UNIVERSITY KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL &

BIOENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

PROCESS DYNAMIC CONTROL

CPB 30004

MINI PROJECT PROGRESS 1

SUBMITTED BY:

No. NAME ID NUMBER

1. AZWAN BIN AHMAD 55213115254

2. MUHAMMAD BIN MOHD ASRI 55213115266

3. NURUL FARIHAH BT ABU SAIRI 55213115262
4. SITI ZULAIKHA WAHIDAH BT HASSAN 55220115198
5. NURAISHAH HANNY BT KHAIRUL ANWAR 55213115074

PREPARED FOR :
DR ZULHAFIZ BIN TAJUDIN

SUBMISSION DATE:
20 NOVEMBER 2017
Give example of five PDC objectives based on schematic diagram.

1 3

 Safety
High temperatures are necessary for increased catalyst activity, but this may lead to
thermal runaways (due to the exothermic nature of alkylation) and to higher rates of
side reactions, which deactivate the catalyst, reduce EB selectivity and increase
equipment cost. The operating pressure in alkylation reactor should be 35 to 40 bars
to not destroy the catalyst and affected the reactor stability.1

 Production specifications.
Separation using dividing-wall column (DCW), a combination of two conventional
column into one. This is to ensure high purity if ethyl benzene of 99.97% instead of
using conventional distillation column (CDC) that give purity of 99.5%1

 Environmental regulations
Zeolite catalyst is used in the reactor instead of aluminium chloride. A study shows
that discharge waste using aluminium chloride catalyst id highly toxic to the
environment2.
 Operational constraint
High temperatures are necessary for increased catalyst activity, but this may lead to
thermal runaways (due to the exothermic nature of alkylation) and to higher rates of
side reactions, which deactivate the catalyst, reduce EB selectivity and increase
equipment cost. The operating pressure in alkylation reactor should be 35 to 40 bars
to not destroy the catalyst and affected the reactor stability1.

 Economy
The production of ethyl benzene is based global market demand, where more than
90% of ethyl benzene production is used to manufacture styrene. Besides, the demand
of ethyl benzene is Asia Pacific is 30 % of the world demand3.
REFERENCE

1. Ng, Qi Han, Sharma, Shivom, Rangaiah, Gade Pandu, Design and Analysis of an
Ethyl Benzene Production Process using Conventional Distillation Columns and
Dividing-Wall Column for Multiple Objectives.Chemical Engineering Research and
Design http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2016.10.046.
2. Elvers, B. (2003). Ullmann's Encyclopedia of industrial chemistry. Volume 13. (p.
461).Weinheim: Wiley-VCH.
3. Worldwide Ethyl benzene Market Expected To Reach $ 22.46 Billion By 2020 With a
CAGR Of 4.2%. (2017). Article.wn.com. Retrieved 26 September 2017, from
https://article.wn.com/view/2016/09/07/Worldwide_Ethyl_benzene_Market_Expected
_To_Reach_2246_Billio/