Aspen Plus Lab

University of Engineering &

Technology Lahore

Process Plant Design Lab

(Open Ended Lab)

Submitted To:
Ma’am Laiba Atif
Submitted By:
Mohsin Ali (24)
Hussnain Arif (34)
Amir Nawaz (50)
Hassan (25/14)
Mohsin Maqbool (18/15)

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Aspen Plus Lab

Open Ended Lab (Aspen Plus)

Design of production plant of LDPE

Introduction
Ethylene is a petroleum product which has been used to produce polyethylene via
polymerization of ethylene. Ethylene is produced via thermal cracking of long chain
molecules at high temperature and pressure. Once the ethylene is obtained through a reaction
of appropriate ethylene polymerization, several chains of ethylene are formed. This polymer
has properties and diversity of changes in pressure and temperature used in the processes.
The high purity ethylene is subjected to high pressure and temperature for polymerization in
the presence of a reaction initiator and thus produces tubular reactors polyethylene, low
density. 12 t/h (12000 kg/hr) of low-density polyethylene was produced from the 65 t/h of
ethylene feedstock. LDPE is the most widely used polymer in the thermoplastic industry
worldwide for various applications.

Manufacturing Process of Polyethylene:

Polyethylene is produced from the polymerization of ethylene. The polymerization reaction is
sensitive to a very large number of catalysts and it is initiated particularly easy by compounds
that produce free radicals, for our process, benzoyl peroxide and Di terc butyl peroxide were
used as substances for the initiation of the reaction. Polyethylene production requires a source
of pure ethylene, suitable compression equipment to operate at about 2000 bar, and a high-
pressure reactor to perform quick and high exothermic polymerization control.
Equipment such as compressors and heat exchangers, which ensure that the flow of the
ethylene and the initiators being introduced in the reactor of polymerization are at least 2000
bar and about 150 degrees centigrade.

Reactor Operation
The tubular reactor is a PFR in counter current, counter current PFR, divided into 4 sections
due to the injection of the initiators of the reaction mechanism. The reactor operating
temperature is between 150-300 °C. The reaction works at high pressures in a range of 2000-
3000 bars. The length of the reactor is about 1000 m. The internal diameter of the tubular
reactor is in a range of 25-50 mm. The reaction process is carried out in PFR tubular reactors.
LDPE is polymerized forming large chains and generating enough entropy in the order of
their bonds between monomers, causing a reduction of their density given that the internal
structure has different types of defects.

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Aspen Plus Simulation process

The project was carried out using a process of simulation tools.

1. Components.

✓ Ethylene
✓ Low density polyethylene
Polymerization of ethylene to produce low density polyethylene was done in this plant design
problem.

Fig.1. Component Selection

2. Property method
The method of calculation of the properties for the polymerization process is known as the
Sanchez- Lacombe equation, also known as the basis Polysl method in the Aspen Plus
software. Sanchez-Lacombe equations are few models used to calculate thermodynamic
properties of liquid solutions
for polymers.
Sanchez-Lacombe equation is used:
The solubility of gas in the polymer represents a balance data, the solubility of the polymer in
the stage of high-pressure gas is essentially zero and Amorphous polymer about its glass
transition temperature can be modelled as a liquid.

Fig.2. Property Method Selection

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3. Models:
✓ Compressor
✓ Mixer
✓ Exchanger
✓ Plug flow reactor
✓ Flash
Feed was fed to the compressor where gaseous ethylene was compressed at high pressure. In
the next step, the compressed ethylene was passed through the divider which divide the
stream into two streams. We just only selected the lower stream for our simulation.
Exchanger was used to maintain the temperature of the stream. At the end, plug flow reactors
were utilized for the reaction mechanism and flash for separating vapours and liquid.

