1.

AMMONIA PROCESS
The feed to the process is nitrogen, hydrogen, and a small amount of carbon dioxide (left over
from the process to make the hydrogen). The process feed is mixed with a recycle stream,
heated to the reactor temperature, and sent to the reactor. The feed to the reactor is roughly a
3:1 mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen, with some ammonia, too. The reaction is limited by
equilibrium considerations, so the conversion is not known. You must determine it by solving
the equilibrium equation (using RGibbs). In this example, the pressure is high because that
favors the reaction. The temperature is also high in order to get a fast reaction, even though
this limits the conversion in the reactor.

The output from the reactor is cooled and sent to a vapor liquid separator (this example uses
Flash2), where the temperature is lowered. Thus, most of the ammonia condenses and is
removed as a liquid. The vapor is recycled and is sent through a compressor to get the
pressure back to the desired pressure. A small part of the recycle stream is bled off as a purge
stream to prevent the buildup of impurities.

In this example, you will take an input stream to the process (at 80 F and 300 psia) of:
nitrogen, 100 lbmol/h; hydrogen, 300 lbmol/h; ammonia, 0; and carbon dioxide,1 lbmol/h.

The inlet stream is compressed to 4000 psi with an isentropic compressor. The stream is mixed
with the recycle stream and heated to 900 F, the reactor temperature. In the reactor, there is
a pressure drop of 30 psi. The outlet is cooled to 80 F and the liquid and vapor phases are
separated. The vapor phase goes to recycle, and 0.01 percent of it is used as purge. A recycle
compressor then compresses the rest from 3970 to 4000 psia. In a real process, the heat
transfer to preheat the feed to the reactor uses the effluent from the reactor, usually inside the
same vessel. In process simulators, though, it is useful to begin as shown in the Figure to help
convergence. NRTL thermodynamics was chosen and is justified a posteriori.
 2.- BENZENE PROCESS
Simulate the benzene process using Aspen Plus. Take the feed at room temperature and 1 atm.
Compress it to 35 atm. Preheat the feed to the reactor to 550 C and cool the effluent. Model
the reactors as RStoic reactors, and keep the hydrogen/methane separations as simple
splitters; model the other separations using distillation towers. You will have to decide on the
number of stages and reflux ratio, and using DSTWU first might be useful.

The process for making benzene is described below and illustrated in Figure, and you are to
make mass balances. (Hydrocarbon Processing, 1975;54,p. 115; Otani et al., 1968.) The
process converts toluene to benzene and xylenes by disproportionation (also called
transalkylation). The xylenes also disassociate to form toluene and trimethylbenzene. These
reactions occur with a catalyst in the presence of hydrogen, with a typical ratio of 7:1
hydrogen to toluene feed to the reactor. The hydrogen also reacts with toluene to form
benzene and methane or with xylenes to form benzene and methane. The molar consumption
of hydrogen is about 10 percent of that of toluene.

Benzene Process

The reactions and their conversion per pass are:

The output from the reactor contains all the components, and the hydrogen and toluene are
recycled, the methane is removed from the process, and the benzene and xylenes are
removed from the process. The vapor pressures of the components at 20 C are: benzene, 75
mmHg; toluene, 22 mmHg; xylenes, 4.8 6.6 mmHg; trimethylbenzene, 1.1 mmHg. A
separation system is used that removes the hydrogen and methane first, then separates the
benzene, then the toluene, and then the trimethylbenzene. The hydrogen and methane should
be somewhat separated (to recover the hydrogen, which is recycled) and the toluene is
recycled. In the separators, use splits of 99.9 percent of the light component out of the top and
only 0.1 percent of the next heavier component. Use splits of 100 percent for components
lighter than the light key and 0 percent for components heavier than the heavy key. Use Goal
Seek or Solver to adjust the hydrogen makeup feed to insure the proper amount of hydrogen
enters the reactor (necessary for the catalyst). P.E. H2 = -253 C, P.E. METANO = -164
C, P.E. BENCENO = 80.1 C, P.E. TOLUENO = 110.6 C, P.E. ORTOXILENO = 144 C ,
P.E. 1,2,3-TRIMETILBENCENO = 176 C

In the Feed stream: Toluene = 100 kmol/h It is required to obtain: 40

kmol/h of benzene 99% pure

3.- ETHYL CHLORYDE PROCESS

Simulate the ethyl chloride process using Aspen Plus. The feed streams are at room
temperature and 20 psia and they are compressed to 95 psia. Preheat the feed to the reactor
to 800 F and cool the effluent. Model the reactors as RStoic reactors. Take the effluent from
the first reactor, cool it, and send the liquid to the product stream. Compress the gases to 265
psia, and heat them to 350 F (if needed). Lower the pressure and cool the effluent from the
second reactor and separate the liquid and vapor. Recycle the vapor and send the liquid to the
product stream. You will have to decide on the cooling temperature to use in the vapor liquid
separators.

