Assignment – 1
Adopting a standard procedure Towler and Sinnott (Example 12.3, Attached separately) obtained
following design of a shell and tube exchanger for cooling 20,000 kg/h of kerosene (42°API)
from 200°C to 90°C by exchanging heat with 70,000 kg/h light crude oil (34°API) at 40°C. The
kerosene enters the exchanger at a pressure of 5 bar and the crude oil at 6.5 bar. A pressure drop
of 0.8 bar is permissible on both streams. A fouling factor of 0.0003 (W/m2 °C) on the crude
stream and 0.0002 (W/m2 °C) on the kerosene stream was assumed during designing.
Verify the design using Aspen Plus.
Towler and Sinnott’s Design:
Split ring, floating head, one shell pass, four tube passes.
360 carbon steel tubes, 5m long, 19.05mm o.d., 14.83mm i.d., triangular pitch (23.18 mm)
Shell i.d. 597mm (600 mm), baffle spacing 140 mm, 25% cut.
Dirt/Fouling factors:
Tube-side (crude oil) 0.00035 (W/m2°C)
Shell-side (kerosene) 0.0002 (W/m2°C)
Pressure drops:
Tube-side, estimated 0.40 bar, + 0.1 for nozzles; specified 0.8 bar overall
Shell-side, estimated 0.45 bar, + 0.1 for nozzles; specified 0.8 bar overall
Assignment – 2
Table 1: Molar flow rate of feed
Estimate the product compositions and heat duty for
Feed Composition Kmole/h
the indirect sequencing of two columns shown in
Fig. 2.1. Feed composition is given in Table 1 and Ethylbenzene 31.9514
column details are shown in Table 2. Compare your p-Xylene 123.3208
results with those of Lee et al. (shown in Fig.2.1) m-Xylene 274.2810
Table 2: o-Xylene 128.3605
Column Column n-Nonane 0.0122
1 2
n-Pentyl benzene 0.7041
Structural
Methyl-ethyl benzene 55.4963
Number of trays 60 50
Tri-methyl benzene 162.0509
Feed/side product 31 26
Methyl-n-propyl bz 1.2162
Interlinking stages
Di-ethyl benzene 0.7041
Operating
o-Cymen 8.7906
Feed (kmol/h) 801.8 716.1
Tetra-methyl benzene 10.1348
Bottom (kmol/h) 716.1 378.6
Penta-methyl benzene 4.7770
Side (kmol/h)
Total 801.8
Reflux (kmol/h) 401.3 1106
Vapor boilup (kmol/h) 595.2 1315
Fig. 2.1: Schematic diagram of a conventional two-column system and results obtained by Lee et al.
(2004), Chemical Engineering and Processing, 43, 495–501.
Assignment – 3
Pyrolysis of Benzene (Source: Fogler and Gurmen, 2002)
Diphenyl (C12H10) is an important industrial intermediate. One production scheme involves the pyrolytic
dehydrogenetation of benzene (C6H6). During the process, triphenyl (C18H14) is also formed by a
secondary reaction. The reactions are as follows:
2C6H6 ↔ C12H10 + H2
C6H6+C12H10 ↔ C18H14 + H2
Rate laws for the above reactions are represented by
− = − , and
− = − ,
Specific reaction rate constants follow Arrhenius type equation:
= , and
= .
Equilibrium constants of the two reactions are given by
ln( )= + + ln( ) + + , and
ln( )= + + ln( ) + + .
Values of parameters involved in above correlations are:
E1 = 30190 cal/mol A1 = 7.4652E+06 lbmole/h/ft3/atm2
E2 = 30190 cal/mol A2 = 8.6630E+06 lbmole/h/ft3/atm2
A’ = -19.76 A’’ = -28.74
B’ = -1692 B’’ = 742
C’ = 3.13 C’’ = 4.32
D’ = -1.63E-03 D’’ = -3.15E-03
E’ = 1.96E-07 E’’ = 5.08E-07
P = 14.69595 psi R = 1.987 cal/mol/K
Using Aspen Plus, simulate pyrolysis of 0.06 lbmole/hr of pure benzene in a 0.5 inch ID, 37.5 inch long
plug flow reactor being operated at 1400°F and 1 atm. pressure to find product composition. What is
the product composition at 1265°F for processing 0.003 lbmole/hr of benzene feed?
Assignment – 4
Figure given on next page shows a process to create a mixture suitable for use as a natural gas
and recover a light hydrocarbon liquid from the feed given in Table-4.1. The feed is at 80 °F and
237.7 psi. Estimate material and energy balance for this process. Other equipment
specifications are as follows
Chiller: otlet at –40 °F and 230 psi.
Gas/Gas Heat Exchanger (G-G-HTEX): cold fluid outlet at 160 psi with 4°F cold stream outlet
temperature approach. Hot fluid outlet is at 225 psi.
Primary flash: adiabatic at 160 psi.
Secondary flash: adiabatic at 100 psi.
Pump: outlet at 260 psi
Distillation column: 99% of n-butane is recovered through distillate (Stages = 20; Feed stage =
12 from top; column top pressure = 240 psi; bottom pressure= 255 psi)
Splitter: 20% of column bottom are to be returned to process.
Air cooler: outlet at 100°F and 250 psi.
Gas/Liquid Heat Exchanger (G-L-HTEX): hot fluid outlet 80°F, 237.7 psi; cold fluid outlet at 100
psi.
Table-4.1
Component Name Flow rate (lb-
mole/hr)
Nitrogen 52.00
Carbon Dioxide 89.12
Methane 6033.50
Ethane 297.08
Propane 141.62
Iso-butane 31.84
n-butane 45.10
2-methyl butane 17.60
n-pentane 14.90
n-hexane 19.24
Fig. 4.1
