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DESIGN OF A PLANT TO PRODUCE 20,000 TONNES PER ANNUM OF
ACRYLONITRILE
BY
CHUKWUMA OKORO
2004/18570EH
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (B.ENG.) DEGREE IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY, MINNA, NIGER
STATE, NIGERIA.
DECEMBER 2009.
DECLARATION
Chukwuma Okoro do solemnly declare that this research project work was
out by me as a result of my personal effort and all references consulted are dully
.......................... . ....... , .............. .
DATE
11
DEDICATION
This project is dedicated to almighty God who has made my sojourn to FUT
a success also to my beloved father Chief Sir Samuel Okoro and my mother, Lolo,
y Florence Okoro my uncles, Mr. George Okoro and Dr Cypril Okoro as well as my
Lolo Elizabeth Oparaugo, who have contributed morally, spiritually and financially
the successful Completion of my degree program.
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CERTIFICATION
This is' to certify that this work "DESIGN OF A PiLANT TO PRODUCE 20,000
TONNES PER ANNUM OF ACRYLONITRILE" was carried out by Okoro
chukwllma of Chemical Engineering Department, School of Engineering and
Engineering Technology Minna. This is in partial fulfil:lment of the requirement for the
award of Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering.
APPROVED BY:
Engr Uthman Habib
(Project supervisor)
ENGR. DR. J. O. OKAFOR
(Head of Department)
EXTERNAL EXAMINER
DATE
DATE
DATE
IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I hereby express my sincere gratitude to the almighty God who has been my
strength, provider and source of my inspiration. lam also grateful to him for his divine
favour and love towards my wellbeing as a student.
My heart felt appreciation goes to my able supervisor Engr. Habib for his
guidance and fatherly assistance during the course of this project work. My appreciation
also goes' to head of department, staff and students of chemical engineering department,
federal university of technology Minna. To my course mates, the storm is over. Thank
you so much
I am highly grateful to my beloved parent Chief Sir Samuel Okoro and my
mother, Lolo, Lady Florence Okoro for laying a good foundation and supporting me to
this stage of my life. And to my Uncles, ~ou are wonderful; I love you all. May the
almighty God reward you in Jesus name amJn?
Lastly, I thank all my group members; linu, Fatima, Saheed, Mustapha, Nathaniel,
Yvonne, Atinuke, W';'ah, Yusuf, Abdulrashlem, Okike and Temitope for their effort and
contributions towards the success of these p oject.
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ABSTRACT
This project work was carried out to design a plant to produce 20,000
nne/annum of Acrylonitrile using propylene and ammonia as the raw material with
iSl11uthmolybdatc as catalyst: The detailed design work like the material ancl energy
was done with the aid of computer aicled design(CAD) software like HYSYS ancl
THCAD. The major units in the plant are; Fluidized bed Reactor, Absorber, and
istillation unit. The design of the major equipment undertaken is the reactor, having a
of 4.155 m and height of 5.006 m. safety control, environmental impact
plant location and site layout were also carried out. Standard Cost estimation
carried out using detailed factorial method and this gives the total capital investment
to be 198mjllion Naira needed to generate a net profit of 314million Naira within a
back period of approximately six( 6) years for a plant life of 15 years. And the pay
ack rate is 22.56 %. Hence, the project was concluded to be economically viable.
