Aspen Plus Tutorial 1: Hydrogenation of Benzene Hydrogenation of benzene is used to produce cyclohexane in the process showed below.

This example is typical of a model developed for preliminary process flowsheet evaluation. Fresh benzene and make-up hydrogen are mixed with recycle hydrogen and recycle cyclohexane from the process and fed to a fixed-bed catalytic reactor. In the reactor, the reaction is C6H6 + 3 H2 C6H12 The heat released from this highly exothermic reaction is removed by boiling water outside tubes containing the catalyst pellets. The reactor effluent is cooled and separated into liquid and vapor phases. The liquid phase is fed to a distillation column to remove the dissolved light ends and to stabilize the liquid product. Part of the liquid from the separator is recycled to the reactor to aid in temperature control. Once a flowsheet simulation model of the process is developed, it can be used to investigate the effect of the cyclohexane recycle rate on the heat load from the reactor. We can also study the effect of the purge rate on the buildup of inert components in the system. For now, you just need to put the flowsheet together. Use the Redlich-Kwong-Soave (RK-SOAVE) property method in the simulation. The input data are listed as follows:

The description here is taken verbatim from an old Aspen Manual. When you write a report, you need to make a decision if the description should include explicitly the unit and stream labels. Roughly, we do not if we are just making a general conception description. Otherwise, we do if we are writing a technical description of the process and how it is designed.

Feed Streams
Composition (Mole Percent) Hydrogen Nitrogen Methane Benzene Flow rate (lb-mol/h) Temperature (F) Pressure (psia) Fresh Benzene 100.0 100 100 15 Make-up Hydrogen 97.5 0.5 2.0 300 (estimate*) 120 335

* The flow of make-up hydrogen should be set to obtain a mole ratio of

hydrogen to benzene equal to 3.3 in the feed to the reactor

Feed Pump Centrifugal pump Outlet pressure (psia) Feed Preheater Outlet temperature (F) Pressure drop (psi)

335

300 5

Reactor Stoichiometry: as stated in the process description Conversion 99.8 percent conversion of benzene in feed Outlet temperature (F) 400 Pressure drop (psi) 15 Product Cooler Outlet temperature (F) Pressure drop (psi) Separator Heat loss Pressure drop Purge Purge rate Recycle Compressor Positive displacement Outlet pressure (psia) Cyclohexane Recycle Recycle flow Recycle Pump Centrifuge pump Outlet pressure (psia) Stabilizer (Column) No. of theoretical stages Feed location Pressure Reflux ratio Cyclohexane recovery Partial condenser Distillate is vapor product

120 5

negligible negligible

8 percent of vapor from separator

335

30 percent of liquid from separator

335

13 (plus additional condenser and reboiler) 8 (counting from top, condenser = 1) 200 psia throughout 1.2 99.99 percent in bottoms