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Week 2 A

A new vinyl chloride monomer production facility is proposed with an annual capacity of 800 million pounds. Two alternatives are considered: purchasing chlorine from a nearby plant or using hydrochloric acid produced on-site. The third alternative of thermally cracking 1,2-dichloroethane produced from chlorinating ethylene is selected due to its high conversion rates and minimal undesirable byproducts. Preliminary mass balances are developed based on the required vinyl chloride production of 100,000 pounds per hour.

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34 views16 pages

Week 2 A

A new vinyl chloride monomer production facility is proposed with an annual capacity of 800 million pounds. Two alternatives are considered: purchasing chlorine from a nearby plant or using hydrochloric acid produced on-site. The third alternative of thermally cracking 1,2-dichloroethane produced from chlorinating ethylene is selected due to its high conversion rates and minimal undesirable byproducts. Preliminary mass balances are developed based on the required vinyl chloride production of 100,000 pounds per hour.

Uploaded by

sehun
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DESIGN PROBLEM

Problem statement:

In order to meet new demands for vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), proposed
adding new production facility in an existing Peninsular Malaysia petrochemical
complex with expected annual capacity of 800 million pounds

Since VCM is an extremely toxic substance, it is recommended that all new facilities
be designed in accordance to latest Malaysian government health and safety
regulations.
POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES
Alternative 1.

Purchase and ship, by pipeline from a nearby plant, chlorine from the
electrolysis of NaCl solution. React the chlorine with in-house ethylene to
produce VCM and HCl as a byproduct.

Alternative 2.

The petrochemical complex produces HCl as a byproduct in large quantities.


Reactions of HCl with acetylene, or ethylene and oxygen, could produce 1,2-
dichloroethane, an intermediate that can be cracked to produce VCM.
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CHEMICALS USED IN VCM PRODUCTION
SELECTION OF PATHWAY TO VCM (1)
Direct chlorination of ethylene:

 Advantages:
– Occurs spontaneously at a few hundred degree Celcius .

 Disadvantages:
– Half of the expensive chlorine is consumed to produce the byproduct HCl, which
may not be sold easily.
– Does not give a high yield of VC without simultaneously producing large amounts
of byproducts such as dichloroethylene.

*Attractive solution to alternative 1


SELECTION OF PATHWAY TO VCM (2)
Hydrochlorination of acetylene:

 Advantages:
– It provides a good conversion (98%) of C2H2 to VC at 150oC and atmospheric pressure, in the
presence of mercuric chloride (HgCl2 ) catalyst impregnated in activated carbon.
– These are fairly moderate reaction conditions.
 Disadvantages:
– Flammability limits of C2H2 (2.5  100%)

*Potential solution for alternative 2.


SELECTION OF PATHWAY TO VCM (3)
Thermal cracking of C2H4Cl2 from chlorination of C2H4:

 Advantages:
– Conversion of ethylene to 1,2-dichloroethane (Eq. 3) is ~ 98% at 90 OC and 1 atm.
– The dichloroethane is converted to VC by thermal cracking according to the endothermic
reaction (Eq. 4), which occurs spontaneously at 500 oC with conversions as high as 65%.
– Does not produce by product dichloroethylene in significant quantities.
 Disadvantage:
– Half of the expensive chlorine is consumed to produce by product HCl, which may not be sold
easily.

*Potential solution for alternative 1.


SELECTION OF PATHWAY TO VCM (4)
Thermal cracking of C2H4Cl2 from oxychlorination of C2H4:

C2H4  2HCl  21 O2  C2H4Cl2  H2O (Eq.5)


C2H4Cl2  C2H3Cl  HCl (Eq.4)
C2H4  HCl  21 O2  C2H3Cl  H2O (Eq.6)
 Advantages:
– Highly exothermic reaction (Eq. 5) achieves a 95% conversion to C 2H4Cl2 in the presence of
CuCl2 catalyst, followed by pyrolysis step (Eq. 4) as in Reaction Pathway No. 3.
– Excellent candidate when cost of HCl is low.
 Disadvantage:
– Economics dependent on cost of HCl.

*Solution for alternative 2.


SELECTION OF PATHWAY TO VCM (5)
Balanced Process for Chlorination of Ethylene:

 Advantages:
– Combination of Reaction Pathways No. 3 and 4 - addresses Alternative 1.
– All Cl2 converted to VC
– All of the HCl produced in the pyrolysis reaction is consumed in the oxychlorination reaction.
Hence, no by-products!

*Solution for alternative 1.


EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE PATHWAYS

• Reaction Pathway (1) is CHEMICAL BULK PRICES


eliminated due its low
selectivity with respect to the Chemical Cost (cents/lb)
competing reactions (not Ethylene 18
shown) that produce Acetylene 50
undesirable byproducts. Chlorine 11
• This leaves four alternative Vinyl chloride 22
paths, to be Hydrogen chloride 18
compared first in terms of Water 0
Oxygen (air) 0
Gross Profit.
COMPUTING GROSS PROFIT
Reaction path (3) C2H4 + Cl2 = C2H3Cl + HCl
lb-mole 1 1 1 1
Molecular weight 28.05 70.91 62.50 36.46
lb 28.05 70.91 62.50 36.46

cents/lb 18 11 22 18

• Gross Profit = Income from sales of products and byproducts MINUS cost of the
raw materials
• Use OVERALL reaction when calculating the gross profit of a pathway.

Gross profit = 22(62.5) + 18(36.46) - 18(28.05) - 11(70.91) = 746.37cents


Gross profit per lb of product (VC)  746.37/62.5 = 11.94 cents/lb VC
GROSS PROFITS – PATHWAYS 2 - 4

*Pathway 3 generated the most Gross Profits


PRELIMINARY FLOWSHEET FOR PATH 3

Raw Materials Products


Process Flowsheet?
C2H4, Cl2 C2H3Cl, HCl

800 million lb/year @ 330 days/y  100,000 lb/hr VC


PRELIMINARY FLOWSHEET FOR PATH 3

Cl2 HCl
113,400 lb/hr 58,300 lb/hr
Raw Materials C2H4Cl2 Products
Process Flowsheet?
HCl
C2H4,Direct
Cl2 Pyrolysis C2H3Cl, HCl
Chlorination
C2H3Cl
C2H4Cl2
C2H3Cl
C2H4 C2H4 + Cl2 C2H4Cl2 C2H4Cl2  C2H3Cl + HCl
100,000 lb/hr
44,900 lb/hr

• On the basis of this principal sink, the HCl sink and reagent sources can be computed
(each flow is 1,600 lbmol/hr)

Estimated mass flow rate using info from Gross Profit table:
HCl: 100,000 x 36.46/62.5 = 58,336 lb/hr
C2H4: 100,000 x 28.05/62.5 = 44,880 lb/hr
Cl2: 100,000 x 70.91/62.5 = 113,456 lb/hr

Molar flow 100,000 / 62.5 = 1600 lbmol/hr

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