Process simulation of organic liquid products fractionation in countercurrent multistage columns using CO2 as solvent with Aspen-Hysys

Investigation of optimal operating conditions in dimethyl ether carbonylation to methyl acetate production process

Ethanol production methods are expanding due to the importance of ethanol as a fuel or additive to fuels. One of these methods is converting methanol to ethanol in a three-step process. All of these steps need to deeply study and investigate to develop the process. In this research, the carbonylation of dimethyl ether to produce methyl acetate, which is the intermediate reaction of the three-step process of methanol to ethanol, has been simulated and optimized. The parameters of temperature, pressure, residence time, and feed ratio have been investigated as effective operational parameters of the process. It has been shown that the temperature and pressure of the process are more effective in the ranges of 220-280 °C and 30-50 bar, respectively. The simulation results showed a maximum point in dimethyl ether conversion in the feed ratio of 0.4-0.6, i.e., in temperature of 260 °C, residence time of 5 h, pressure of 45 bar, DME/CO/Ar = 30/67/3, and DME conversion about 22%. Also, it has been shown that increasing the residence time increases the effect of each of the above parameters. Optimization of the dimethyl ether carbonylation process has demonstrated that the combination of different ranges of the above parameters achieves the desired conversion, i.e., in pressure of 48.23 bar, temperature of 259.06 °C, residence time of 3.68 h, and dimethyl ether/feed of 0.461 vol%; conversion of dimethyl ether will be equal to 85.50%.

Simulation of Organic Liquid Product Deoxygenation through Multistage Countercurrent Absorber/Stripping Using CO2 as Solvent with Aspen-HYSYS: Process Modeling and Simulation

In this work, the deoxygenation of organic liquid products (OLP) obtained through the thermal catalytic cracking of palm oil at 450 °C, 1.0 atmosphere, with 10% (wt.) Na₂CO₃ as a catalyst, in multistage countercurrent absorber columns using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) as a solvent, with an Aspen-HYSYS process simulator, was systematically investigated. In a previous study, the thermodynamic data basis and EOS modeling necessary to simulate the deoxygenation of OLP was presented. This work addresses a new flowsheet, consisting of 03 absorber columns, 10 expansions valves, 10 flash drums, 08 heat exchanges, 01 pressure pump, and 02 make-ups of CO₂, aiming to improve the deacidification of OLP. The simulation was performed at 333 K, 140 bar, and (S/F) = 17; 350 K, 140 bar, and (S/F) = 38; 333 K, 140 bar, and (S/F) = 25. The simulation shows that 81.49% of OLP could be recovered and that the concentrations of hydrocarbons in the extracts of absorber-01 and absorber-02 were 96.95 and 92.78% (wt.) on a solvent-free basis, while the bottom stream of absorber-03 was enriched in oxygenated compounds with concentrations of up to 32.66% (wt.) on a solvent-free basis, showing that the organic liquid products (OLP) were deacidified and SC-CO₂ was able to deacidify the OLP and obtain fractions with lower olefin contents. The best deacidifying condition was obtained at 333 K, 140 bar, and (S/F) = 17.

Simulation of Organic Liquid Products Deoxygenation by Multistage Countercurrent Absorber/Stripping Using CO2 as Solvent with Aspen-HYSYS: Thermodynamic Data Basis and EOS Modeling

In this work, the thermodynamic data basis and equation of state (EOS) modeling necessary to simulate the fractionation of organic liquid products (OLP), a liquid reaction product obtained by thermal catalytic cracking of palm oil at 450 °C, 1.0 atmosphere, with 10% (wt.) Na₂CO₃ as catalyst, in multistage countercurrent absorber/stripping columns using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) as solvent, with Aspen-HYSYS was systematically investigated. The chemical composition of OLP was used to predict the density (ρ), boiling temperature (T_b), critical temperature (T_c), critical pressure (P_c), critical volume (V_c), and acentric factor (ω) of all the compounds present in OLP by applying the group contribution methods of Marrero-Gani, Han-Peng, Marrero-Pardillo, Constantinou-Gani, Joback and Reid, and Vetere. The RK-Aspen EOS used as thermodynamic fluid package, applied to correlate the experimental phase equilibrium data of binary systems OLP-_i/CO₂ available in the literature. The group contribution methods selected based on the lowest relative average deviation by computing T_b, T_c, P_c, V_c, and ω. For n-alkanes, the method of Marrero-Gani selected for the prediction of T_c, P_c and V_c, and that of Han-Peng for ω. For alkenes, the method of Marrero-Gani selected for the prediction of T_b and T_c, Marrero-Pardillo for P_c and V_c, and Han-Peng for ω. For unsubstituted cyclic hydrocarbons, the method of Constantinou-Gani selected for the prediction of T_b, Marrero-Gani for T_c, Joback for P_c and V_c, and the undirected method of Vetere for ω. For substituted cyclic hydrocarbons, the method of Constantinou-Gani selected for the prediction of T_b and P_c, Marrero-Gani for T_c and V_c, and the undirected method of Vetere for ω. For aromatic hydrocarbon, the method of Joback selected for the prediction of T_b, Constantinou-Gani for T_c and V_c, Marrero-Gani for P_c, and the undirected method of Vetere for ω. The regressions show that RK-Aspen EOS was able to describe the experimental phase equilibrium data for all the binary pairs undecane-CO₂, tetradecane-CO₂, pentadecane-CO₂, hexadecane-CO₂, octadecane-CO₂, palmitic acid-CO₂, and oleic acid-CO₂, showing average absolute deviation for the liquid phase (AADx) between 0.8% and 1.25% and average absolute deviation for the gaseous phase (AADy) between 0.01% to 0.66%.