We are Group 13 from the 2020-21 University of Houston Chemical Engineering (UH CHEE) Design class. We are all seniors ready to graduate this coming spring.
Per the requirements of the design class, we are designing a process that could produce 700 kilo tons per annum of ethylene glycol. This work is being performed over the course of the current academic year.
Ethylene glycol serves many industries ranging from automotive to polyesters. It is one of the most important chemicals in industry today, therefore designing a process to produce it offers plentiful challenges and learning opportunities for the up-and-coming chemical engineer.
The UH CHEE Design course is divided into 2 classes; Design 1 and Design 2. We finished Design 1 the previous semester (Fall 2020) and are currently in Design 2. Therefore, we can only discuss results we achieved in Design 1.
Our process utilizes 2 core reactions; the partial oxidation of ethylene and hydrolysis of ethylene oxide. Each reaction has its respective reactor, and these reactors form the backbone of the process. All other unit operations serve to either cleanse incoming feedstocks, separate desired products from undesired, or bring streams to the required conditions of each reactor.
C2H4 + 0.5O2 → C2H4O
C2H4O + H2O → C2H6O2
As mentioned previously, we had no access to process simulation software for the first half of the project. Therefore, we had to rely on first principles and certain assumptions to generate the inital process design. We used the following knowledge to accomplish this first milestone:
Listed below are the approaches we took for each major unit operation:
| Unit Operation | Approach |
|---|---|
| Multicomponent Distillation | Fenske-Underwood-Gilliland |
| Binary Distillation | McCabe-Thiele |
| Absorber and Stripping Columns | Kremser Group Method |
| Ethylene Glycol Reactor | Plug Flow Reactor |
For more details on our methodology, you may read our report linked below.
Project Report
Coming soon!