Paraffin Separation Vacuum Distillation Column Analysis in Linear Alkyl Benzene (Lab) Chemical Plant Using Chemcad Simulator
Main Article Content
Abstract
Simulated column performance curves were constructed for existing paraffin separation vacuum distillation column in LAB plant (Arab Detergent Company/Baiji- Iraq). The variables considered in this study are the thermodynamic model option, top vacuum pressure, top and bottom temperatures, feed temperature, feed composition & reflux ratio. Also simulated columns profiles for the temperature, vapor & liquid flow rates composition were constructed. Four different thermodynamic model options (SRK, TSRK, PR, and ESSO) were used, affecting the results within 1-25% variation for the most cases. The simulated results show that about 2% to 8 % of paraffin (C10, C11, C12, & C13) present at the bottom stream which may cause a problem in the LAB plant. The major variations were noticed for the top temperature & the paraffin weight fractions at bottom section with top vacuum pressure. The bottom temperature above 240 oC is not recommended because the total bottom flow rate decreases sharply, where as the weight fraction of paraffins decrease slightly. The study gives evidence about a successful simulation with CHEMCAD
Metrics
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
THIS IS AN OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE UNDER THE CC BY LICENSE http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Plaudit
References
Peters,M.S. and Timmerhaus, K.D., West, R.E., Plant Design & Economics for Chemical Engineers,5thed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003.
Turton, R., Bailie, R.C, Whiting, W.B. and Shaeiwitz, J.A., Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes, 2nd ed., Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2003.
CHEMCAD User’s Guide.
Arab Detergent Company; LAB production plant Field data, Beiji-Iraq.