School of Engineering and Applied Science

CE2105 Process Simulation

Mock Examination Paper

CLOSED BOOK

Date:
Time:
Duration:

1 hours

Instructions to Candidates
1. Answer TWO questions from THREE
2. All questions carry equal marks

Materials provided
1. Answer booklets

This exam paper cannot be removed from the exam room

This examination is subject to the Examination Regulations for Candidates REG/08/415(2)

MOCK PAPER

1.

(a)

CE2105

Monochlorobenzene (MCB) is produced by the reaction of chlorine in an

excess of benzene. The reaction and fractional conversion are known. The
reactor effluent contains a mixture of HCl, benzene and MCB, from which the
MCB must be separated. To achieve this, the effluent is partially vaporised at a
known temperature in a preheater and the vapour separated from the liquid in a
flash separator. The vapour, which contains most of the HCl, is sent to an
absorber where most of the HCl passes through but the benzene and MCB are
absorbed using recycled MBC as the absorbent. The liquid effluent then
rejoins that from the flash separator, and the combined stream is treated in a
separator to remove all the remaining HCl. The treated stream is then sent to a
distillation column to separate the benzene from the MCB. The bottoms are
cooled to a known temperature, after which a fraction of the flow is removed as
MCB product and the remainder is recycled to the absorber.
Draw an Aspen Plus flowsheet for this process, using blocks from the Aspen
Plus Model Library taken from the selection below . For each block, give a
brief justification for your selection.
Reactors
Heat Exchangers
Pressure Changers

RSTOIC
RGIBBS
HEATER
HEATX
PUMP
COMPR

Columns
Separators
Mixers and Splitters

DISTL
RADFRAC
FLASH2
SEP
MIXER
FSPLIT
(14 marks)

(b)

(i)

If in Part (a) you knew you were going to use a second flash separator to
remove the HCl and wanted to represent the unit as a flash separator,
what two pieces of information would you need to supply to Aspen Plus?
(4 marks)

(ii)

If in Part (a) you knew that your preheater was in fact a shell-and-tube
heat exchanger supplied by saturated steam at a known pressure, how
could you use Aspen Plus to calculate the amount of saturated steam
required?
(7 marks)

2 of 4
Mock Paper CE2105
This examination is subject to the Examination Regulations for Candidates REG/08/415(2)

MOCK PAPER

2.

CE2105

(a)

You are a developer of large petrochemical plant, and you make extensive use
of Aspen Plus. Give reasons why this might be the case, suggesting the areas
of your business where Aspen Plus might be particularly useful.
(9 marks)

(b)

You have a furnace which you wish to include in your process for pre-heating
your column feed. Give two ways in which this might be represented in Aspen
Plus, and state the information you would need to provide and/or the
assumptions you would need to make in each case.
(8 marks)

(c)

(i)

What is the function of a Template in Aspen Plus?

(4 marks)

(ii)

What is the function of the Next button in Aspen Plus?

(4 marks)

3.

(a)

Describe the purpose and operation of a Design Specification in Aspen Plus.

Include examples from actual processes to illustrate your answer.
(8 marks)

(b)

MCH and toluene form a close-boiling system that is difficult to separate by

simple binary distillation. Instead phenol is used to extract toluene, allowing
relatively pure methylcyclohexane to be recovered in the overhead. The purity
of the recovered methylcylohexane depends on the phenol input flow rate.
Figure Q3 shows an Aspen Plus flowsheet for this process.

Figure Q3
/continued

3 of 4
Mock Paper CE2105
This examination is subject to the Examination Regulations for Candidates REG/08/415(2)

MOCK PAPER

CE2105

You are to set up Design specifications to achieve the following.

(i)

An MCH purity of 98% in the top product, by varying the molar flow
rate of phenol.

(ii)

A reboiler duty of 3 x 107 Btu hr-1 by varying the column molar reflux
ratio.

For each, complete the following definitions to set up appropriate Design

Specifications. For the variable to target (Define) and for the manipulated
variable (Vary), give the following:
chosen variable name
type of variable (e.g. Stream-Var, Block-Var, Mole-Flow)
stream or block name
component (if applicable)
variable (if applicable)
For the specification itself, give the following:
spec.
target
tolerance
(12 marks)
(c)

In Part (b) (ii) above, the Control Panel shows the following message:
WARNING: EITHER SOLUTION OUTSIDE BOUNDS OR SPEC
FUNCTION IS NOT MONOTONIC.
What is the most likely reason for this message in this case, and what would
you do about it?
(5 marks)

END OF QUESTIONS
END OF PAPER

4 of 4
Mock Paper CE2105
This examination is subject to the Examination Regulations for Candidates REG/08/415(2)