(54cu) Inherently Safer Design Applications and Case Study of Thermally Coupled Distillation for C3-Alkyne Hydrogenation

Inherently Safer
Design Applications and Case Study of Thermally Coupled Distillation for C3-alkyne
Hydrogenation

Meng Qi^1,2*,
Dongfeng Zhao^1,2, Yi Liu^1,2

E-mail:
qimeng166@163.com

¹ Center
for Safety, Environmental, and Energy Conservation Technology

² College
of Chemical Engineering

China University of Petroleum (East
China), Qingdao 266580, P R China

Inherently safer design eliminates hazards
from the source of process, reduces the risk of chemical plants, and makes the
process more economical and safer. But at present, ISD for the chemical process
is still in the theoretical stage, and there is no better application practice.
The emergence of reactive distillation technology has greatly simplified the manufacturing
process of methyl acetate, reaction and separation process has integrated in one
column, reducing the residence time of the reactant in the plant and improving the
safety level. Therefore, reactive distillation process of methyl acetate is the
most outstanding embodiment of the application of inherent safety principle in
chemical process design.

In recent years, thanks to the development
of chemical process integration technology, reactive distillation, thermal
coupling distillation, divided wall column distillation and other new
technologies not only reduce energy consumption, simplify the process, but also
make the process more inherently safer. In this paper, taking catalytic
hydrogenation of C3 alkynes as an example, using ISD principle at the early
stage of process design to make the safety and techno-economic analysis of conventional,
thermally coupled and divided column distillation. Based on the kinetic and process
flow data from literature to establish the steady simulation of three different
processes, extracting results such as operating conditions, heating &
cooling requirements and chemical characteristics to carry on the calculation of
the operating and fixed costs.

The results show that the integrated
distillation technology not only improves the conversion rate of the reaction,
greatly reduces the energy consumption and enhances the economic, but also
improves the inherent safety level of the process. The inherent safety index
was used to compare the inherent safety level of three processes and analyze
how the process inherently safer design affects the actual operating cost of
the plant. It is verified that the application
of inherent safety principle in the initial stage of the process design greatly
improve the overall safety level of the plant, as well as reduce the energy
consumption of the whole plant and the actual operating cost.

References

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[2] Gupta, J. P., and D. W. Edwards. "A simple graphical method
for measuring inherent safety." Journal of Hazardous Materials 104.1¨C3(2003):15-30.

[3] Y Wang, Y Luo, X Qian, X Yuan. "Simulation of thermally
coupled catalytic distillation flowsheets for C3 alkyne selective
hydrogenation." CIESC Journal 67.2(2016):580-587.

[4] YU Z Q, GAO B L, XU J M, et al. Kinetic study of C3 cut
liquid-phase selective hydrogenation over supported metal catalyst [J]. Industrial
Catalysis, 2002, 10(5): 11-16.