ecause ethylene oxide is so reactive, it has many other uses as a reactant.
!his pro"ect addresses the design of a new facility to produce #$,$$$ metric tons%yr of
chemical grade ethylene oxide.
Process Descrition
!he process concept diagram is shown in &igure '. Ethylene feed, (tream ', (via pipeline
from a neighboring plant) is mixed with recycled ethylene, (tream ), and then heated. !his
stream is mixed with compressed, dried (drying step not shown), and heated air, (tream *, and
then fed to the reactor as (tream +. !he reactions that take place are given below and consist of
the catalytic oxidation of ethylene to produce ethylene oxide. In addition to the desired reaction,
combustion reactions for both ethylene and ethylene oxide occur, and these are undesirable.
O H C O H C
, * * , *
# . $ + (desired) (')
ethylene ethylene oxide
O H CO O H C
* * * , *
* * + + + (undesired) (*)
ethylene
O H CO O O H C
* * * , *
* * # . * + + (undesired) (+)
ethylene oxide
!he reaction is exothermic, and takes place at a temperature of *-$. and a pressure of */
bar (these are conditions at the inlet of the 0eactor). 1ou may assume that the reaction occurs
isothermally at this temperature, and that the heat of reaction (exothermic) is removed by boiling
boiler feed water in the reactor shell to produce high2pressure steam. .onversion in the reactor
is kept low to enhance selectivity for the desired product. !he optimum single2pass conversion
of ethylene has been determined to be +#3. !he molar ratio of oxygen to ethylene at the reactor
ethylene should be /4'. (ide reactions are relatively low due to the choice of the reactor
operating conditions. &or the reactor conditions given above, the amounts of ethylene consumed
in reactions (*) and (+) are '3 and $.#3 of that consumed by the first reaction, respectively.
'
*
h p s
h p s
C - 7 0 1 A - . . .
E - 7 0 1
E - 7 0 2
R - 7 0 1
c w
E - 7 0 3
S e p a r a t i o n s
E q u i p m e n t
F u e l G a s
E t h l e n e ! " i # e
$ a s t e $ a t e r
R e c c l e # E t h l e n e
A i r
E t h l e n e
$ a t e r
% & w
h p s
F i ' u r e 1 ( ) r o c e s s C o n c e p t * i a ' r a m & o r E t h l e n e ! " i # e ) r o # u c t i o n F a c i l i t
1
2
3
+
,
-
7
. /
+
!he process stream leaving the reactor (called the 5reactor effluent6) is cooled, and this
stream, (tream ,, is sent to the separations unit where ethylene oxide is separated to the desired
)).# wt3 purity and sent to storage, (tream #. In order to separate the product ethylene oxide
from the unreacted ethylene and air, water, (tream /, is used to absorb the ethylene oxide prior to
purification by distillation. !he ratio of re7uired water feed to ethylene oxide product is '$$4' by
mole. 1ou should assume that the water enters the process at *#. and that it all leaves the
separation section as a saturated li7uid at '$.# bar, (tream -. !he total heating re7uirements for
the separations section are e7ual to twice that re7uired to heat the water stream from *#., to a
saturated li7uid at '$.# bar. .ondensing high2pressure steam satisfies the heating re7uirements.
8ikewise, the cooling re7uirements of the separation section are satisfied using cooling water and
the cooling duty is e7ual to (and opposite) to the heating duty.
!he unreacted ethylene, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen are recycled back to the front
end of the process, (tream ), with a portion of this gas being purged as a fuel gas or waste
stream, (tream 9.
!ecific O"jecti#es of this Project
!he main ob"ective of this pro"ect is to optimize the feed section of the ethylene oxide
process. In order to do this, you will need to establish the flows and temperatures of all streams
((treams ' :)) in &igure '. 1ou should use the .hemcad process simulator to do this task using
the (0; thermodynamics package.
<nce flows and temperatures are set, you should complete each of the following mini2
pro"ects that relate .hE +'$, +'', and +*$.
Thermodynamics $%hE &20' Mini(Project
In &igure ', only one air compressor is shown. (ince the reactor operates at */ bar pressure,
several stages of compression, with inter2cooling, may be necessary. !he purpose of this mini2
pro"ect is to find the optimum compressor arrangement for the design air flowrate. !he
efficiency of each compression stage may be assumed to be -#3. !he costs for heat exchangers,
compressors, and utilities are all given in the =ppendix to this problem statement. &or the sake
of this mini2pro"ect, you may assume that the pressure drops for all inter cooling heat exchangers
are + psi, and the pressure drops between e7uipment are ' psi. !he pressure drop through the
steam heater, E2-$', may be assumed to be + psi and the pressure drop from E2-$' to 02-$' may
be assumed to be # psi. =s described in the &luids section, a drier%filter must be placed upstream
of the first compressor and the pressure drop across it may be assumed to be + psi.
