Flowsheeting

Sheet (1)
21/2/2015
(1) Production of Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde results from the oxidation of methanol according to the
equation:
Ag- catalyst

CH3OH + 1/2 O2

HCHO + H2O

The oxidation is achieved through passing air stream into a converter to

react with the vaporized methanol. Fresh and recycle methanol is withdrawn
from a charge tank, evaporized and superheated then it is passed into the
methanol air mixture.
Atmospheric air is purified in an air-scrubber using dilute caustic as a
scrubbing solution. The purified air is filtered, compressed and then
preheated to about 55oc in a heat exchanger.
The product leaves the converter at about 620 oc. The converter is a waterjacketed vessel containing silver catalyst. About 65% of methanol is
converted into formaldehyde. The reactor outlet contains about 25%
formaldehyde which is absorbed in water together with the unreacted
methanol and sent to a holding tank. This tank feeds a distillation column to
separate the formaldehyde product as bottom and the recycle methanol as the
as a top product.
Formaldehyde is marketed as 37% solution known as FORMALIN.

(2) Production of Acetic Acid

Acetic acid is produced by the vapor phase oxidation according to the
following reaction:
CH3COCH3 + 2O2

CH3COOH + CO2 + H2O

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The reaction is being carried out continuously in a fixed bed catalytic reactor
with acetone vapor and air. The liquid acetone is being continuously fed
from its reservoir into a horizontal vaporizer made of steel tube (L = 2 m, ID
= 50 mm), outside which superheated steam is condensing in countercurrent
flow pattern. Air and acetone vapor are mixed before passing through
preheater before feeding to the reactor. The reaction is conducted at 304 kPa
and the temperature is maintained at 250 oC by circulating cooling water
through a cooling coil fitted in the fixed bed. The air used is 30% excess of
the theoretical amount. The conversion factor is only 70% based on both
reactants. The gases outlets the reactor are fed to cooler condenser where
non condensable gases are disposed off while the unreacted acetone-acetic
acid mixture is fed to a distillation tower to obtain pure acetic acid at a rate
of 300 ton/day. Unreacted acetone is withdrawn at its boiling point from the
tower and recycled to the process while the produced water from the
distillation tower is directed to water treatment unit.
Boiling point, oC
58
120
-183
-78.5
100

Compound
Acetone
Acetic acid
O2
CO2
H2O

(3) Production of Trichlorobenzene

In the process of producing trichlorobenzene (TCB) by direct chlorination of
benzene dissolved in ethyl alcohol (1:1 by weight) in the presence of
a catalyst (10% by weight of starting benzene), other chlorobenzene isomers
(mono & di isomers: MCB & DCB) are produced as side products. In order
to maximize the yield of TCB, a 20% excess of Cl2 gas (by weight, based on
the theoretical amount of Cl2 required to produce TCB) should be used. The
Cl2 gas is fed at 35oC and 20 atm to a jacketed batch reactor, to which the
benzene-alcohol solution and the catalyst are charged. The chlorination
reaction is endothermic and 1290 kJ are absorbed for each kg mole of the
chlorobenzene isomer produced. Heat of the reaction is supplied by a steam
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condensation in the reactor jacket (latent heat of steam condensation is 200

kJ/ Kg). the mixture if the isomers is discharged from the reactor and fed to
a distillation column operating continuously to recover the unreacted Cl2 gas,
which is disposed off and not recycled back to the reactor. The bottom
product from the distillation column is fed to a 3 stages crystallizer.
Hint: the melting points of the chloro isomers are: MCB +15 oC, DCB -40
o
C & TCB -12 oC

(4) Production of Nitro toluene

The nitration of toluene to produce the 3 isomers: mono di - & tri-nitro
toluene can be carried out as follows:Toluene is fed to a batch reactor where the required amount of mixed acid
(nitric & sulfuric) has been previously added. After mixture is damped into a
settler where the nitro isomers and unreacted toluene are separated from the
unconsumed mixed acid, the nitro isomers & unreacted toluene are then fed
to a tank with a mixer to be washed by a dilute solution of sodium carbonate.
After washing, the resulting mixture is dumped into a second settler to
separate the washed isomers and unreacted toluene from the spent alkali
solution.
The isomers and unreacted toluene mixture is finally washed with water in a
similar way as for the washing with the dilute alkali solution. The finally
washed isomers & unreacted toluene mixture is fed to a continuous
distillation column, where unreacted toluene is separated as an overhead
product and recycled to the reactor. The bottom product from the first
distillation column is fed to a second distillation column, where the 3
isomers are produced as pure products in the order of increasing boiling
point (mono- > di- > tri).

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(5) The production of Aniline

Aniline is an important starting material for the production of intermediates
that are used in the synthesis of dyes stuffs.
Aniline is being produced by the vapor phase reduction of nitrobenzene
according to the following reaction:C6H5NO2 + 3H2

C6H5NH2 + 2H2O

The reaction is being carried out continuously in a fluidized bed catalytic

reactor fed with nitrobenzene vapor and hydrogen gas. The crude
nitrobenzene is being fed continuously from its reservoir into a vaporizer
made of vertical brass tubes (L = 2m, ID = 50mm), outside which
superheated steam is condensing. Hydrogen gas is introduced into the
nitrobenzene vaporizer outlet pipe. The nitrobenzene vapor hydrogen
mixture is passed through a preheater before feeding to the reactor. The
reaction is conducted at 188 kN/m2 and the temperature is maintained at
270oC by circulating cooling water through a jacket around the reactor. The
hydrogen used is 200% excess of the theoretical amount. Catalyst employed
copper on silica. Degree of reaction completion is 95 % based on
nitrobenzene fed.
The reaction products are fed to a condenser, where aniline and water
condense, while excess hydrogen leaves the condenser to be compressed and
recycled into the process. The aniline water mixture is to be separated by
means of settling and decantation.
The water layer still contains some aniline (solubility of aniline at 25 oC is
3.5 parts per 100 parts of water). This water layer is fed to a distillation unit
to recover the dissolved aniline. The decanted aniline layer containing crude
aniline and unreacted nitrobenzene is fed into a steam distillation unit to
obtain the final pure aniline product.

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(6) The production of Xylene

The 3 isomers of xylene (o, m, and p) are being produced according to the
equation:C6H6 + 2C3H6

C6H4 (CH3)2 + 2C2H4

The reaction is being carried out in the gaseous phase in a tubular continuous
flow reactor. The reactants are fed from their storage tanks, from where pure
benzene is passed through a vaporizer followed by a mixing feed blower. In
this blower both benzene vapor and propylene gas are mixed in the required
ratio and then the gaseous mixture is delivered to a preheater. After the
preheater, the mixture is fed to the reactor by another blower. The mixture
enters the reactor at 500 K and 2 atm. The reaction is only 70% complete so
that 60% of the moles of xylene isomers produced are p-xylene, while the
rest is equally divided between the other 2 isomers. The effluent exits from
the reactor is fed to a cooler condenser, where all the components (products
& unreacted materials), except the produced ethylene and unreacted
propylene are condensed. The liquid mixture from the cooler condenser is
fed to a continuous distillation column operating at a reflux ratio of 2:1
where all the unreacted benzene is separated. The mixture of isomers is fed
to a fractional crystallized out.
The remaining liquid is fed to a preheater followed by a distillation column
that separate 90% of the second isomer as pure overhead product.
The following information is available:Compound

Benzene

o-xylene

m-xylene

p-xylene

Melting
point, oC

-5

+5

-40

-60

Boiling
point, oC

80

170

120

160

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