Ethyl chloride is manufactured in an integrated process; see Figure, (Stirling,1984, p. 72).

Complete a mass balance for this process. Ethane reacts with chlorine to make ethyl chloride
and hydrogen chloride, and ethylene reacts with hydrogen chloride to form ethyl chloride.

Ethyl chloride process

The process is feed with three streams: ethane, ethylene, and chlorine. The ethane and
ethylene streams have the same molar flow rate, and the ratio of chlorine to ethane
plus ethylene is 1.5. The ethane/ethylene stream also contains 1.5 percent acetylene and
carbon dioxide. (For this problem, just use 1.5 percent carbon dioxide.) The feed
streams are mixed with an ethylene recycle stream and go to the first reactor (chlorination
reactor) where the ethane reacts with chlorine with a 95 percent conversion per pass.
The product stream is cooled and ethyl chloride is condensed and separated. Assume that all
the ethane and ethyl chloride go out in the condensate stream. The gases go to another
reactor (hydrochlorination reactor) where the reaction with ethylene takes place with a 50
percent conversion per pass. The product stream is cooled to condense the ethyl chloride,
and the gases (predominately ethylene and chlorine) are recycled. A purge or bleed stream
takes off a fraction of the recycle stream (use 1 percent). Complete the mass balance
for this process.

P.E. HCl = 48 C, P.E. Ethyl Chloride = 12.3 C, P.E. Chlorine = -34 C, P.E. Ethane
= -89 C, P.E. Ethylene = -104 C

In the ethane and ethylene stream: the ethane = 100 lbmol/h.

It is required to obtain: 188 lbmol/h of Ethyl chloride 98% pure

4.- VINYL CHLORIDE PROCESS

Simulate the vinyl chloride process using Aspen Plus. Take the feed at room temperature and
20 psia. Operate the direct chlorination reactor at 65 C and 560 kPa. A distillation column
removes the trichloroethane and the rest of the stream is sent to the furnace. Heat the stream
to 1500 F so pyrolysis takes place. Cool the effluent from the furnace, and recycle the vapor
(mostly HCl). Send the liquid (vinyl chloride and ethylenedichloride) to a distillation column for
separation.

You will have to decide on the number of stages and reflux ratio; using DSTWU first might be
useful. The oxychlorination reactor operates at 200 C and 1400 kPa. Wash the effluent from
the oxychlorination reactor with water to remove contaminants and then remove the water
and light gases in a distillation column. The ethylenedichloride must be dry (<10 ppm) before
going to the furnace. The stream then goes to a distillation column where the
ethylenedichloride is purified (> 99.5%) before it is sent to the furnace. Since the furnace
operates at 560 kPa, the pressure is reduced before reaching the furnace.

Vinyl chloride monomer is the raw material for making polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is
produced in large quantities. When PVC was invented (as a highly elastic polymer by a
University of Washington graduate, Waldo L. Semon, patent no. 1,929,435), the vinyl chloride
was made by reacting acetylene with hydrogen chloride. A process which uses cheaper raw
materials is now used (Cowfer and Gorensek, 1997), and a simplification of it is given in Figure.
Prepare a mass balance. Chlorine and ethylene are fed to a direct chlorination reactor where
the reaction

takes place with essentially 100 percent conversion of the limiting reagent. The selectivity to
ethylenedichloride is 99 percent with the main byproduct (and the only one considered here)
being 1,1,2-trichloroethane. Ethylene and oxygen are mixed with a hydrogen chloride recycle
stream and sent to an oxychlorination reactor, where the reaction

takes place with a conversion of 96 percent for ethylene and ethylenedichloride selectivities of
95 percent. Here you can assume the byproduct is all 1,1,2-trichloroethane. The output from
the direct chlorination reactor is sent to a distillation tower where the heavy components are
distilled off. The light components are sent to a furnace where a pyrolysis reaction takes place:

