TECNOLGICO NACIONAL DE MXICO

Instituto Tecnolgico de Ciudad Madero

Instituto
Tecnolgico de Ciudad Madero
Departamento de Ingeniera Qumica y Bioqumica
Ingeniera Qumica

Heterogeneous reactors

REPORT OF PRODUCTION OF ETHYLENE FROM ETHANE

AS A RAW MATERIAL IN A PLUG FLOW REACTOR

Presents
Gustavo Alan Rodrguez Hernndez

Matricule no.
13071380

Class schedule
Monday-Friday 7 8 pm

Cd. Madero, Tamaulipas February 27, 2017

Index
Page
Background 1
Target 2
Main reaction 2
Mass balance 2
Stoichiometry balance 2
Design equation 3
Rate law 3
Solving with polymath 3
Critical thinking 6
Creative thinking 6
Conclusions and suggestions 8
1-. Background
Ethene (ethylene) is the most important organic chemical, by tonnage, that is manufactured.
It is the building block for a vast range of chemicals from plastics to antifreeze solutions
and solvents. It is usually produced in steam-cracking units from a range of petroleum-
based feedstocks, such as naphtha, and is used in the manufacture of several major
derivatives.
Uses of ethylene
This compound is employed to produce polymers such as:
- Polyethene
- Ethylbenzene and hence phenylethene and poly(phenylethene)
- chloroethene (vinyl chloride) and hence poly(chloroethene), i.e.
poly(vinylchloride)
- epoxyethane and hence the diols, such as ethane-1,2-diol
- Ethanol
Poly(ethene) accounts for about half of the world demand for ethene

Annual production of ethene (ethylene)

World 156 million tonnes

Europe 19 million tonnes
US 24 million tonnes
Russia 5.5 million tonnes
China 20 million tonnes
Middle East 28 million tonnes

Manufacture of ethylene
Ethene is produced from the cracking of fractions obtained from distillation of natural gas
and oil.
The processes are:
a)the steam cracking of ethane and propane (from natural gas and from crude oil)
b) the steam cracking of naphtha from crude oil
c) the catalytic cracking of gas oil from crude oil. The choice of feedstock depends on
availability, price (which can vary considerably), and what other products from cracking are
needed.
The vast majoriy of ethene is produced by steam cracking.

1
2-.Target
The aim of this project is to design a plug flow reactor which will be able to produce 3x108
pounds of ethane per year, thus its necessary to calculate the adequate dimensions of this
equipment.
3-. Main reaction
The reaction that will take place Is the following one:
C2 H 6 C 2 H 4 + H 2

This reaction will occur isothermally and adiabatically at a T=1100K and P= 6atm,
respectively
4-. Mass balance
FA V FA V + V (RA ) ( dVR )=0

dFA=(RA ) dVR

FA dXA=(RA)(dVR)

5-. Stoichiometry
In order to have a clear view of the process we need to make a mole balance of the whole
reaction.
C2 H 6 C 2 H 4 + H 2

In this case:

A = C2 H 6

B= C2 H 4

C= H2

NA-NA = NB-NB = NC-NB

Since there are no initial moles of B and C, the late expression is reduced to
NA-NA= NB = NC
Consequently, the molar flow can be expressed through this balance
FA-FA= FB = FC
And knowing that the molar flow of the ethane through the reactor will be in function of the
conversion, the following statement can be expressed.

2
FA= FA(1-XA)
So, the ethylene flow can be expressed in the following form
FB= FAXA
Since a production of 3x108 lb/year is desired we will adjust that value to moles/sec
lb
(
FB= 3 x 108
year )( 3331 days
year 1 day
)( 24 hours )( 281 lbmol )( 3600
1 hour
sec )

lbmol
FB=0.3763
sec

At this case a conversion of 80% is desired (XA=0.80)

Thus, raw material feed is calculated
FB .3763
FA= =
XA .80

lbmol
FA =0.4654
sec

6-. Design equation

For a PFR, the design equation is
dXA RA
=
dVR FA

7-.Rate law

The rate law for the reaction C2 H 6 C 2 H 4 + H 2 is

-RA=KCA
Whereby the value of K1 at a temperature of 1000K is 0.072sec-1. A correction of K at a
new T (1100K) is needed.
K2 = 3.07239sec-1
The value of the variable = 1
And the concentration of ethane can be calculated from the modified ideal gas law
YaPT
CA=
RT

Ya = 1

3
P = 6atm
R= 1.314 atm-ft3/lbmol-K
T=1100K
3 lbmol
CA=4.1511 X 10
ft 3

8-.Solving with polymath

We will now proceed to make the polymath arrangement as shown below

Here is the process report

4
The calculation shows that in order to obtain an 80% conversion of ethane to ethylene the
reactors volume must be between 83.17ft3 and 91.17ft3. Further studies showed that for a
really close approach to the desired value of XA the volume must be of 88.3ft3
A graphic representation of the conversion regarding the reactor dimensions is seen next
whereby the horizontal axis represents volume and the vertical one is the raw materials
conversion.

5
9-. Critical thinking
It was proved by using the simulator that every condition was satisfied and that the reactor
can work effectively. The temperature, pressure, and conversion percent for this process
were kept and reached at a reasonable volume.
10-. Creative thinking
It had been previously demonstrated that given these conditions the reactor was designed
with a certain volume. Now, it is a good moment to try changing any of the given values
and see the outcome in the reactor design.
In first place, a little change in the reactors temperature will be done. It will be raised 40K

6
The results of this arrangement are shown

It can be seen that the required volume decreased almost 3 times in comparison to the
original one.
Another adjust was done, this time by changing the pressure to 5 atm

7
8
The results are shown below

This time the reactors volume increased almost 15ft3 in comparison to the original.
11-. Conclusion and suggestions
It was shown that given a certain operations conditions for any chemical reaction a proper
reactor can be designed to satisfy the target set at the beginning of the project.
Also, the correlation between concentration, temperature and pressure was successfully
proved by the changes occurred to the volume. For example, when the temperature was
raised the volume decreased dramatically; and when the pressure decreased the need for a
bigger volume to reach the desired conversion was evident because the concentration
C
changed, therefore empirically demonstrating the ideal gas law which states that P= RT

.
It is appropriate to say that every design engineer should be very cautious when choosing
the conditions operations, for they can have a great impact in the calculations outcome.
One must take account of every parameter to make the design as precise as it can be.
Furthermore, a deeper analysis of these variables can lead to an optimization in the process.
Getting a better conversion, making the most of the equipments dimensions or decreasing
the reactors energy demand can all be achieved if the proper studies are made; of course,
always regarding the economical aspect.