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ABSTRACT

The proposed process design project is to produce high purity, rubber graded stearic acid from crude palm oil through continues counter-current, high pressure fat splitting technology, known as Colgate-Emery process. Stearic acid is a type of saturated acid with the molecular formula of C18H36O2. Typically, the main usages of the rubber graded stearic acid are lubricants, plasticizer and activator agents in plastic and rubber industries. It is forecasted that the demand of stearic acid to increase with the growing production of rubber and plastic industry. Besides that, it was also predicted that an extra global production of 1.5 million tonnes stearic acid is needed to cater the shortage globally in coming years. This project paper is mainly to determine the feasibility of constructing a stearic acid plant, ranging from economic analysis of product, ideal process synthesis and preliminary economic study by design level. The plant was designed to operate at production capacity of 30,000 ton per year with stearic acid purity of 98% and significant by-products of palmitic acid, myristic acid and glycerine. The plant is desired to be construct at Penang Science Park, Penang. The core process in the production of stearic acid is the hydrolysis of crude palm oil at 260C and 6000 kPa, where the triglycerides, diglycerides, are monoglycerides broken down by water to saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. In order to increase the yield of stearic acid, hydrogenation of unsaturated acid, linoleic acid and oleic acid, is further carried out in packed bed reactor at 210C and 2500 kPa with the aid of palladium catalyst to boost the reaction. After reaction, separation of components will be carried out to obtain the stearic acid at desired purity. The finalised product is in solid flakes form. Heat integration analysis was carried out and the modified process flow diagram could achieve 16.8% of energy recovery. Besides that, automatic control strategies of equipment in the process were considered and a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) was drawn. Suitable pipe size for every single stream was also calculated. On the other hand, detail process designs for all the equipment involved in the process were done. Apart from this, process of utility involving cooling tower, Calcium Chloride site, and boiler house were also designed. Waste treatment system was designed to ensure the discharges from our plant are within the limit standards. Detail discounted cash flow analysis was carried out to determine the profitability of the plant operation. Finally, HAZOP analysis was also carried out to improve the piping and instrumentation diagram in terms of safety of operations.

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ABSTRAK

Projek reka bentuk yang dicadang adalah untuk menghasilkan asid stearik pada ketulenan yang tinggi, daripada minyak sawit mentah melalui aliran arus berlawanan, teknologi pemisahan lemak pada tekanan yang tinggi, yang dikenali sebagai proses Colgate-Emery. Asid stearik adalah sejenis asid tepu dengan formula molekul C18H36O2. Kegunaan utama asid stearik, gred getah ialah sebagai pelincir, plasticizer dan agen pengaktif dalam plastik dan industri getah. Diramalkan bahawa permintaan asid stearik akan meningkat dengan pengeluaran industri getah dan plastik yang semakin meningkat. Selain itu, ia juga diramalkan bahawa pengeluaran global tambahan global sebanyak 1.5 juta tan asid stearik diperlukan untuk menampung kekurangan di seluruh dunia dalam tahun-tahun akan datang. Loji telah direka untuk beroperasi pada kapasiti pengeluaran 30,000 tan setahun dengan ketulenan asid stearik sebanyak 98% dan hasil sampingan iaitu asid palmitik, asid Miristik dan gliserin. Loji ini akan dibina di Taman Sains Pulau Pinang, Pulau Pinang. Proses teras dalam pengeluaran asid stearik adalah hidrolisis minyak sawit mentah pada 260 C dan 6000 kPa, dimana trigliserida, digliserida, monogliserida dipecahkan oleh air kepada asid lemak tepu dan tak tepu. Dalam usaha untuk meningkatkan hasil asid stearik, penghidrogenan asid tak tepu iaitu asid linoleik dan asid oleik, lagi dijalankan dalam reactor pada 210 C dan 2500 kPa dengan bantuan pemangkin palladium untuk meningkatkan tindak balas. Selepas tindak balas, pemisahan komponen akan dijalankan untuk mendapatkan asid stearik pada ketulenan yang diingini. Produk akhir adalah dalam bentuk pepejal. Analisis haba integrasi telah dijalankan dan gambarajah aliran proses yang diubahsuai boleh mencapai 16.8% daripada pemulihan tenaga. Selain itu, strategi kawalan automatik peralatan dalam proses telah dipertimbangkan dan gambar rajah paip dan instrumentasi (P & ID) telah disediakan. Saiz paip Sesuai untuk aliran setiap satu juga dikira. Sebaliknya, reka bentuk proses terperinci untuk semua peralatan yang terlibat dalam proses telah dilakukan. Selain daripada ini, proses utiliti melibatkan menara penyejuk, Tempat penyediaan Kalsium Klorida, dan dandang rumah juga telah direka. Sistem rawatan sisa buangan telah direka untuk memastikan pelepasan dari kilang kami berada dalam had piawaian. Aliran tunai yang terdiskaun telah dijalankan untuk menentukan keuntungan operasi kilang. Akhirnya, analisis HAZOP juga dijalankan untuk meningkatkan tarak keselamatan operasi berdasarkan gambarajah paip dan instrumentasi.