Department of Chemical Engineering Auburn University Spring 2004 CHEN 6470

DESIGN OF A PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF ACRYLONITRILE AND STYRENE FOR USE IN POLYMER MANUFACTURING
Styrene-Acrylonitrile (SAN) resins are produced by grafting acrylonitrile and styrene onto a polybutadiene copolymer. These resins are used in the production of components for the automotive industry as well as for pipe fittings and numerous appliances. SAN resins normally contain approximately 25-30 wt% acrylonitrile.

Propene Ammonia Oxygen

Acrylonitrile Process Plant SAN 250,000 tons/year Styrene Process Plant

Ethylbenzene

Figure 1: Schematic of production facility

The overall objective of this project is to design a grass-roots facility capable of producing 250,000 tons per year of the SAN resin. A schematic of the production facility is given in Figure 1, where acrylonitrile is produced by ammoxidation of propene and styrene is produced through direct dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene. The final processing step, where acrylonitrile and styrene is grafted onto the copolymer is not included in this project. Thus, the purpose of the process is to produce the required amounts of acrylonitrile and styrene, respectively in order to facilitate a production rate of 250,000 tons/yr of SAN. The project should incorporate a wide range of aspects related to chemical process and product design, e.g. flowsheet synthesis and simulation, heat and mass integration for resource conservation, process optimization, process economics, and also environmental, health and safety related issues. In the following some information is given about the progress reports that need to be submitted during the course of this design project. It must be emphasized that the items listed on the next page are suggested main topics for the content of the reports, they are not meant as a complete check list. This is an open-ended design project so the project may go in many directions, which are not listed.

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Progress Report No. 1 Monday February 16, 2004 Review of background literature on the production, market and economics of acrylonitrile, styrene and SAN. Describe the governing chemical and physical principles related to each of the processes. Identify primary reactions and kinetics along with reported values for reactant conversion and product yield. Identify the principal process units necessary to achieve the desired products. Develop preliminary material balances for the processes and estimate raw material requirements. Develop preliminary energy balances for the processes and estimate the needs for utility heating and cooling. Progress Report No. 2 Monday March 8, 2004 Use ASPEN Plus to develop an improved process flowsheet with refined material and energy balances and simulate the primary process equipment. Perform a preliminary economic analysis of this base case design. Identify and discuss recycle potentials and evaluate the effects on the process economics. Identify supply and target temperatures for the process streams and perform a thermal pinch analysis to identify the potential for heat recovery and reduction in utility usage. Progress Report No. 3 Friday March 26, 2004 Perform a mass integration analysis for species of interest and identify optimal segregation, interception and recycle strategies. Review literature for separation and process improvement techniques that can be used to further improve the overall process performance. Evaluate the effect of changing key process parameters and optimize the final process structure. Final Report Monday April 19, 2004 Perform detailed economic, environmental, health and safety analysis on the suggested design. Report results from individual team assignment.

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Oral Presentation Last Week of Classes, April 26-30, 2004 The oral presentations of the proposed designs are tentatively scheduled for the last week of classes, i.e. April 26-30, however depending on availability of the external reviewers it may be rescheduled for late in the previous week. More information will follow later. Individual Team Assignments March 1-5, 2004 Each team will be assigned an individual problem to investigate. These problems will be assigned the first week of March and have to be reported in the final report as well as the oral presentation. Background Literature The references listed here do not represent a complete list. They serve as a basis for obtaining further information through quoted papers and reports. Furthermore the teams are strongly encouraged to use novel sources of information such as the World Wide Web. Process Description Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology Perry R.H., Green D., Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook, McGraw-Hill. Ullmanns Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, VCH. Process Design Biegler L.T., Grossmann I.E., and Westerberg A.W., Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design., Prentice Hall. Douglas, J.M., Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes, McGraw Hill. Seider, W.D., J.D. Seader, and D.R. Lewin, Process Design Principles. Wiley. Smith, R., Chemical Process Design. McGraw Hill. Process Economics Coulson & Richardson, Chemical Engineering Design by R.K. Sinnott, Pergamon Press. Peters M.S., Timmerhaus K.D., Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers, McGraw-Hill. A Few Words of Wisdom Remember that this is an open-ended project, i.e. you can take the project in almost any direction you find interesting. However you will need to state your reasons for turning the focus on a specific part. During the different stages of the project it will become necessary to make assumptions in order to solve the problems. ALWAYS state your assumptions and the reasons for making them. There are many aspects of this project that can be worked on simultaneously. Use your time and efforts wisely so you do not waste valuable time waiting on help just because you are stuck on one part of the project. The instructor is there to help you, so use him. 3 of 3