PRODUCTION OF 60000 TONNES OF

PTHALIC ANHYDRIDE FROM

NAPHTHALENE
Submitted by,

Priyank Raj (1071210029)

Anjilappa
(1071210039)
Atharv Kumar (1071210075)
Department Of Chemical Engineering,
SRM University, Kattankulathur-603203
Project Guide

K.Selvam. M.Tech., (Ph.D),

Assistant Professor(Sr.G)
19/2/2016

Introduction
It is the anhydride of Phthalic acid.
It is used as Plasticizers(Phthalate esters) for
plastics production in large scale.
The primary use of phthalic anhydride is as a
chemical intermediate in the production of
plastics from vinyl chloride.
It is used to make polyester resins.

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Physical Properties of Phthalic anhydride

Boiling Point

295o C

Melting Point

131.6o C

Molecular weight

148.1 g/mol

Color

Colorless

IUPAC Name

Isobenzofuran-1,3-dione.

Molecular Formula C6H4(CO)2O

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Selection of Process
Pthalic Anhydride is manufactured by two
processes:
Vapor Phase Oxidation of Naphthalene
Oxidation of Ortho-Xylene
The Vapor Phase Oxidation of Naphthalene method
is selected for this project, because it is a simple
process compared to its counter part and raw
material availability is easy.
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Objective
Design a Plant for the production of 60000 tonnes of
Pthalic Anhydride from naphthalene taking into
consideration the mass and energy balance for
individual unit operations, design of equipments,
economic balances, Instrumentation and control,
and the safety measures.

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Reactions Involved

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Process Flow Diagram

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Process Description
Napthalene is vapourized in the naphthalene
furnace and air is preheated.
The air-napthalene mixture is sent into the bottom
of fluidized bed reactor.
Reactor contains Vanadium pentoxide catalyst in
a silica gel carrier.
Due to the exothermic reaction excessive heat
produced is removed by molten salt circulation.
Vapour mixture from the reactor is cooled by
boiling feed water to a temperature just above the
dew point.
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Process Description contd..

It is then sent to switch condensers.
Net result of switch condensers is that all of the light
gases and water leave as vapour and remaining
anhydrides and napthoquinone leave as liquids.
The liquid pressure is then reduced to vacuum for
distillation.
Maleic anhydride is removed as distillate in the first
column and pthalic anhydride is removed in the second
column.
Napthoquinone is removed as bottom product from
the second column.
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List of work to be done

Mass Balance
Energy Balance
Design of Equipments
Plant Layout design
Instrumentation and process Control studies
Process Economic Calculation

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References
Unit Operations Of Chemical
Engineering(Warren and Smith).
Chemical Engineering(Coulson &
Richardson).
Shreves Chemical Process Industries.
Wikipedia

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