Energy-saving Technology in Steady-state Simulation of Ethylene Acetate Production Process Using Aspen Plus

Abstract

It is necessary to strengthen energy management in chemical and petrochemical industries because of the shortage of energy supply. Aspen Plus was used to simulate and optimize vinyl acetate production process via ethylene gas-phase method. The appropriate thermodynamic equations and unit modules were selected. The simulation and optimization results of vinyl acetate production were in accordance with the industrial production data. Based on steady-state simulation and optimization results, heat exchanger network synthesis and heat pump assisted distillation technology were proposed for energy conservation. For heat exchanger network synthesis technology, energy conservation can be achieved through the energy matching of cold and hot streams based on pinch theory. As a result, cold utilities, hot utilities, heat transfer area and the number of heat exchanger decreased by 25.52%, 59.52%, 70.60% and 30.77%, respectively. For heat pump assisted distillation technology, compared with the conventional distillation technology in the purification of acetic acid from aqueous acetic acid solution, 48.05% of cold energy consumption and 82.40% of heat energy consumption could be saved. Based on the simulation and optimization results, it can be found that heat exchanger network synthesis and optimization as well as heat pump assisted distillation technology can provide good ideas for the rational use of energy.