4.

Ethanol is produced commercially by hydration of ethylene given by reaction 1 below:

C2H4 + H2O → C2H5OH

At the same time, part of the resulting ethanol reacts further into diethyl ether and water in
the same reactor in reaction 2 as follows.

2C2H5OH → (C2H5)2O + H2O

The reactor feed contains ethylene, steam and an inert gas. The product from the reactor
contains 43.3 mole % ethylene, 2.5 mole % ethanol, 0.14 mole % diethyl ether and 9.3
mole % inert material.

a. Draw the process flow diagram and label it appropriately.

Feed x = 0.433 Product xiA = 0 xiA = 0.025

x xiW = 0.4476
xiWiD = 0 Conversion = 0.8 xiD = 0.0014
xiI = 0.093
xiI
(5 marks)

Ni No
xiE Ethanol Reactor iE

b. Perform a degree of freedom analysis.

Variables: Ni xiE xiA xiW xiD No xoE xiA xoW xoD

Number of independent variables = 10 + 2 (rate of reaction r1 and r2 are additional
variables)
Number of components = 5 (ethylene, ethanol (A), water, diethyl ether, inert)
Number of independent material balance equations = 5
Number of variables given values = 4
Number of relationships (conversion and selectivity) = 2
Degree of freedom = Number of independent variables – Number of independent material
balance equations – Number of variables given values – Number of relationship
(conversion)
= 10 + 2– 5 – 4 – 2 = 1