TABLE OF CONTENT
TI1'LE PAGE ................. : ............................................................................................ I
DECLARA TION ........ ; ................................................................................................ II
CERTIFICATION ...................................................................................................... III
DEDICATION ........................................................................................................... IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................... V
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ VII
CHAPTER ONE ............................................................ 1-2
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
1.2 METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE OF WORK
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................... 3-9
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Uses and Consumption of Acrylonitrile
2.2 Sohio Production Processes
2.3 Detailed Description with Control Operation
CHAPTER THREE ................................................... ···1 0-63
3.0 MATERIAL BALANCE
CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................... 64-81
4.0 ENERGY BALANCE CALCULATION
CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................ 82
5.0 FLOW SHEET OF THE PROCESS
CHAPTER SIX ......................................................... 83-137
6.0 EQUIPMENT DESIGN
6.1 . Design of a Fluidized bed Reactor
6.2 Absorber Sizing
6.3 Acrylonitrile Recovery Column Design
6.4 Acetonitrile Recovery Column Design
6.5 Design of Light Column
6.6 Design of Product Column
CHAPTER SEVEN ..................................................... 13 8-142
7.0. EQUIPMENT OPTIMIZATION
7.1 Optimization of the Fluidized Bed Reactor
CHAPTER EIGHT ................................................... 143-155
8.0 SAFETY AND QUALITY CONTROL
8.1 Safety control
8.2 Quality Control measure
8.3 General Process Safety Managenement
CHAPTER NINE ...................................................... 156-167
9.0 PROCESS CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATIO
CHAPTER TEN ....................................................... 168-171
10.0 ENVIRONMENTAL ACCEPTABILITY
CHAPTER ELEVEN ................................................. 172-174
11.0 START UP AND SHUT DOWN PROCEDURE
CHAPTER TWELVE: ............................................... 175-183
12.0 SITE FOR PLANT LOCATION
CHAPTER THIRTEEN ............................................... 184-195
13.0 COST ESTIMATION AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF PLANT
CHAPTER FOURTEEN ........................................... 196-197
14.0 RECOMMENDATION TO THE INDUSTRIALIST
14.1 CONCLUSION
APPENDIX ............................................................... 198-204
REFERENCE ................................................................... 205
CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Introduction
Acrylonitrile is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a characteristic odor used in the
production of acrylic and modacrylic fibers, resins and rubbers, nnd as a chemical intermediate.
1t is somewhat soluble in water nnd miscible with most organic solvents. Almost 99 % pure with
minor quantities of impurities and stabilizers. It is first synthesized in 1893 by Charles Maureu,
and did become important until 1930, when industry began using it in new applications such as
acrylic fibers for textiles and synthetic rubber. In the 1940s the utility of acrylonitrile was
abandoned, existing manufacturing methods were expensive, multistep process. They seemed
reserved for the world's largest and wealthiest principal manufacturers (union carbide, American
cyanamide ).
In the late 1950s, however, sohio's discovery led to the production of plentiful and
inexpensive acrylonitrile of high purity as a raw material and to dramatic growth ill the
thermoplastics, synthetic fiber, and food packaging industries. Sohio' s process is a single- step
direct method for manufacturing acrylonitrile from propylene, ammonia and air over a fluidized
bed catalyst.
Occurrence in air
The dispersion of acrylonitrile is closely related to wind patterns; the highest levels in the
ambient air were found close to plants, especially downwind and they rapidly declined with
distance. Dry deposition and wet deposition (by rainfall) are believed to playa negligible role.
The degradation processes of acrylonitrile in the air are primarily chemical; they result in the
formation of hydrocyanic acid in 50 % of the mass and (based upon measurement of reaction
rates between acrylonitrile and hydroxyl radicals at concentrations present in the air) are believed
to be mainly responsible for the half-time (9-32 hours) of acrylonitrile in ambient air. In the soil,
ncryJonitrile is degraded by microorganisms. Its half-time in water was found to be 5-7 days.
However, an accidental spillage of 91 000 litres of acrylonitrile from a tanker resulted in
contamination of the soil and groundwater for more than a year, despite a cleaning process
lasting 108 days after the accident.
Uses
1. Principally acrylonitrile is a monomer in the manufacture of synthetic polymers,
especially polyacrylonitrile which comprises acrylic fibers.
2. It is also a component of synthetic rubber used in the production of nylon.
3. Small amounts are used as fumigant.
4. It is a precursor in the industrial manufacture of acrylonitrile and acrylic acid.
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Health Effects
Acrylonitrile is highly flammable and toxic. It undergoes explosive polymerization. The burning
material releases fumes of hydrogen cyanide and oxides of nitrogen. The International Agency
for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that there is inadequate evidence in humans for the
carcinogenicity of acrylonitrile, but classified it as a carcinogen (possibly carcinogenic).
Acrylonitrile increases cancer in high dose tests in male and female rats and mice.
1.1 Aim and Objectives
The purpose of this project is to design a plant to produce acrylonitrile from propylene and
ammonia using single-step sohio process with effective and minimum cost of catalyst preventing
environmental hazards
1.2 Methodology and scope of work
The design of the plant is a mathematical work which can be done with the aid of scientific
calculator but this is rather tasking. With advancements in technology, computer software
applications have developed in order to achieve efficiency with respect to time and accuracy.
For this design,MS
, 1.21 METHODOLOGY
The need for high accuracy and precision in this project given rise to the use of computer
software like the MatllCAD and Autacad. While MathCAD is used for carrying out
calculations, the Autocad is'used for drawing the flow diagrams.
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