CHEE 401

Design Project

10/30/12

Design of a Chlorobenzene Purication System The semester project for Unit Operations will consist of designing a system which can separate hydrochloric acid from a mixture of benzene and chlorobenzene (MCB). Chlorobenzene is a common industrial precursor for many chemicals, and has a wide market available for sale. The industrial reaction for manufacture of MCB consumes benzene, producing MCB and HCl as a byproduct. HCl is often recycled back into the process or neutralized while MCB undergoes further purication. An inuent stream at 254 F and 32 psia enters a separation unit with a liquid fraction of 1. The composition is 149.3 lbmol/hr of MCB, 40 lbmol/hr of benzene, and 0.6 lbmol/hr of HCl. Your goal will be to design a liquidliquid extraction system capable of removing HCl from the given feed stream. The solvent used is water with dissolved potassium hydroxide. Design Criteria It is desired that the process leave only trace amounts of HCl in the product. The design target for this project is 5 ppm (by weight) of HCl in the product stream. Neutralization salts in the product stream should be kept below 100 ppm by weight. There is no restriction on the type of liquidliquid extraction used or the number of unit operations. The overall goal, however, is to perform the separation as cheaply as possible. Deliverables The nal project will consist of a detailed report with a narrative of not less than three single-spaced pages with no larger than 12pt font and 1 inch margins. The report should discuss the benets and drawbacks of your chosen method, as well as how you arrived at the nal design. The due date is November 30th at 5:00 PM. Initial hand calculations should be performed rst, followed by simulation in Aspen. In addition, you must include an appendix with the following information. Initial hand calculations of your design An overall PFD for the system (Aspen Printout) Detailed design and operating characteristics of all equipment used