THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF COUPLED METHANOL HYDROCARBON CRACKING REACTION
Systematic methods and tools for managing the complexity
Process Simulation and Optimization (T4-9P)
Keywords: methanol hydrocarbon cracking, equilibrium, thermodynamic
A thermodynamic analysis of the reactions that are involved in the simultaneous cracking of n-butane and methanol process has been performed, with the aim of selectively obtaining C2-C4 olefins.
The transformation of both raw materials in an integrated process has advantages such us energy compensation over industrial processes used for obtaining olefins from each raw material. This process combines the exothermic methanol conversion with the highly endothermic hydrocarbon cracking in a thermo-neutral reaction.
The thermodynamic analysis has been carried out considering the minimum number of independent reactions involved in the system. The extent of each reaction has been calculated by defining a large number of differential equations according to the fugacity of the compounds (the fugacity of each species is determined by Soave-Redlich-Kwong state equations). The equilibrium constant at any reaction temperature is calculated by using standard molar enthalpy, free-energy and heat capacity of each compound.
A mathematical model has been developed in MATLAB with the aim of obtaining the equilibrium constants of the main reactions, equilibrium olefin selectivity, the optimum methanol/n-butane molar ratio used as feed and the heat associated with the reaction system.
Presented Wednesday 19, 13:30 to 15:00, in session Process Simulation and Optimization (T4-9P).
