Design-002H Revised: Nov 7, 2012

Ammonia Synthesis with Aspen HYSYS® V8.0

Part 2 Closed Loop Simulation of Ammonia Synthesis

1. Lesson Objectives
 Build upon the open loop Ammonia Synthesis process simulation
 Insert a purge stream
 Learn how to close recycle loops
 Explore closed loop convergence methods
 Optimize process operating conditions to maximize product composition and flowrate
 Learn how to utilize the model analysis tools built into Aspen HYSYS
 Find the optimal purge fraction to meet desired product specifications
 Determine the effect on product composition of a decrease in cooling efficiency of the pre -flash
cooling unit

2. Prerequisites
 Aspen HYSYS V8.0
 Design-001 Module (Part 1 of this series)

3. Background; Recap of Ammonia Process

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The examples presented are solely intended to illustrate specific concepts and principles. They may not
reflect an industrial application or real situation.

4. Aspen HYSYS Solution:

In Part 1 of this series (Design-001H), the following flowsheet was developed for an open loop Ammonia
Synthesis process.

This process produces two outlet streams; a liquid stream containing the ammonia product and a vapor stream
containing mostly unreacted hydrogen and nitrogen. It is desired to capture and recycle these unreacted
materials to minimize costs and maximize product yield.

Add Recycle Loop to Ammonia Synthesis Process

Beginning with the open loop flowsheet constructed in Part 1 of this series, a recycle loop will be constructed to
recover unreacted hydrogen and nitrogen contained in the vapor stream named S7, shown below.

4.01. The first step will be to add a tee to separate the vapor stream S7 into two streams; a purge stream and
a recycle stream. As a rule of thumb, whenever a recycle stream exists, there must be an associated
purge stream to create an exit route for impurities or byproducts contained in the process. Often times
if an exit route does not exist, impurities will build up in the process and the simulation will fail to
converge due to a mass balance error.

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4.02. On the main flowsheet add a Tee block from the Model Palette. The tee block will fractionally split a
stream into several streams according to user specifications. Note that you can rotate the tee using the
Rotate button on the Flowsheet/Modify tab of the ribbon.

4.03. Double click the tee (TEE-100) to open the property window. Select S7 as the Inlet stream and create
two Outlet streams called Rec1 and Purge.

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4.04. In the Parameters form under the Design tab, enter a value of 0.01 for the Flow Ratio of the purge
stream. This means that 1% of the S7 stream will be diverged to the purge stream. The tee should solve.

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4.05. In order to recycle stream Rec1 back to the mixer, we must add a Recycle block to the flowsheet. The
recycle block is a theoretical block which acts to compare and modify the values of the outlet stream
until the inlet and outlet streams are equal to a specified tolerance.

4.06. Double click the recycle block (RCY-1). Select Rec1 as the Inlet stream and create an Outlet stream
called Rec2. The flowsheet should now look like the following.

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4.07. We need to add a compressor to raise the pressure of the recycle stream before we can connect it back
to the mixer. Add a Compressor to the flowsheet. Select Rec2 as the Inlet stream, create an Oulet
stream called Rec3, and create an Energy stream called Q-Comp2. Specify an outlet stream Pressure of
274 bar_g in the Worksheet tab. The compressor should solve and the flowsheet should look like the
following.

4.08. The recycle stream is now ready to be connected back to the mixer block to close the loop. Double click
on the mixer (MIX-100) to open the property window. Add stream Rec3 to the Inlet streams. The
flowsheet should solve.

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4.09. Check results. Double click on stream NH3. In the Composition form under the Worksheet tab you can
see that the mole fraction of ammonia is now 0.9581. This is below our desired mole fraction of 0.96.

Optimize the Purge Rate to Deliver Desired Product

4.10. We now wish determine the purge rate required to deliver a product with a mole fraction of 0.96
ammonia. Add an adjust block to the flowsheet.

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4.11. Double click the adjust block (ADJ-1) to open the adjust window. We must define our adjusted and
targeted variables. For the Adjusted Variable select Flow Ratio_2 of object TEE-100. To do this, click
the Select Var… button and select the following options. When finished select OK.

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4.12. Next, select the targeted variable. Choose Master Comp Mole Frac of Ammonia in stream NH3. This is
shown below. When finished click OK.

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4.13. Next, we will specify the target of 0.96 for the Mole Fraction of Ammonia in the product stream. The
adjust window should now look like the following.

4.14. Go to the Parameters tab and enter a Step Size of 0.001, and a Maximum Iterations of 1000. Click Start
to begin calculations. The adjust block should solve. Go to the Monitor tab to view results. You can see
that the mole fraction of ammonia in the product stream reached 0.96 at a purge fraction of 0.019.

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4.15. The flowsheet should now look like the following.

Investigate the Effect of Flash Feed Temperature on Product Composition

4.16. We would now like to determine how fluctuations in flash feed temperature will affect the product
composition. Changes in cooling efficiency or utility fluid temperature can change the temperature of
the flash feed stream. This change in temperature will change the vapor fraction of the stream, thus
changing the composition of the product and recycle streams. First, we need to deactivate the adjust
block. Double click the adjust block and check Ignored.

4.17. In the navigation pane go to Case Studies and click Add.

4.18. A new case study called Case Study 1 will be created. In Case Study 1 click Add to add variables to the
study. First we will select the Mole Fraction of Ammonia in the product stream NH3.

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4.19. Next, we will add the Temperature of stream S6.

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4.20. We will vary the Temperature of stream S6 from 25°C to 100°C with a Step Size of 5°C.

4.21. Click the Run button, and then go to the Plots tab to view the results.

4.22. You will see that as temperature increases, the ammonia mole fraction decreases which means that
when operating this process it will be very important to monitor the flash feed temperature in order to
deliver high quality product.

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5. Conclusion
This simulation has proved the feasibility of this design by solving the mass and energy balances. It is now ready
to begin to analyze this process for its economic feasibility. See module Design-003H to being the economic
analysis.

6. Copyright

Copyright © 2012 by Aspen Technology, Inc. (“AspenTech”). All rights reserved. This work may not be
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