PROCESS DESIGN AND ANALYSIS of

cumene production plant using

Aspen Plus

A Project by
KARTHIKA MAHADEVAN-312215203020
SRINIVAS SIVARAMAN-312215203055
PROJECT GUIDE: Dr. M. SUBRAMANIAN
 INTRODUCTION
ABOUT PRODUCT:
 CUMENE
• Chemical names: Isopropyl benzene, (1-Methylethyl)benzene, 2-
Phenylpropane, Cumol etc.
• Molecular formula: C9H12 or C6H5CH(CH3)2
• Molecular weight : 120.195 g/mol
• Structure:

• CUMENE is a clear colorless liquid with an aromatic odor. It is less dense than water and insoluble in
water.
 Industrial Uses of Cumene:

• Cumene is mainly used for manufacture of phenol and acetone

• Cumene is oxidized with air to get Cumene Hydro Peroxide (CHP). This CHP is cleaved to get Phenol
and Acetone.

• Cumene is also used in small quantities for the manufacturing of Pesticides.

 Process chemistry
• Benzene is Alkylated with Propylene in the Alkylation reactor to produce Iso Propyl
Benzene or Cumene.
• Solid Phosphoric Acid catalyst is used as the catalyst for the Alkylation reaction.
• Reaction takes place in liquid phase.
• Benzene and Propylene are fed to the reactor with a molar ratio of 2:1
• Excess Benzene is recycled to the reactor through Benzene column.
• Di Iso Propyl Benzene(DIPB) is also formed as side reaction products in the reactor.
 METHODS USED IN INDUSTRIAL SCALE
1. Monsanto – Lummus Crest Cumene Process

2. Q-Max cumene production process is the method adopted for our design.

• The commercial production of cumene is by Friedel-Crafts alkylation of

benzene with propylene.
• The Q-Max process converts a mixture of benzene and propylene to high quality
cumene using a regenerable zeolite catalyst.
 WHY Q-MAX PROCESS ???

• Exceptionally high yield

• Better product quality
• Less solid waste
• Decrease in investment and operating costs
• Corrosion free environment.
 Reaction mechanism and kinetics
• Reaction 1

• Reaction 2
• The activation energy for reaction 2 is greater than that of reaction 1, hence low
reactor temperature is favored to improve the selectivity of reaction towards
cumene.
• The reaction occurs in vapor phase in the presence of a solid catalyst of particle
density 2000 kg/m3 and void fraction of 0.5.
• Table 1 : kinetic data for the reactions

REACTION E (KJ/Kmol) K Rate

(Kmol/sm3)
1 104174 2.8*107 KCBCP

2 146742 2.32*109 KCPCC

 Plant details

Type of plant Fluid processing

Operating hours 24

Operating days (in a year) 330

Cumene produced (ton/year) 89,222.6

Raw materials requirement Benzene :71,602 tons/year

Propylene: 38,484.7 tons/year
 PROCESS DESCRIPTION
• Raw materials: propylene and benzene

• Benzene (mixed with the recycled benzene) and fresh C3 mixture (propylene and propane) are
pumped through a vaporizer, vaporized at pressure of 31.5 bar and temperature=209°C.

• This reaction mixture is passed through a fired heater where reaction temperature of 350°C is obtained.

• The vapor mixture is sent to the reactor tube side which is packed with the solid phosphoric acid
catalyst.
• The effluent from the reactor i.e., cumene, p-DIPB, unreacted benzene, propylene and propane with
temperature of 350°C is used as the heating media in the vaporizer which used for the benzene
vaporizing and cooled to 90°C in a water cooler, propylene and propane are separated from the liquid
mixture of cumene, p-DIPB, benzene in a separator operating at a lower pressure of around 6-7 bar and
the pressure is controlled by the vapour control value of the separator, the fuel gas is used as fuel for the
furnace also.

• The liquid mixture is sent to the benzene distillation column which operates at 1.75 bar pressure,
benzene is obtained as the distillate and used as recycle and the bottom liquid mixture is pumped at
bubble point to the cumene distillation column where distillate cumene and bottom pure p-DIPB is
obtained.

