Simulation of ethylene oxide production from ethylene cholorhydrin

Abstract

This research has been performed in the Ethylene Oxide production process. It is a flammable and colorless gas at temperatures above 11 °C. It is an important commodity chemical for the production of solvents, antifreeze, textiles, detergents, adhesives, polyurethane foam, and pharmaceuticals. Small amounts of Ethylene Oxide [EO] are used in manufacturing fumigants and sterilants for spices and cosmetics, as well as hospital sterilization for surgical equipment. Modern Ethylene oxide [EO] productions employ either air or oxygen (O2)to oxidize ethylene (C2H4) with  a silver catalyst on an alumina oxide carrier[Ag/Al2O3]catalyst packed in a fixed-bed reactor (plug-flow reactor)but the oxygen-base reaction process is more desirable   here we used oxygen. Mainly two reactions occur, partial oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide and total oxidation of ethylene to carbon dioxide and water. The design models of the process in this research based on a three-part system. They are: the reaction system, absorption system and Ethylene Oxide [EO] purification system. The largest cost in production of ethylene oxide is ethylene therefore, it’s important to optimize the selectivity towards ethylene oxide and thus reduce the consumption of Ethylene. The aim of this work is to create a simulation model of the Ethylene Oxide production process from Ethylene using Aspen Hysys V9. Also to knowing the optimum operational conditions (temperature –pressure –flow rate) for the oxidation reactions of Ethylene. The simulation was running three times with various operational conditions to   make a good result. The conclusion was that during operational time the activation energy increased for both reactions which have to be compensated with increasing reactor temperature. At the same time the selectivity for producing Ethylene Oxide decreases, i.e. more carbon dioxide and water are formed. The simulation models yield Ethylene Oxide with purity of 99.2%.