!he above optimization should be done using .hemcad using the (0; enthalpy option. !he
cost of compressors, inter2cooling heat exchangers, cooling water, and electrical utilities should
be included in the optimization. (ince capital costs (>) and operating costs (>%yr) have different
units, the capital costs must be amortized before they can be added to the operating costs. !he
,
appropriate ob"ective function to optimize is the e7uivalent annual operating cost (E=<.) that is
defined below4
) % (> ? , , % ?@ (>) @ ) % (> yr Costs Utility n i P A Equipment of Cost Installed yr EAOC + =
(,)
Ahere @A%P, i, n? B i('Ci)
n
%D('Ci)
n
2'E, i is the annual interest rate, and n is the number of years
for the analysis. &or your calculations, you should use i B -3 per year (i B $.$-) and n B '$
years. Fote that only the costs associated with the feed air handling system should be used in
E7uation (,).
<nce the optimum compressor configuration has been obtained, you should investigate the
effect of using a different thermodynamics packages on the power re7uirement and capital cost
of the compressor arrangement. (pecifically, you should use the Geng20obinson and 8atent Heat
enthalpy options and compare the results with those obtained from the (0; method.
Fluid Flo) $%hE&*0' Mini(Project
1ou are re7uired to find the optimum pipe sizes and make the pressure drop calculations for
the air handling system that includes all piping, pipe fittings, the air filter, and all heat
exchangers between the air filter and the reactor inlet. (pecifically, you should assume the
following4
!he air feed should be taken from the environment (',.- psi and *$.) and compressed
via a series of compressors (see the section on !hermodynamics).
efore compression, the air must flow through a drier%filter to remove any residual
moisture and particulates. !he drier%filter is standard e7uipment, and the vendors
recommend that at the design flow a pressure drop of + psi be used.
!he air should pass through the shell side of any heat exchanger used to heat or cool it.
&or any heat exchanger for which a detailed design is not performed (see the Heat
!ransfer section), a pressure drop of + psi should be used, for the air2side. &or any heat
exchanger for which a detailed design is re7uired, the pressure drop must be calculated
from the information in the detailed design.
&or each piece of e7uipment in the feed air line (compressors, heat exchangers,
drier%filter), isolation gate valves and a bypass line should be provided to allow for use in
the event of unscheduled maintenance. !he sketch below illustrates this arrangement.
E7uipment
Ilobe valve (normally
closed )
Iate valves
(normally open)
#
Each piece of e7uipment will be separated by at least '$ ft of piping to allow for
maintenance.
!he piping between the last piece of e7uipment before the reactor (E2-$') and the reactor
itself, should consist of #$ ft of straight pipe, / 2 )$ standard elbows, a gate valve, an
orifice meter with a full scale reading of '$$ inches of water pressure drop (the design
flow should be #$3 of full scale), the orifice meter should have two isolation gate valves
and a bypass (similar to the arrangement for e7uipment shown in the sketch above), and a
tee (used as an elbow with the other leg used as the inlet point for the ethylene feed).
!he choice of where to add the ethylene stream is left up to you.
!he optimization of the piping arrangement should be done using the results of the optimum
compressor arrangement, described above, as the starting point. Fote that when doing this
optimization, the compressor loads may have to be varied from the 5optimum6 found in the
!hermodynamics section. !his is because piping pressure drops were assumed in the previous
optimization while they are calculated in this optimization. !he optimization for this mini2
pro"ect should take into account the cost of the compressors, the cost of the intercoolers, the cost
of pipe and fittings, the cost of cooling water, and the cost of electricity. =gain the E=<.,
defined in E7uation (,), should be used as the ob"ective function. !he e7uipment that should be
considered in this optimization includes the cost of the compressors, heat exchangers, and piping,
and the cooling water and electrical utility costs. Fote that after this optimization, you may have
slightly different values for compressor loads that you found in the !hermodynamics mini2
pro"ect. It is unnecessary to iterate and 5reoptimize6 the compressor configuration in the
!hermodynamics section.