• The heat of bottom product p-DIPB is used for preheating the benzene column feed, All the utility as
cooling water, electricity, steam from the boiler, pneumatic air are supplied from the utility section.
design
 Manual design
• REACTOR DESIGN:
The various results obtained are as follows:
1. Volumetric flow rate=420.09 m3/min
2. Initial concentration of reactant=0.0048 kmol/m
3. Residence time= 22.86 minutes
4. Weight of catalyst=9553.575 kg
5. Volume of catalyst=4.777 m3
6. Volume of reactor=9.55 m3
7. Heat duty in the reactor=2106.76 kW
8. Number of tubes in the reactor=354
9. Density of the mixture=56.4 kg/m3
10.Area of the reactor=1.997 m2
11.Superficial fluid velocity=0.058 m/s
12.Pressure drop in the reactor=3.041 kPa
• DISTILLATION COLUMN DESIGN
The following parameters that are important from design point of view were calculated while performing the column
design:
1. Reflux ratio=0.474
2. Number of trays=10
3. Location of feed plate=2
4. Net area=4.933 m2
5. Cross sectional area=5.155 m2
6. Down comer area=0.773 m2
7. Total column pressure drop=3.508 kPa
8. Residence time=48.39 s
9. Number of holes=18020
10. Height of the distillation column=5.55 m
Stream results
 Vle characteristics

T-xy diagram for Benzene-Cumene T-xy diagram for Cumene-DIPB

system system
 Reactor design plots
cumene-prod(tonnes) vs cumene-byprod(tonnes) vs
Vreactor Vreactor
120000 400

cumene-byprod (tonnes)
cumene-product(tonnes)

350
100000
300
80000
250
60000 200
150
40000
100
20000
50
0 0
0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.9 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.9
Vreactor (m3) Vreactor(m3)

cumene in product(ton/year) vs Cumene in by-product(ton/year) vs

reactor volume (m3) reactor volume(m3)
 Flash tank design plots
% Cumene(prod) vs Ftemp % cumene(by-prod) vs Ftemp
100 100
99.8 90

%cumene-Byproduct
% Cumene-product

99.6 80
70
99.4
60
99.2
50
99
40
98.8
30
98.6 20
98.4 10
98.2 0
84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98
Ftemp Ftemp

% Cumene in product vs Flash % Cumene in by-product vs Flash

temperature temperature
Benzene column design-optimization
results
1.REFLUX RATIO

% cumene (prod) vs Reflux Ratio

100.2
Optimum reflux
100
ratio=0.45
% Cumene -product

99.8

99.6

99.4

99.2

99

98.8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Reflux Ratio

Influence of reflux ratio on product purity

2. FEED TRAY LOCATION

% Cumene(prod) vs Feed tray Reboiler duty(Gcal/hr) vs feed tray

location location
100.5 1.9876

reboiler duty (Gcal/hr)

1.9874
100
1.9872
%cumene-prod

99.5
1.987

99 1.9868

1.9866
98.5
1.9864
98
1.9862

97.5 1.986
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Feed tray location feed tray location

Influence of feed tray location on product Influence of feed tray location on reboiler
purity duty

Optimized feed tray

location=6
3. NUMBER OF TRAYS

%cumene (prod) vs Ntrays Reboiler duty (Gcal/hr) vs Ntrays

100 2
1.995
99.95
1.99
99.9 1.985

Reboiler duty
1.98
%Cumene

99.85 1.975

99.8 1.97
1.965
99.75 1.96
1.955
99.7
1.95
99.65 1.945
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Ntrays Ntrays

Influence of number of trays in Benzene column Influence of Number of trays on reboiler

on product purity duty

Optimized number of
trays=20
 cumene column design-optimization
results
1. REFLUX RATIO

% Cumene vs Reflux Ratio

100 Optimum reflux
ratio=0.8
99.95
% Cumene-product

99.9

99.85

99.8

99.75

99.7
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
Reflux Ratio
2. FEED TRAY LOCATION

Reboiler duty vs feed tray location % Cumene (prod) vs feed tray

1.1697 location
1.1696 99.996
1.1695 99.994

% Cumene (product)
1.1694
Reboiler duty

99.992
1.1693
99.99
1.1692
99.988
1.1691
99.986
1.169
1.1689 99.984

1.1688 99.982

1.1687 99.98
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
feed tray location feed tray location

Influence of feed tray location on reboiler duty. Influence of feed tray location on product
purity.