Fig.3. Main flowsheet diagram of the process

Input Specifications for streams and models

Fig.4. Compressor Specification

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Fig.5. Heater specification

Fig.6. First plug flow reactor Specification

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Fig.7. Flash drum sprcifications

Fig.8 (a). Kinetic Parameters

Fig.8(b). Kinetic Parameters

4. Results
The project was carried out using a process of simulation tools. The amount of ethylene that
does not react is considerable, which affects largely the efficiency of the process, reaching
only a 30 %. It should be recycled before a purification stage in order to increase the rate of
the operative profitability of the production process of LDPE.
The aspen plus simulation has been done by taking some assumptions after reviewing
literature about the production of Polyethylene. For example, the value of rate constant for
ethylene is taken from Costas P. Bokis et al.. POLYSL property method was used to do the
simulation process. Aspen Plus simulation was done to determine the final flow rate of the
product. According to the literature, the flow rate of Low-Density polyethylene was observed
to be around 12000 kg/hr but our results show that the flow rate of the low density
polyethylene in our process is about 9876 kg/hr. this deviation might be due to the taken
assumptions. Furthermore, MATLAB software was used to determine the total volume of the
plug flow rate reactor.

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Fig.9. Mass flow rates of the streams

Matlab Coding
Problem Statement:
By using design equation of plug flow reactor, Find the volume of the plug flow reactor.

Given Data:

Overall conversion = x = 30%

Mass flow rate of the feed (Ethylene) = 65 tons/hr = 65000 kg/hr

Molecular weight of Ethylene = 28 kg/kgmol

Rate constant = k = 2.94 per hour

Ci = 0.1448 kmol/hr % initial concentration
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To Find:

Volume of the plug flow reactor = ????

M-File
% Group #6
% Production of LDPE from Ethylene (Plant)
% In this particular problem we will find the volume of plug low reactor
% which is being used in the production of LDPE from Ethylene.
% clear all
% clc
m=65; % mass flow rate of the input (Ethylene)
%
fprintf('mass flow rate of feed= %3.0f ton/hr',m)
%
fprintf('\n')
%
fprintf('\n')
%
M=28; % molecular weight of the ethylene for the determination of molar flow rate%
%
fprintf('Molecular weight of ethylene= %3.0f kg/kgmol',M)
%
fprintf('\n')
%
fprintf('\n')
%
F=m/M; % Molar flow rate
%
fprintf('Molar Flow Rate= %3.0f m3',F)
fprintf('\n')
fprintf('\n')
disp('')
density=1.18; % density of the ethyelen in kg/m3
%
fprintf('density of Ethylene= %3.3f kg/m3',density)
fprintf('\n')
fprintf('\n')
disp('')
%
Vo=m/density; % volumetric flow rate of the ethyelen
%%
%
fprintf('Volumetric Flow rate= %3.3f m3/hr',Vo)

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fprintf('\n')
fprintf('\n')
disp('')
%
Ci=F/Vo; %Initial concentration of Ethyelene
%
fprintf('initial concentration of Ethylene= %3.5f kmol/m3',Ci)
fprintf('\n')
fprintf('\n')
disp('')
%
x=0.3; % overall conversion
%
%
k=2.95; % rate constant in per hour
%
fprintf('Rate Constant for ethylene= %3.2f per hour',k)
fprintf('\n')
fprintf('\n')
disp('')
%
Constants=(k*Ci)/F; % kCo/F
%
%
V=-log(1-x); %volume
Vf=V/Constants; % Final volume of the plug flow reactor
%
disp('')
fprintf('Size of the Plug Flow Reactor= %3.2f m3',Vf)

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Results

Fig.10. Matlab Results (Volume of the Plug flow reactor)

References:
1- Bokis CP, Ramanathan S, Franjione J, Buchelli A, Call ML, Brown AL. Physical properties,
reactor modeling, and polymerization kinetics in the low-density polyethylene tubular
reactor process. Industrial & engineering chemistry research. 2002 Mar 6;41(5):1017-
30.

2- Jimenez-Varon CF, Soto RT. Design of a production plant of LDPE in Colombia.

vector Manizales (Colombia) Vol. 10 122 p. enero-diciembre 2015 ISSN 1909-7891.
2015 Jan.

3- Al-Malah, K.I., 2016. Aspen plus: chemical engineering applications. John Wiley &
Sons.

4- ZHAO, Y.H., WEN, H. and XU, Z.H., 2003. Discussions on development of user
models for Aspen Plus [J]. Computers and Applied Chemistry, 4.
s

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