Design and Simulation of the Major Units of Acetone Plant from Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) Route

Abstract

A design of 225[metric tons per year] of an acetone plant from isopropanol alcohol (IPA) was developed. The design considers the fundamental principles of mass and energy balance to size the units of the acetone plant, particularly the Gibbs reactor, separator, absorber, and distillation columns. The beauty of plant design is to account for the material and energy conservation principles interactions and specify the dimensions of the main unit operations of the plant. The HYSYS simulation software was used to design the acetone plant, and the properties of the fluid were used to manually size the plant. The four components resulting from the reaction of IPA and water (acting as a catalyst) to obtain acetone and hydrogen are 2-propanol, acetone, hydrogen, and water. The balance of how these components is heated, reacted, cooled, separated, absorbed, and distilled of acetone from a mixture of IPA/water is shown logically with sketches for the material and energy values of the key unit operations of the plant. The mechanical design of the units was performed to determine the thickness of the columns. In addition, a cost-plus-economic analysis of acetone was carried out. The results indicate that, the sizing of the units gave the following results viz: manually, the reactor with sized 5.4 [m3], 1.56[m] and 2.34[m] as the diameter and height respectively, the separator was sized to 1.78[m] diameter and 2.67[m] height with 6.631[m3] volume, the absorber column gave 0.085[m] diameter, 1.1[m] height, and the distillation column design values are 0.202[m] column diameter, 10.8[m] height and the weir length of 0.154[m]. The overall cost, including the cost of utilities for the entire plant, was [$]7.792million; the equivalent annual operating cost was [$]4.408million; and the thicknesses of the reactor, separator, absorber, and dilation columns are respectively 2.42[mm], 11.71[mm], 1.99[mm] and 3.36[mm]. Validation of the manual design was carried out with HYSYS simulation results, which indicated that the design models were reliable and could be adopted for the design because the deviation values on the specifications of the units are small ranges from 0.04 – 0.4. The result of the design showed that acetone production from the IPA route was recommended and that the HYSYS simulation formed part of the entire design of the acetone plant.