Competency Demonstration Report 1

Avinash Patil

Career Episode 1
Introduction: (C.E 1.1)
The career episode described here covers the final year engineering project undertaken by
me for the successful completion of my Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering at the
University of Mumbai. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the detailed study of
3-Methoxyproplyamine & its importance in Pharmaceutical & Fertilizer Industries. The study
of the Manufacturing Process was done on an industrial scale at Indo Amines Chemicals
Limited (Maharashtra).
Chronology: June 2012 May 2013
Location: Datta Meghe College of Engineering, Navi Mumbai
Title: Manufacture of 3-Methoxypropylamine
Position: Undergraduate Student

Background: (C.E 1.2)

My primary objective was to study the intricate industrial process related to the
manufacturing of 3-Methoxyproplyamine. This project was a group task and it consisted of 3
members. A faculty member was assigned as a supervisor to the project. The project was
split up to assign each individual team member specific subtasks. In the project I did the
critical survey of literature covering several books, encyclopedia, patents, and journals along
with arranging visits to the company for field work and collecting relevant data for the project.
I had also visited the plant site at Dombivli- Maharashtra along with frequent visits to the
corporate office at Mumbai for data collection.
Since my project involved a process system leading to a product, the report included:

Material and Energy balances.

Detailed process design.
P&ID/PFD.
Cost and feasibility Analysis

After completion of the above parameters I gave a presentation to the project guides along
with a final detailed presentation to the Head of the Department, who was accompanied by
another professional from the process industry.

Organisational Setup: (C.E 1.2.1)

I divided the project into various stages and was in charge of the following:
1. Initial research and data collection
2. Various processes used for Manufacturing of 3-Methoxypropylamine
3. Cynation of Methanol process (Thermodynamics, mass and energy balance) with
respect to 3-Methoxypropylamine manufacturing Unit at Indo Amines Chemicals
Limited (Maharashtra), PFD and P&ID, plant layout.
4. Detailed Sizing of equipment.
5. Cost Estimation of Equipment & Plant.

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Avinash Patil
Group meetings were arranged by mutual consent to focus on particular issues. I was the
project coordinator and designed a project schedule to complete the project within the given
time frame along with preparing weekly reports to the project supervisor illustrating our
progress. I was well prepared and actively participated in these meetings with the group and
the interactions with the project supervisor. I managed to keep a high morale amongst my
team mates by constantly motivating them. The project also needed to imbibe all the inputs
from the other team members in the other stages which are covered in the following
sections.
The organizational chart has been represented below:

Project Guide
Prof.S.M.Deshmukh

Student
Sandesh
Shetty

Student
Avinash Patil

Student
Prathamesh
Deshpande

Personal Engineering Activity: (C.E 1.3)

The project required me to work and focus on various aspects of the 3-Methoxyproplyamine
Production and analyse the problems and possible solutions for the process. This consisted
of several individual assignments and also the inputs from my guide and team members. All
these aspects have been covered as follows in a stepwise manner.

Initial Research and Data Collection: (C.E 1.3.1)

In this stage the primary objective was to acquire as much information as possible, I started
off by identifying that different categories of Amines & their uses. After some extensive
research on the data obtained from the Internet and various technical papers, I came to
know that 3-Methoxypropylamine falls under the category of specialty amine & it occupies
16% market of specialty amine industry. Following this I identified the various problems that
were associated with the processing of 3-Methoxypropylamine, the most significant one
being , highly complex manufacturing processes that involve handling of often toxic and
hazardous chemicals. The process being energy intensive, the importance of safety, security
and environmental protection cannot be underestimated. This is the prime reason that
asserts the need of safe & optimised production process of 3-Methoxypropylamine and
hence the topic of the project.

Various Processes Used to Produce 3-Methoxyproplyamine: (C.E 1.3.2)

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Avinash Patil
There are various processes used in the industry for the manufacturing of 3-Methoxypropyl
amine and after a comprehensive research of literature obtained from web portals I was able
to find the two most common routes:
1
2

From 3-Methoxypropanol
From Methanol and Acrylonitrile

Acrylonitrile Route Process: (C.E 1.3.3)

The Acrylonitrile Route Process was the obvious choice of selection as it had the high
conversion & less formation of secondary & tertiary amines as compared to the other
processes, hence had the highest number of operating plants. I was able to research the
engineering underlying the Plant at Indo Amines Chemicals Limited with the help of literature
from the licensor. I started off by analysing the Acrylonitrile process. The process is divided
into 3 steps:1.

Cyanation of Methanol.

2.

Hydrogenation of 3-Methoxypropionitrile.

3.

Purification of crude 3-Methoxypropylamine.

A schematic representation of the flow diagram is shown below

After further research of the process I found out that there are a number of limitations to
convert Methanol to intermediate product 3-Methoxypropionitrile.
My main objective in this process was to convert maximum Methanol to 3Methoxypropionitrile by the use of various optimization techniques and thereby increasing
the yield of intermediate product and reducing conversion time.