Optimized feed tray

location=8
3. NUMBER OF TRAYS

Reboiler duty vs Ntrays %Cumene(prod) vs Ntrays

1.21 100.02
100
1.2 99.98

%Cumene-product
99.96
Reboiler duty

1.19
99.94
99.92
1.18
99.9
99.88
1.17
99.86

1.16 99.84
99.82
1.15 99.8
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Ntrays Ntrays

Influence of number of trays on reboiler duty. Influence of number of trays on product purity

Optimized number of
trays=16
 results
Optimized values of Benzene distillation Optimized values of cumene distillation
column column
Parameter Optimized value Parameter Optimized value

Number of trays 20 Reflux Ratio 0.8

Feed tray location 6 Feed tray location 8

Reflux ratio 0.45 Number of trays 16

Temperature * 90 .C Temperature 159 .C

Pressure * 1.75 bar Pressure 1.2 bar

 Economic analysis
• Equipment costs data was taken from aspen plus for major equipments .
EQUIPMENT NAME COST ($) COST (INR)

HEATER(*2) 28100 2866611 USD to INR

conversion
756734
MIXER1 11800 Based on
878581 2017
1 USD=
MIXER 2 13700
PUMP (P01) 53700 3443781
64.13 INR
PUMP(P02) 16000 1026080

REACTOR (volume-9.55m3) 76400 4899532

FLASH VESSEL 23600 1513468

BENZENE COLUMN 91200 5848656

CUMENE COLUMN 78900 5059857

DIRECT AND INDIRECT COSTS:
1. DIRECT COSTS CALCULATIONS:
• Let total equipment cost be E.
• Installation costs= (Lang factor value)* (E)
• Land costs= 6% of E
• Building costs= 18% of E

2.INDIRECT COSTS CALCULATIONS:

• Engg and supervision cost= 33% of E
• Construction fees= 41% of E
• Contractor fees= 5% of (Direct + Indirect costs)
• Contingency= 10% of (Direct + Indirect costs)
COSTS COMPONENT VALUE ($) VALUE(INR)

DIRECT COST

Land cost 22748.4 1766909.76

Building cost 68245.2

Equipment cost 459200 29448496

Installation cost 1819872

INDIRECT COST

Engg and supervision cost 125116.2

construction fees 155447.4

TOTAL COST(Z) 2570569.2

CONTINGENCY FEES 257056.92

CONTRACTOR FEES 128528.46

Fixed Capital Investment 2956154.58 313597033.9

 UTILITIES:
Utilities include electricity, steam and cooling water whose costs are obtained using the 2 parameter relation

Cu= a (CEPIC) +b (Cf) where

Cu stands for utility cost based on respective units .
‘a’ and ‘b’ are utility coefficients derived based on experimental values.
Cf refers to the fuel cost in $/ GJ .
 OTHER COSTS:
1. Labor costs
Correlation for number of operators:

NOL= [6.29+31.7P2+ 0.23Nnp] 0.5 where

Nnp: Number of other processing steps
P: Number of processing steps involving particulate solids
Equipment type Number of equipment Nnp

Heat exchangers 2 2

Pumps 2 -

Fired heater 1 1

Reactors 1 1

Flash vessel 1 -

Distillation towers 2 2

Mixer 2 2

Splitter 1 1
2. Maintenance cost = 6% of fixed capital investment

3. Supplies cost= 2% of fixed capital investment

4. Taxes and insurance = 3% of fixed capital investment

5. Depreciation (assuming the plant depreciation rate is 8%) = 8% of fixed capital investment

6. Licensing and royalties = 3% of total manufacturing cost

7. Plant overhead costs= (70% of labor costs) +(4% of fixed capital investment)
 Item
Economic evaluation
Component VALUE($) VALUE(INR)

Lang factor 5.7

Fixed capital investment($) 2956154.58

313597033.9
Raw material cost ($)

Benzene 123929072.8

Propylene 56315361.75

Inert gas 965665.982

Total 181210100.5

Utilities cost($)

Steam @400psi 1125398.046

Cooling water 1546111.22

Electricity 111532.32

Catalyst 112000

Total 2895041.586
 Labor cost($) 772590 49546196.7

Maintanence cost 293401.248

Taxes and insurance($) 146700.624

Supplies cost ($) 97800.416

Depreciation($) 391201.664

Plant overhead($) 736413.832

Licensing and royalities($) 3492228.974

Working Capital Investment 116997345.7

Total capital investment($) 121887366.5 7816636813

Labor cost($) 772590 49546196.7

 Revenue($)

Cumene 127856005.6

Fuel gas 19085995.24

P-dipb 14327993.2

Total 433335327.8

Net profit ($) 39382627.56 2525607905

Net profit margin (%) 24.42

Turnover ratio 8.05

ROR (%) 32.31

Payback period(years) 3
Thank you