Abstract
The purpose of this study was the coupling simulation of the vacuum block of the ethanolamine mixture separation unit to determine the optimal layout of the vacuum creation system. For this, a computational model of the vacuum unit, which was identified by comparing the computational data with the data of an industrial study of vacuum rectification columns, was synthesized in the Unisim Design R461 software package. To determine the required load on the vacuum system, a numerical experiment was carried out, during which it was discovered that the load on the system would be 9600 m3/h. It was proposed to replace individual column vacuum pumps with a single vacuum-generating system (VGS) based on a liquid ring vacuum pump (LRVP). When defining the layout, two possible schemes were considered, the models of which were created in Unisim Design R461. The system layout was determined by matching the characteristics of the system elements with the characteristics of the vacuum columns. A technical and economic comparison of the proposed solutions was carried out and the payback period for capital costs was calculated, which for Scheme 1 was 4.14 years, and for Scheme 2–3.59 years.
Highlights
At chemical plants, ethanolamines are produced by oxyethylation of ammonia using water as a catalyst [1,2,3]
The product stream produced from the reactor block consists of MEA, DEA, and TEA, which are separated into components in the rectification columns [4,5,6]
The steam ejection pumps (SEP) used as vacuum-generating systems (VGSs) are obsolete and are characterized by increased consumption of expensive energy resources [8], so it was decided to replace the existing vacuum pumps with a single VGS based on the liquid ring vacuum pump (LRVP) [9]
Summary
Ethanolamines are produced by oxyethylation of ammonia using water as a catalyst [1,2,3]. The product stream produced from the reactor block consists of MEA (monoethanolamine), DEA (diethanolamine), and TEA (triethanolamine), which are separated into components in the rectification columns [4,5,6]. Analysis of complex objects of chemical industries is usually carried out using the principle of dismemberment (decomposition) of a CCTS (complex chemical and technological system) into its constituent elements (blocks) of a lower level of hierarchy (input) [10,11,12,13,14]. Blocks are characterized by a fairly high level of autonomy, which allows us to operate in terms of their characteristics [13], which determine the main properties of blocks. The connection between blocks is usually determined by the input, output, and circulating inter-block flows that occur in the CCTS.
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