An industrial Ethanol Amine (EA) production plant was simulated and optimized. Due to lack of accurate reaction rate information, the first step involved obtaining reliable kinetic data from the SRI (Stanford Research Institute) industrial database and calculation using error minimization method. In the next step, by implementing the obtained reaction kinetics the whole plant was simulated using Hysys software. Simulation results were compared with the SRI data and showed that there is acceptable agreement between simulation and the measured industrial data. In the next step of study by applying the gradient search (GS) optimization technique the plant was optimized using: feeding ammonia to ethylene oxide (EO) molar ratio, water flow rate in the feed stream, and reactor temperature as optimization variables. Employing process profit as objective function the optimal operating conditions were found to be: ammonia to EO ratio of 5 (mol/mol), water flow rate of 52.59 kg mol/hr and reactor temperature of 85 ℃.
Hammer H, Ethanolamines and propanolamines, Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 6th Ed., New York, Wiley-VCH, 10, 1, 2003
Fassler P, Celeghin A, A new approach to an established product: Cost-efficient production of ethanolamines, Sulzer Technical Review, Issue No. 3, 2008
Frauenkron M, Ethanolamines and propanolamines, Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 7th Ed., New York, Wiley-VCH, 12, 475, 2008