.alculations for the optimum pipe size should be included in an appendix for this mini2
pro"ect.
Heat Transfer $%hE &**' Mini(Project
1ou should perform a detailed design of the first inter2cooler heat exchanger (after the first
compressor). 1ou should assume that cooling water is available at the conditions specified in the
appendix of this problem statement. &or this heat exchanger design, you should report the
following information4
Jiameter of shell
Fumber of tube and shell passes
Fumber of tubes per pass
!ube pitch and arrangement (triangular%s7uare%..)
Fumber of shell2side baffles and their arrangement (spacing, pitch, type)
Jiameter, thickness, and length of tubes
.alculation of both shell2 and tube2side film heat transfer coefficients.
.alculation of overall heat transfer coefficient (you may assume that there is no fouling
on either side of the exchanger).
/
Heat transfer area of the exchanger
(hell2side and tube2side pressure drops (note that the shell2side pressure drop is used for
the fluids mini2pro"ect)
= detailed sketch of the exchanger should be included along with a set of comprehensive
calculations in an appendix to the mini2pro"ect.
Deli#era"les
+ritten ,eorts
Each group must deliver a report written using a word processor. !hree identical copies
should be submitted, one for each instructor. !he written pro"ect reports are due by '4$$ p.m.
&riday, Fovember **, *$$*. 8ate pro"ects will receive a minimum of a one letter grade
deduction.
!he report should be clear and concise. &or the correct formatting information, refer to the
document entitled Written Design Reports. !he report must contain a labeled G&J and a stream
table, each in the appropriate format. !he G&Js from .HEK.=J are generally unsuitable
unless you modify them significantly. &igure ' should be used as a template for your G&J.
Ahen presenting results for different cases, graphs are superior to tables. &or the optimal case,
the report appendix should contain details of calculations that are easy to follow. !here should
be separate appendices for each 5mini2pro"ect.6 !hese may be hand written if done neatly,
alternatively, excel spreadsheets may be included, "ut these must be well documented so that the
reader can interpret the results. .alculations that cannot be easily followed and that are not
explained will lose credit.
(ince this pro"ect involves 5mini2designs,6 it is suggested that the report be organized as
follows. !here should be a general abstract and introduction. !hen, there should be a results
section followed by a discussion section for each 5mini2design.6 Ieneral conclusion and
recommendation sections should follow. =t a minimum, there should be one appendix for each
of the 5mini2designs.6 Aith this organization, there is no need for a separate section of the report
for each class, as suggested in the document entitled Written Design Reports.
In order to evaluate eac group mem!ers "riting s#ills$ te results and discussion sections
for eac mini%design sould !e "ritten !y a different group mem!er& 'e autorsip of eac of
tese mini%reports sould !e clearly specified in te report& (or groups "it four mem!ers$ te
mem!er not autoring a mini%report sould autor te safety analysis report$ "ic is descri!ed
!elo"& 'e remainder of te report$ namely te general a!stract$ general introduction$ general
conclusions$ and general recommendations sections sould !e a group effort&
!afety -nalysis ,eort
Ahen designing a chemical process, it is important to know the properties of the chemicals
being consumed and produced in the process. !he reactivity and toxicity of the reactants and
products will not only affect the design but will also affect the procedures that might be
-
implemented during an unscheduled event such as an emergency shutdown. !he purpose of the
(afety =nalysis 0eport is to make management aware of risks to personnel due to the
flammability and toxicity of all chemicals consumed or produced in the process. =s a minimum,
the K(J( (material and safety data sheets) for all these chemicals should be provided in an
appendix, and a brief description of the ma"or concerns for each chemical should be given.
&inally, a feature of your process design that addresses one of these concerns should be
explained.
Oral ,eorts
Each group will give an oral report in which the results of this pro"ect will be presented in a
concise manner. !he oral report should be between '#2*$ minutes, and each group member must
speak. Each group member should speak only once. = #2'$ minute 7uestion2and2answer session
will follow, and all members must participate. 0efer to the document entitled Oral Reports for
instructions. !he oral presentations will be !uesday, Jecember +, *$$* from ''4$$ am to *4$$
pm. =ttendance is re7uired of all students during their classmatesL presentations (this means in
the room, not in the hall or the computer room). Failure to attend any of the above-required
sessions will result in a decrease of one-letter grade (per occurrence) from your project grade
in ChE 3!" ChE 3" and ChE 3#!.
