Final Exam Jan-Apr 2018

Kent Chemical and Consultancy Ltd Company propose a new plant design to make
20,000 tonnes per annum of refined aniline by the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene.
The product specification requested by the client is a 98% conversion of aniline.
The product design engineering department of the company decides that the process
involves five significant stages. First, nitrobenzene is fed to the vaporizer, where it is
vaporized in a stream of hydrogen. The mixture then is passed into a fluidized bed
reactor for hydrogenation of nitrobenzene. The exit gas from the reactor passes
through a condenser, and the aniline and water are condensed, while the excess
hydrogen is recycled. Later, the crude aniline and water are separated by distillation
for crude aniline recovery. Two distillation columns are used, the first removing water
and lower boiling material and the second removing the higher boiling material
(nitrobenzene) as a mixture with aniline.

Sketch a simple process flow diagram with a complete label to represent the process
flow.
(6 marks)

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