FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN KIMIA

PROCESS SIMULATION LABORATORY

( CPE 613 )
NAME

: TUNKU FARAH SHAHEERA BT TUNKU SULIEMAN

STUDENT ID

: 2013860184

EXPERIMENT

: 3 (AN ACYCLIC PROCESS)

DATE PERFORMED
SEMESTER
PROGRAMME
SUBMIT TO

No.
1
2
3
4

: 23RD OCTOBER 2015

:5
: EH 2205B
: MADAM NORASMAH MOHAMMED MANSHOR

Title
Procedure
Process Flow Diagram (PFD)
Workbook
Questions & Discussions
Total marks

Allocated Marks (%)

10
20
30
40
100

Marks

Remarks :

Checked by:
Date:

Rechecked by:
Date:

1.0 Procedure
1. Click on the start menu. Select Aspen HYSYS V8.6 software.
2. Open a new case. Click the new in the toolbar.
3. Enter the following values in the specified fluid package view:
Property package
Components

Peng
1.
2.
3.

Robinson
n-heptane
Toluene
Hydrogen

4. Add a reaction and choose a conversion type of reaction.

5. Add a stream with following values.
Name
Temperature
Molar flow

Stream 1
65F
100 lbmole/h

Figure 1 : Conditions at Stream 1

6. At the Stream 1, the composition values for the three components was
added as given in the stoichiometry equation.
C7H16 C7H8 + 4H2

Components
n-heptane
Hydrogen
toluene

Mole fractions
1.000
0.000
0.000

Figure 2 : Mole fractions in Stream 1

7. A heater was added so that the temperature of feed stream increased

to 800F.

Figure 3 : Conditions at a Heater

8. At the outlet of the heater, we labeled as Stream 2 which the
conditions of the stream is the temperature of the stream is 800F and
the pressure of 101.3 kPa.

Figure 4 : Conditions at Stream 2

9. A conversion reactor was added after the heater with following values.
Name
Temperature
Molar flow

Oxidation Reactor
800F
100 lbmole/h

Figure 5 : Conditions in a Conversion Reactor.

Figure 6 : Compositions of the components in a conversion reactor

10.
A condenser was added with the following conditions
temperature of 65F and pressure of 101.3 kPa.

Figure 7 : Conditions in a Condenser

11.
The composition of the components in the entering and leaving
stream of the condenser was calculated by Aspen HYSYS software.

Figure 8 : Composition of the components in a condenser

12.
After the effluent from condenser produced, it was purged into a
separator stream to remove hydrogen gas at least up to 96%. The
conditions of the separator was the same as in the condenser.

Figure 9 : Conditions at the Separator

13.
But the compositions for the overhead and bottom products of
the separator was calculated separately by the Aspen HYSYS software

Figure 10 : Compositions of the components in the Separator

(Overhead and Bottom)
2.0 Process Flow Diagram (PFD)

Figure 11 : Process Flow Diagram for the Production of Toluene by

dehydrogenation of n-heptane.

3.0 Discussion
The objectives of this laboratory project are to install and converge a conversion
reactor and to simulate a process involving reaction and separation. In industry, the
production of toluene came from many processes and reactions such as FriedelCrafts reaction, decarboxylation, wurtz-Fittig reaction and reaction using Grignard
reagent. But for this project, the process was carried out by hydrogenation of nheptane over Cr2O3 catalyst adsorbed on Al2O3 to produce toluene.
C7H16 C7H8 + 4H2
In this lab, some hints was introduced while conducting this project which is
assuming that no pressure drop in all equipments. Peng Robinson fluid packaged is
used to satisfy the thermodynamic parameters and conditions in this unit operation.
According to process flow diagram (PFD), the inlet feed stream which consist
of h-heptane was introduced into a heater, E-100 at 65F. The heater functions to
increase the temperature of the feed stream up to 800F. After the feed stream
temperature has increased, it was fed to the conversion reactor, CRV-100. In this
reactor, the Cr2O3 catalyst is taking part in the reaction which as we know the key
aspects of the catalyst is it will change itself during the process by interacting with
the reactant molecules and increase the rate of reaction of the process. The reactor
operates isothermally and converts 15 mol % of n-heptane to toluene. From the
PFD, the composition of n-heptane at the outlet of the catalytic reactor is 0.5313
mol. A cooler is needed to cool back the temperature from the effluent stream of
the catalytic reactor back to 65F and transfer the effluent into flash separator. The
cooler acts to suddenly decline the temperature and increased the liquid phase, so
that as it feed into the separator, a part of the liquid will flashes into vapor . The
flash separator is used to remove the hydrogen at least up to 96%.
At the flash separator, there are two outlet streams produced which call
overhead product and bottom product. For the overhead product, the hydrogen-rich
vapor was purged out of this stream while the bottom one consists of toluene/nheptane liquid product. To answer some questions given in this project, the phase of
n-heptane at the inlet of the heater is in liquid phase because the vapor fraction of
n-heptane at Stream 1 is 0. Meanwhile, at the outlet of the heater is in gas phase
due to its vaporization after the temperature is increased by the heater from 65F to
800F. Note that boiling point of n-heptane is 209.6F which is much lower than
800F and the vapor fraction of n-heptane at Stream 2 is 1.
As for the conversion part in the catalytic reactor, the mole fraction for each
component after conversion of 15% of n-heptane is given by:

Component
n-heptane
Toluene
Hydrogen

Vapor Phase (S3)

0.5313
0.0938
0.3750

Liquid Phase (S4)

0.5294
0.0935
0.3771

The phase and the temperature of the separator feed stream are vapor-liquid
mixture and 65F, respectively. At the separator, the mole fraction for each
component at the inlet (Stream 6) and outlet (Stream 7) separator is given as:
Component
n-heptane
Toluene
Hydrogen

Vapor Phase (S6)

0.0384
0.0058
0.9558

Liquid Phase (S7)

0.8488
0.1504
0.0009

As the flash separator complete the process, the hydrogen gas removed by the
separator has achieved approximately to 96% which is 0.955825 mol of hydrogen.
Therefore, in order to increase the purity of toluene and removed effluent gas up to
96% and above, we shall install the adjuster in HYSYS simulation to adjust the
material stream before and after going the separator. A distillation column also can
be install right after the flash separator unit to recover the liquid product.
As a conclusion, the objectives of this project has achieved. All of the unit
operations in the process flow diagram has converged in HYSYS simulation and the
conversion of the product stream is dependent on the temperature. As the
temperature decreased, the conversion of the effluent will increase.