Modelling Of Reactive Distillation For The Production Of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE): Parametric Sensitivity Study On Kinetic Model
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Date
2021-05-01
Authors
Mohamed Fahim, Mohamed Zubir
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Modelling of reactive distillation for the production of MTBE has been presented
in this thesis. A reactive distillation column modelled by using RADFRAC module in the
Aspen Plus V10 software for the production of MTBE. The simulation was done on an
equilibrium basis. Prior to running the simulation, all the necessary data were collected. The
kinetic data which is the coefficients of the equilibrium equation were collected from the
equilibrium equation. The values obtained were 357.094, -1492.77, -77.4002 and 0.507563.
These values were entered into the Aspen Plus V10 built-in Keq expression. The simulated
model was verified by comparing to the published data. Once it was verified, the simulation
was then used to carry out parametric sensitivity study on kinetic model. The effect of
changes in the kinetic data and four different operating conditions of choice such as the
feed flowrate of methanol, the feed flowrate of mixed butenes, the reflux ratio and the
composition of isobutylene on the simulation results in terms of MTBE purity and
isobutylene conversion were studied in detail. The individual best values for each
operating conditions were determined. Then optimization carried out. The optimized
values were 209.3 mol/s for methanol feed flowrate, 583.2 mol/s for mixed butenes feed
flowrate, 7 for reflux ratio and 0.357 for isobutylene mole fraction. From these set of
values, a MTBE purity and isobutylene conversion of 100.00 % obtained successfully.
This study shows that the changes in parameters influences the performance of reactive
distillation process for the production of MTBE.