A simulation study of heat transfer in polymerization reactors

Abstract

In this paper, the heat transfer in polymer reactors has been investigated. The study of various methods of heat transfer in jacketed agitated vessels and the impact of altering different agitators on the heat transfer are indicated. A computer program is developed to calculate the heat transfer parameters and the heat duty required for each case. The PVC polymer reactor in the Egyptian Petrochemical Company is chosen as a case study. This reactor is modeled by Microsoft Excel and simulated by a VISIMIX simulation program version turbulent SV. In addition, the chemical reaction is modeled by Aspen HYSYS V8, and eventually the modeling results are validated with the actual design data. Meanwhile, a comparison between various heat transfer methods is generated to set the preferable design and the topmost impeller for high heat transfer conditions. Furthermore, this preferable design is adopted to analyze the alteration on its performance. The result indicates that, the retreating turbine impeller is the best for a high in-side heat transfer coefficient and the half coil jacket is the best for a maximum outside heat transfer coefficient. The performance investigation shows that this design is preferable for the optimum recommended flow velocity in the jacket of v = 2.3 m/s, as the outside heat transfer coefficient would increase by 31.47%. Finally, the new approach which is released by Vinnolit Uhde Company is applied and its result show that the heat duty would increase by 32% due to the installation of an inner cooler inside the reactor wall, which represents a significant stride for a high performance polymer reactor.