$nyone not participating in this project will automatically receive an F for
ChE 3!" ChE 3" and ChE 3#!" regardless of other grades earned in these
classes%
.rous
1ou will do this pro"ect in a group of three or four. 1ou have already selected a partner, and
groups of two have been paired up by the instructors. (ince there are '9 students doing the
pro"ect, there will be # groups. !here will be + groups of , and * groups of +.
,e#isions
=s with any open2ended problem (i&e., a problem with no single correct answer), the problem
statement above is deliberately vague. !he possibility exists that, as you work on this problem,
your 7uestions will re7uire revisions and%or clarifications of the problem statement. 1ou should
be aware that these revisions%clarifications may be forthcoming.
9
=ppendix
E7uipment .ost and Jesign Jata
)
,a) Materials
Ethylene see Cemical )ar#et Reporter
Product
Ethylene <xide see Cemical )ar#et Reporter
/tility %osts
8ow2Gressure (team (/'9 kGa saturated) >/./*%'$$$ kg
Kedium2Gressure (team (''+# kGa saturated) >-.+'%'$$$ kg
High2Gressure (team (,*+- kGa saturated) >9./#%'$$$ kg
Fatural Ias (,,/ kGa, *#.) >+.$$%IM
&uel Ias >*.-#%IM
Electricity >$.$/%kA h
oiler &eed Aater (at #,) kGa, )$.) >*.#,%'$$$ kg
.ooling Aater >$.+#%IM
available at #'/ kGa and +$.
return pressure +$9 kGa
return temperature is no more than '#. and no less than #. above the inlet temperature
Jeionized Aater >'.$$%'$$$ kg
available at # bar and +$N.
Aastewater !reatment >#$%'$$$ m
+
'$
E0uiment %osts $Purchased'
Fote that not all this information is re7uired to do this pro"ect
Giping straight pipe >%m B #.$ (nominal pipe diameter, in)('Csch O%*$)
$.*#
sch

B schedule number for pipe
use the same sch number same for fittings and valves
fittings (except valves) >%fitting B #$.$ (nominal pipe diameter, in)('Csch O%*$)
$.*#
Palves for gate (isolation) valves >'$$ (nominal pipe diameter, in)
$.9
('Csch O%*$)
$.*#
for control valve use >'$$$ (nominal pipe diameter, in)
$.9
('Csch O%*$)
$.*#
Gumps >/+$ (power, kA)
$.,
Heat Exchangers >'$+$ (area, m
*
)
$./
add #$3 additional for boilers or evaporators
.ompressors >--$ (power, kA)
$.)/
C >,$$ (power, kA)
$./
assume -$3 efficiency
!urbine >*.'9'$
#
(power output, KA)
$./
assume /#3 efficiency
&ired Heater >/+# (duty, kA)
$.9
assume 9$3 thermal efficiency
Pessels >D'./-($.)#) C $.$,'P 2 9.+'$
2/
P
*
)E'$
z
* B (+.'- C $.*D C $.# log'$+ C $.*' log'$+
*
)
D B diameter, m $.+ m Q D Q ,.$ m
+ B height, m + Q +%D Q *$
P B absolute pressure, bar
0eactor assume to be >' million
!anks >'$$$,
$./

, B volume, m
+
''
E0uiment %ost Factors
Pressure Factors
Gressure Q '$ atm, $.$ does not apply to turbines, compressors, vessels,
(absolute) '$ 2 *$ atm, $./ packing, trays, or catalyst, since their cost
*$ 2 ,$ atm, +.$ e7uations include pressure effects
,$ 2 #$ atm, #.$
#$ 2 '$$ atm, '$
Material Factors
.arbon (teel $.$
(tainless (teel ,.$
!otal Installed .ost B Gurchased .ost (, C material factor C pressure factor)
Heat Exchangers
&or heat exchangers that do not have to be designed in detail, use the following
approximations for heat transfer coefficients to allow you to determine the heat transfer area and
heat exchanger cost.
situation h $+1m
2
%'
condensing steam /$$$
condensing organic '$$$
boiling water -#$$
boiling organic '$$$
flowing li7uid /$$
flowing gas /$
'*
Other 2nformation
1ou should assume that a year e7uals 9$$$ hours. !his is about ++$ days, which allows for
periodic shutdown and maintenance.
Rnless specifically stated in class, the information in this document is valid for this pro"ect
only. =ny information in the sophomore pro"ects not specifically stated in this document is not
valid for this pro"ect.
'+