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The project objective is to produce x metric tons per year of styrene through the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene over an iron oxide catalyst. Ethylbenzene and recycled ethylbenzene are mixed and fed into a reactor with superheated steam. The steam provides heat for the endothermic reaction and prevents coking. The products are rapidly cooled and separated. Unconverted ethylbenzene is recycled while styrene purity reaches 99.5%. Students must submit a report with chapters on the project background, process description with flow diagram and equipment details, material and energy balance calculations, and conclusion. The report and an interview will be evaluated, along with peer evaluations.

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80 views

Project Description PDF

The project objective is to produce x metric tons per year of styrene through the dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene over an iron oxide catalyst. Ethylbenzene and recycled ethylbenzene are mixed and fed into a reactor with superheated steam. The steam provides heat for the endothermic reaction and prevents coking. The products are rapidly cooled and separated. Unconverted ethylbenzene is recycled while styrene purity reaches 99.5%. Students must submit a report with chapters on the project background, process description with flow diagram and equipment details, material and energy balance calculations, and conclusion. The report and an interview will be evaluated, along with peer evaluations.

Uploaded by

Foo Xiao Bing
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FACULTY OF CHEMICAL & PROCESS ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Project
Material & Energy Balance (BKF2343)

Process Objective
As a process engineer at a chemical company, you will lead a project to produce x metric ton
per annum of styrene.

Process Description
Styrene (𝐶6 𝐻5 𝐶2 𝐻3 ) is the monomer used to make polystyrene, which has a multitude of
uses, the most common of which are in packaging and insulated styrofoam beverage cups.
Styrene is mainly produced through direct dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene over iron oxide
catalyst. The dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (𝐶6 𝐻5 𝐶2 𝐻5 ) to styrene (Equation 1) is an
endothermic reaction and is carried out in vapor phase in the presence of steam. The steam is
fed into the dehydrogenation reactor and provides the required heat for the reaction, keeps the
catalyst in the appropriate oxidation state, and prevents excessive coking or carbon formation.

𝐶6 𝐻5 𝐶2 𝐻5 → 𝐶 6 𝐻5 𝐶2 𝐻3 + 𝐻2 (Eqn 1)
Ethylbenzene Styrene Hydrogen

Fresh ethylbenzene is mixed with a recycled ethylbenzene, heated, and then fed to the reactor
together with superheated steam. The steam is an inert in the reaction, raises the temperature
of the ethylbenzene feed to a required temperature and provides a necessary energy for the
reaction. The side reactions that competing the main reaction are cracking reaction that
degrades ethylbenzene into benzene and ethylene (Equation 2); and hydrodealkylation
(ethylbenzene reacts with hydrogen) to produce methane and toluene (Equation 3).

𝐶6 𝐻5 𝐶2 𝐻5 → 𝐶6 𝐻6 + 𝐶2 𝐻4 (Eqn 2)
Ethylbenzene Benzene Ethylene

𝐶6 𝐻5 𝐶2 𝐻5 + 𝐻2 → 𝐶6 𝐻5 𝐶𝐻3 + 𝐶𝐻4 (Eqn 3)


Ethylbenzene Hydrogen Toluene Methane
Directly after the reactor, the whole products stream is cooled down rapidly to prevent
styrene polymerization reactions. The products and the diluent undergo a phase transition
from vapor to liquid and go through a series of separation units. The separation processes also
occur at low pressure (~0.6 atm) to avoid polymerization. The hydrocarbon products are also
separated to recover styrene and the unconverted ethylbenzene is then recycled. The final
purity of styrene is 99.5%.

Tasks:
You and your team need to prepare a comprehensive report to the Senior Process Engineer
with the following guidelines:

1) Chapter 1: Project background


a. Introduction
b. Review on styrene production
c. Objective
2) Chapter 2: Process description
a. Detail description on dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene
b. Process flow diagram (PFD) for the styrene production with complete
labelling (ie stream number, species/component, temperature, pressure, phase).
c. Explain/Describe the process and equipment involved (function of equipment,
operating condition etc)
3) Chapter 3: Material & Energy Balances (list all assumptions, cite all references for
process variables, detail calculations, table of streams summary)
4) Chapter 4: Conclusion

In addition, you have to consider the following:


1) Use appropriate auxiliary equipment - compressor/pump and heater/cooler in your
process.
2) Provide and cite references for the process variables (temperature, pressure,
conversion, selectivity, composition etc) used in your calculations.
3) Show clearly all the manual calculations involving MATERIAL AND ENERGY
BALANCES for EACH process unit in HANDWRITING. State all assumptions
for your calculations.
4) Besides the manual calculation, conduct the calculations in MS Excel. Make sure
that the calculations are flexible for any flow rate basis and temperature. The softcopy
for MS Excel calculation must be submitted together with this report through CD or
email.
5) Summarized all stream components in a table after material balance calculations
(composition/flow rate).
6) Provide conclusion for your report.

Project Assessments:
This project will be evaluated based on the following distribution:
Report – 70%
Interview – 15%
Peer Evaluation – 15%

Project due dates:


The final report to be submitted on the 13th week.
The interview session will be conducted in the 14th week (will be decided later)

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