Optimisation of Distillation

Column and Energy Reduction

Energy reduction in chemical processes is necessary to sustain cost effective production
and manage capacity in an ever changing marketplace, especially given the volatility in
feedstock and energy costs. Good energy management helps maximize plant profitability.
This article details how these objectives can be met through the use of simulation software.

I
n VCM production, ethylene dichloride is ther- controlled by means of flooded condenser by vary-
mally cracked at a temperature of 498 °C and ing the top product flow and hence the surface area
pressure of 12 barg to produce vinyl chloride of condenser.
monomer (VCM) and anhydrous hydrogen
chloride (HCl). Ethylene dichloride (EDC) is manu- Project Objective
factured by direct chlorination and oxychlorination. The main objective of the simulation modelling
About 50% of the EDC fed to the furnace is cracked. was to find out the energy reduction potential in the
The effluents of the cracker are uncracked EDC, VCM column without any capital investment.
VCM, HCl, and heavy byproducts. These effluents
are separated in downstream distillation columns. Methodology
The purpose of the VCM column is to separate The methodology followed in this study is out-
VCM from EDC and heavy byproducts. The column lined below.
top operating pressure is 6.0 kg/cm2g and has 70 1. Selection of model from Aspen Plus for distilla-
sieve trays. The column top operating temperature is tion column
45 °C and bottom operating temperature is 164 °C. 2. Selection of property method
The column has a cooling water condenser and a 3. Validation of property method based on process
vertical thermosyphon reboiler with heating media flow diagram (PFD)
T of 18 barg steam. The top product purity is main-
tained by reflux which is flow controlled, and bottom
4. Preparation of distillation column model
5. Validation of the model based on Licensor’s PFD
E product purity is maintained by reboiler steam which
maintains the temperature of 10th tray from the
6. Fine tuning of the model based on present
operating parameters
C bottom of the column. The column pressure is being 7. Sensitivity analysis
8. Trial plan based on optimized window
H 9. Analysis
10. Conclusion
N Aspen Plus simulation software is used for steady
state simulation. For the purpose of optimisation
O study, Radfrac, a rigorous model for distillation
columns, was selected.
L Peng Robinson was selected as a property method
and it was validated based on property data predic-
O tion by the method and by comparing the same with
G the actual flow diagram provided by the Licensor.
The flowsheet was prepared in the Aspen Plus
Y Figure 1. VCM Process Block Flow Diagram.
simulation environment resembling the actual flow
scheme of the column.
FLNG
Performance
Feature
Optimization
HSE 32 HYDROCARBON ASIA, OCT-DEC 2009 Visit our website at: http://www.safan.com
 Initially, the PFD data was taken for feed compo-
sition and the prediction of the model for the top
and bottom products was compared to the compo-
nent-wise composition in material balance table on
the PFD. Next actual feed compositions were ana-
lysed and input to the model and the model predic-
tions carefully evaluated. Fine tuning of model was
done through Murphree tray efficiency adjustments
and following parameters were matched with ac-
tual plant data.
• Temperature profile along the column
• Condenser and reboiler duty
• Reflux and steam flow
• Top and bottom products composition
Case study and sensitivity analyses were then
performed to understand the effect of various vari-
ables like column pressure, reflux ratio, etc., with-
out compromising the top and bottom product
specifications.
It was concluded from the simulation study that
it is possible to reduce the reflux ratio from operat-
ing value of 0.42 to 0.38 without compromising
product quality. This recommendation was im-
plemented by a step-wise reduction of the reflux
ratio in operating plant.
Beyond energy savings, the same simulation
model was utilized for evaluating the potential for
increased throughput in the column. The tray rat-
ings were done by specifying the existing geom-
etry of sieve trays, and the flooding tendency was
evaluated in various sections of the column. Simu-
lation results showed that the column can be oper-
ated at 120% of normal operating throughput and
the same was implemented in the plant.
The results from both the energy / reflux analysis
and the increased throughput analysis are sum-
marized in the table below.
Feed flow
m3/hr
Normal Operation 53.84
After simulation implementation 54.11
Higher capacity operation (120% of normal) 64.50
Figure 2. VCM Column Simulation Study Results
Benefits and Conclusions
The VCM column reflux ratio was optimized from
0.42 to 0.38 which lead to a reduction of energy in the
reboiler of around 300 kg/hr of medium pressure
steam (18.0 barg). This translates into energy savings
of 0.17 MMKCal/hr, resulting in economic benefits
of INR 1.5 Million per annum without any capital
investment.
The simulation model prediction was highly accu-
rate and very close to reality. The same column was
operated at 120% of normal operating throughput
as predicted from the results of simulation which
yielded additional capacity of 10.3 tonne/hr of feed.
HA Enquiry Number 10/12-07
This publication thanks Mr. Sunil Patil, Business
Consultant, Aspen Technology Inc., Pune, India, and
Mr. Viral Desai, Central Technical Services, Reliance
Industries Ltd.,Dahej Manufacturing Division, India,
for providing this paper.
Mr. Patil holds a Masters in Chemical
Engineering from Shivaji University,
Kolhapur, India, and has more than 8 years
of experience with companies such as Gal-
axy Surfactants Ltd, Sulzer India Ltd and Honeywell
Automation India Ltd. He is currently working at
Aspen Technology, Inc. as Business Consultant & is
based in India. In this role he is responsible for busi-
ness consulting and market development of
AspenTech engineering products and solutions for
South Asia.
Mr. Desai holds a B.E (Chemical) from
M.S. University of Baroda and is having 10
years of industrial experience in the petro-
chemical industry. He is presently working
with Central Technical Services at Dahej Manufactur-
ing Division, Reliance Industries Limited, India, where
he is responsible for process engineering and simula-
tion. He has worked in plant operations for 8 years in
different capacities. The major projects handled by
him include debottlenecking studies using simulation
and design tools to increase the production capacity,
simulation studies to optimize distillation column
performance w.r.t. quality, throughput, and energy
and pinch study simulation of a gas cracker plant.
Reflux flow Product flow Steam flow Top pressure Reflux ratio Energy to reboiler
m3/hr m3/hr kg/hr kg/cm2g MMkcal/hr
10.64 25.47 5270.55 6.00 0.42 2.39
9.60 25.34 4901.68 6.00 0.38 2.22
10.50 30.56 5607.00 6.00 0.37 2.55
References
1. Engineering Data Book, Tenth ED., Vol.1,2, Gas
Processors Suppliers Association, Tulsa, Okla-
homa,1987.
2. Robert H. Perry, Don W.Green, Perry’s Chemical
Engineers’ Handbook, Seventh Edition.
3. ASPEN Plus Manual.
4. Process flow diagram
HYDROCARBON ASIA, OCT-DEC 2009 33