Michigan Technological University Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open Reports 2014 DYNAMICS AND CONTROL OF REACTIVE DISTILLATION PROCESS FOR MONOMER SYNTHESIS OF POLYCARBONATE PLANTS Mathkar Alawi A Alharthi Michigan Technological University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds Part of the Chemical Engineering Commons Copyright 2014 Mathkar Alawi A Alharthi Recommended Citation Alharthi, Mathkar Alawi A, "DYNAMICS AND CONTROL OF REACTIVE DISTILLATION PROCESS FOR MONOMER SYNTHESIS OF POLYCARBONATE PLANTS", Dissertation, Michigan Technological University, 2014. https://doi.org/10.37099/mtu.dc.etds/929 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etds Part of the Chemical Engineering Commons DYNAMICS AND CONTROL OF REACTIVE DISTILLATION PROCESS FOR MONOMER SYNTHESIS OF POLYCARBONATE PLANTS By Mathkar Alawi A Alharthi A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In Chemical Engineering MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Mathkar Alawi A Alharthi This dissertation has been approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Chemical Engineering. Department of Chemical Engineering Dissertation Co-Advisor: Prof. Tomas B. Co Dissertation Co-Advisor: Prof. Gerard T. Caneba Committee Member: Prof. Tony N. Rogers Committee Member: Prof. Jeffery B. Burl Department Chair: Prof. S. Komar Kawatra Table of Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................................... 6 List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................... 10 Abstract ............................................................................................................................ 11 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 12 1.1 Polycarbonate ..................................................................................................... 12 1.2 Diphenyl Carbonate (DPC) Production .............................................................. 18 1.2.1 GE (SABIC IP) Process .............................................................................. 18 1.2.2 Asahi Kasei Process .................................................................................... 19 1.3 Reactive Distillation Technology ....................................................................... 21 1.4 Dynamics and Control of Reactive Distillations ................................................ 22 1.5 Dissertation Methodology .................................................................................. 25 2. Reactive Distillation Modeling ............................................................................... 26 2.1 Chemical System ................................................................................................ 26 2.2 Equilibrium Stage Model ................................................................................... 27 2.3 Phase Equilibria .................................................................................................. 31 2.4 Reaction Kinetics ............................................................................................... 32 3. Ideal Reactive Distillation ...................................................................................... 33 3.1 Binary System ࡭՞࡮ ........................................................................................ 33 3.1.1 Problem Definition...................................................................................... 33 3.1.2 Design Procedure ........................................................................................ 35 3.1.3 Residence Time and Reactive Stages ......................................................... 39 3.1.4 Pressure of Reactive Distillation ................................................................. 40 3 3.2 Control of Binary Reactive Distillation ............................................................. 41 3.2.1 Steady State Gain Matrix ............................................................................ 42 3.2.2 Control Configuration ................................................................................. 44 3.2.3 Control Response to Disturbances .............................................................. 46 3.2.4 Cascade Control .......................................................................................... 48 3.3 Comparison between Reactive and Non-Reactive Systems ............................... 50 3.4 Quatenary Ideal Reactive Distillation ................................................................ 54 3.4.1 Differential Algebraic Equations (DAEs) ................................................... 55 3.4.2 Steady States Simulation............................................................................. 57 4. Preliminary Conceptual Design of DPC System .................................................. 60 4.1 Process Description ............................................................................................ 60 4.2 Residue curve maps ............................................................................................ 63 4.3 RCMs Mathematical Models ............................................................................. 64 4.4 Thermodynamic Activity Model ........................................................................ 69 4.5 Reactions Kinetics .............................................................................................. 71 4.6 RCMs Results ..................................................................................................... 73 5. Steady State and Control of DPC System ............................................................. 75 5.1 Background ........................................................................................................ 75 5.2 Preliminary Design of DPC System ................................................................... 78 5.3 Steady State Simulation ..................................................................................... 82 5.4 Catalyst Effect .................................................................................................... 84 5.5 Feed Compositions Effect .................................................................................. 85 5.6 Control of DPC System ...................................................................................... 86 5.7 Control Structure ................................................................................................ 87 5.8 Response of DPC Control to Disturbances ........................................................ 89 4 6. Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 90 7. Recommendations ................................................................................................... 93 Appendix A: Economic Costs Model ............................................................................ 94 Appendix B: Thermodynamic and Physical Properties .............................................. 97 Appendix C: Aspen and MATLAB Programs ............................................................. 99 References ...................................................................................................................... 132 5 List of Figures Figure 1.1 : Phosgene Process for PC Production. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Polymer Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 91– 114, copyright (2007)..................................................................................... 13 Figure 1.2 : Asahi Kasei’s Non-Phosgene PC Process. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Polymer Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 91–114, copyright (2007)............................................................................................. 14 Figure 1.3 : Ideal Process for PC Production. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Polymer Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 91–114, copyright (2007)............................................................................................. 15 Figure 1.4 : Asahi Kasei’s New Process: Closest to the Ideal Process. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Polymer Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 91–114, copyright (2007) .............................................................. 15 Figure 1.5 : Break-through (1) in the Monomer Production Step (EC and DMC Steps). Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Polymer Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 91–114, copyright (2007) ................................................ 16 Figure 1.6 : Break-through (2) in the Monomer Production Step (DPC Step). Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Polymer Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 91–114, copyright (2007) .............................................................. 17 Figure 1.7 : Break-through (3) in the Polymer Production Step: Solid-State Polymerization of PC. Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Polymer Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 91–114, copyright (2007) ...........