The feed to the furnace must be very pure (99.5 percent ethylenedichloride) to achieve good
cracking. The output is quenched. The liquid is the vinyl chloride product and the vapor is
hydrogen chloride, which is recycled to the oxychlorination reactor. The output from the
oxychlorination reactor is cooled to remove the liquid (mostly water). A vent is used to remove
light gases. The remainder goes to a distillation column where ethylenedichloride is the heavy
component (and is sent to the furnace) and the light components are recycled to the
oxychlorination reactor. The feed to the oxychlorination reactor uses a slight excess of oxygen
and ethylene to ensure that all the hydrogen chloride reacts. The feed to the direct
chlorination reactor is stoichiometric.

Vinyl chloride process

5.-
How does the process in Problem 4 change if the furnace is run at the high pressure (1400
kPa)?
 TAREA

ETHANOL PROCESS
Simulate the ethanol process using Aspen Plus. The feed streams are at 1 atm and room
temperature, but the reactor operates at 960 psia and 570 F. Thus, you must heat the reactor
feed, and after the reaction occurs you must cool the product. The first splitter is a vapor
liquid separator (you choose the temperature that will separate ethanol from ethylene), and
the remaining splitters are distillation columns. You will have to decide on the number of
stages and reflux ratio; using DSTWU first might be useful.

Synthetic ethanol is made by vapor-phase hydration of ethylene, as shown in Figure. Make a

mass balance of this process.

Water and ethylene are mixed with a recycle stream and sent to a reactor where the reaction
takes place (5 percent conversion per pass). The ethylene feed is 97 percent ethylene but also
contains acetylene (2.9 percent) and inert gases (0.1 percent). The acetylene reacts with
water, too, forming acetaldehyde (50 percent conversion per pass).

The reactor effluent is cooled to remove the liquids (ethanol, acetaldehyde, water). The gases
(ethylene, acetylene, and inert gases) are recycled, but a purge stream is needed to remove
the inert gases.

Assume perfect splits. Adjust the fraction purged to keep the ratio of inert gas to ethylene in
the stream fed to the reactor at 0.4, and feed enough water to the process to make the molar
ratio of water to ethylene 0.6 in the stream into the reactor. Separate the liquids into relatively
pure component streams, first removing 60 percent of the water, then the acetaldehyde, then
purifying the ethanol to 93 percent by removing water.
 Ethanol process

In the ethylene plus acetylene stream: the ethylene = 419.04 kmol/h.

It is required to obtain: 47.5 kmol/h of Ethanol 93% pure

TAREA

PRODUCCIN DE CUMENO

El cumeno (C6H5C3H7) se produce por la reaccin del benceno y el propileno en un

reactor cataltico de lecho fijo. [ H (77F) = -39 520 Btu/lb-mol.]. Se alimenta al reactor
r

un lquido que contiene 75% en mol de propileno y 25% en mol de n-butano, y un segundo
flujo lquido que contiene esencialmente benceno puro. El benceno fresco y el recirculado,
ambos a 77F, se mezclan en una proporcin 1:3, y pasan a travs de un intercambiador de
calor, donde el efluente del reactor los calienta antes de entrar al reactor. El efluente del
reactor entra a este intercambiador a 400F y sale a 200F. La presin en el reactor es
suficiente para mantener el efluente en estado lquido.

Despus de enfriarse en el intercambiador de calor, el efluente del reactor entra a una

columna de destilacin. Se extrae en la parte superior de la columna todo el butano y el
propileno que no reaccion y en la parte inferior de la columna el cumeno y el benceno que no
reaccion y entran a una segunda columna de destilacin, donde se separan. El benceno que
sale por la parte superior de la segunda columna es el flujo de recirculacin que se mezcla con
la alimentacin de benceno fresco. La velocidad de produccin del cumeno es 1200 lb m/hr.

a) Calcula las velocidades de flujo msico de los flujos que alimentan el reactor, la
velocidad de flujo molar y la composicin del efluente del reactor, y la velocidad de
flujo molar y la composicin del producto de la parte superior de la primera columna
de destilacin.
b) Calcula la temperatura del flujo de benceno que alimenta al reactor, y la velocidad
de adicin o extraccin de calor del reactor que se requiere.
c) Hay probabilidad de que las aproximaciones que se han hecho sobre los datos del
proceso o las condiciones dadas no se puedan realizar en la prctica?.