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Avinash Patil
After some more research and gaining valuable advice from my guide Mr.S.M. Deshmukh
and officials from Indo Amines, I was able to identify some modifications to the conventional
process. These technological advances are mainly in the form of additions to the
conventional Acrylonitrile process through which significant improvement in yield can be
achieved, this modern technique is using Gel-entrapped base catalyst (GEBC) )which i
thought, could be used to catalyze a base-catalyzed reaction.
By using gel entrapped NaOH it is possible to:
1. Increase the yield
2. Reduce the time required for the reaction to take place.
The effect of agar agar gel entrapped NaOH on yield of 3-Methoxypropionitrile is shown in
figure below

Thermodynamics: (C.E 1.3.5)

This stage involved the estimation of feasibility of the Acrylonitrile process. I used a variety of
inputs for the calculation of the feasibility of the reaction. I started off by identifying the heat
capacities of the main components of the reaction. These values and equations were
obtained from standard books such as Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics by B.F.
Dodge.
Main Reaction:
CH3OH + CH2=CH-CN
CH3-O-CH2-CH2-CN + 2H2

CH3-O-CH2-CH2-CN
CH3-O-CH2-CH2-CH2-NH2

The manufacture of 3-Methoxypropionitrile from methanol, the heat of reaction is:

HR = -93.23-(-239.2+215.38)
= -69410 kJ/kmol
The Gibbs free energy at 298K
GR = 11.94-(-166.6+229.23)
= -50690 kJ/kmol

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Avinash Patil
GR = -RTlnK
Therefore,
K = 768.18*e^6
By using Vant Hoff Equation,
ln(k1/k) = -(HR/R)*((1/T1)-(1/T))
T=338K
K1 = 27.99*e^6
Therefore
(GR)338K = -48177.24 kJ/kmol.
Similarly heat of reaction
Methoxypropylamine.

&

Gibbs

free

energy

for

the

manufacture

of

HR = -253.7-(-93.23)
= -160470 kJ/kmol
The Gibbs free energy at 298K
GR = -55.75-11.94
= -67690 kJ/kmol
GR = -RTlnK
Therefore
K = 1.4474*e^10
By using Vant Hoff Equation,
ln(k1/k )= -(HR/R)*((1/T1)-(1/T))
T = 348K
K1 = 1.3155*e^6
Therefore
(GR)348K = -40765.503 kJ/kmol
Thus it is seen that both the reactions are promising.
G kJ/kmol

Reactions

H,kJ/kmol at 298 K

MeOH + ACN = 3-MPN

- 69410

- 48177.24 (338K)

3-MPN + 2H2 = MOPA

- 160470

- 40765.503 (348K)

3-

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Avinash Patil

As it can be seen the calculated value of G is negative for the given reaction from which I
could deduce that this is a feasible reaction.

Energy Balance: (C.E 1.3.6)

In this stage I calculated the changes in the energies of the various streams in the process
and using the law of conservation of energy I was able to determine the amount of utility
required for that particular equipment. An example of one of the equipment is shown below,
similar calculations were done for all the process streams.
Energy Balance Across Hydrogenator (R001):
Heat of reaction

= -160.47103 Kj/Kmol of MPN

Total number of moles of MPN = 11.22 Kmol

Total heat evolved

= 1604710311.22
= 1800473.4 KJ

Enthalpy data
Component
Methanol
MPA
NaOH
MPN
Total

Inlet
temperature
35oC

Enthalpy IN
5189.968
80.767
11254.8942
16525.692

Outlet
temperature
75oC

Net heat required = 77611.4318 KJ

Net heat evolved = 1722861.968 KJ
Amount of cooling water required (M) = (Q/Cp. x (Tout-Tin))
=1722861.968/4.184 x (75-30)
= 9150.53 Kg
Batch time =36 hr
Flow rate of cooling water =254.18 Kg/hr

Enthalpy OUT
25949.54
67783.386
403.825
94137.061

Competency Demonstration Report 7

Avinash Patil
Costing survey of Equipment: (C.E 1.3.7)
This part of the project involved the calculation of all the costs of equipment, operational
cost, utility costs and sum of the other expenses. In this part my tasks at hand are briefly
described as follows:

Calculation of equipment cost based on their sizing and design. Here I used to
knowledge acquired in process engineering design and used the standard text Plant
Design and Economics by Peter and Timmerhaus as reference.
Identification of other cost headers such as installation, instrumentation, piping,
electrical, labor and civil costs.
Estimation of operating costs and calculation of cost of utilities used and generated
based on the energy balance calculations along with a comparison of the actual
costs from technical journals.
COMPONENT

PERCENTAGE%

Rs. in lakhs

Land and site development

8.00

28.62

Building and civil works

10.00

35.77

Plant and machinery cost

40.00

143.1

Engineering and know- how fees

12.00

42.93

Miscellaneous and fixed assets

3.00

10.73

Contingencies

7.00

25.04

Pre-operative expenses

15.00

53.66

Preliminary and capital issue related

expenses +margin money

5.00

17.88

TOTAL

100

357.76

(factory and non-factory buildings)

Sales and Profit Analysis

Annual production of 3-Methoxypropylamine = 100000 Kg
Selling price of 3-Methoxypropylamine per kg = Rs. 660
Annual sales = 6.6 Cr.

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Avinash Patil
Gross Profit = Annual sales - Total Production cost
= 660 271.05
= 388.95Lacs
Taxes @ 35% = 35% of Gross Profit
= 136.13Lacs
Net Profit = Gross Profit - Taxes
= 252.81Lacs
Payout Period = (Total Capital investment)/( Net Profit + Depreciation)
= (465.08)/(252.81+46.5)
= 1.55 years

Summary: (C.E 1.4)

The Acrylonitrile process was analysed and simulated in various ways to obtain the most
effective model on paper. This project was extremely helpful as it gave me the opportunity to
apply various scientific concepts, all of which were learnt during my undergraduate studies.
The usage of simulation software gave me a new perspective on how actual plants can be
simulated and integrated on a computer to observe changes in parameters caused due to
changes in the process variables, thereby leading to better optimization which I can apply in
the future. Interacting with leading industrial experts has added a lot of perspective to my
theoretical knowledge along with improving my managerial and communication skills. It has
helped me in having a much wider view of the industrial world. The important thing which I
learnt due to this project is that the implementation of new technologies is one of the
most important parameters which should be taken into consideration along with
production and profit.