Sequence reactor-separator

The choice of configuration is usually made on the basis of the requirements of the two processes and the expected advantages to be gained. The conventional sequence reactor-separator shown in scheme 1 represents the trivial case of no integration. If the two processes are really interrelated, their coexistence affects the rate or the yield of the reaction and/or separation. Both schemes 2 and 3 could be used in this circumstance. Scheme 3 offers the possibility to operate both processes in the same equipment, thus making a saving of space and investment costs in comparison to scheme 2. Catalytic membranes are just a particular case of scheme 3. 

Separations are an important phase in almost all chemical engineering processes. Separations are needed because the chemical species from a single source stream must be sent to multiple destinations with specified concentrations. The sources usually are raw material inputs and reactor effluents the destinations are reactor inputs and product and waste streams. To achieve a desired species allocation you must determine the best types and sequence of separators to be used, evaluate the physical or chemical property differences to be exploited at each separator, fix the phases at each separator, and prescribe operating conditions for the entire process. Optimization is involved both in the design of the equipment and in the determination of the optimal operating conditions for the equipment. 

From the topographical viewpoint illustrated in Figure El4.6a the process comprises a set of reactor-separator sections that connect a set of component feeds (specified as source nodes) to component products (specified as destination nodes). Each section is a prescribed sequence of reactors and associated separation units, and sev-... 

In most chemical processes reactors are sequenced by systems that separate the desired products out of their outlet reactor streams and recycle the unconverted reactants back to the reactor system. Despite the fact that process synthesis has been developed into a very active research area, very few systematic procedures have been proposed for the synthesis of reactor/separator/recycle systems. The proposed evolutionary approaches are always based upon a large number of heuristic rules to eliminate the wide variety of choices. Many of these heuristics are actually extensions of results obtained by separately studying the synthesis problem of reactor networks or separator systems, and therefore the potential trade-offs resulting from the coupling of the reactors with the separators have not been investigated. 

Floquet et al. (1985) proposed a tree searching algorithm in order to synthesize chemical processes involving reactor/separator/recycle systems interlinked with recycle streams. The reactor network of this approach is restricted to a single isothermal CSTR or PFR unit, and the separation units are considered to be simple distillation columns. The conversion of reactants into products, the temperature of the reactor, as well as the reflux ratio of the distillation columns were treated as parameters. Once the values of the parameters have been specified, the composition of the outlet stream of the reactor can be estimated and application of the tree searching algorithm on the alternative separation tasks provides the less costly distillation sequence. The problem is solved for several values of the parameters and conclusions are drawn for different regions of operation. 

P. Floquet, L. Pibouleau, and S. Domenech. Reactor separator sequences synthesis by a tree searching algorithm. Process System Engineering, Symp. Series, 92 415, 1985. 

The reactor/separator/recycle structure is decided by considering the physical properties of the species found in the reactor effluent (Table 9.1). The catalyst and the organic phase are immiscible. Therefore, they can be separated by liquid-liquid splitting. The separation of the organic components by distillation seems easy. In a direct sequence, the inert and any light byproduct will be removed in the first column. The second column will separate the reactants, which have adjacent volatilities. Therefore, there will be only one recycle for both reactants. The third column will separate the product from the heavies. The reactor/separation/ recycle structure of the flowsheet is presented in Figure 9.2. 

As was described in the review of previous work, over the last ten years MINLP optimization models have been reported for the synthesis of process flowsheets, heat-exchanger networks, separation sequences, reactor networks, utility plants, and design of batch processes. Rather than describing in detail each of these works, we will briefly highlight several examples from our research group at Carnegie Mellon to illustrate the capabilities and the current limitations of the MINLP approach. 

We neglect the energy balance. We chose the recycle as tear stream, so that the computational sequence is Mixer-Reactor-Separator. The tear stream has been cut explicitly in two parts, the streams 4 and 5. The convergence is obtained when the difference in component flow rates between the streams 4 and 5 is less than a prescribed tolerance. Let us denote the molar flow rates of the components. 4, fi, C in the stream 5 by, Fg, F(-. The convergence condition leads to the following algebraic equations ... 

Process synthesis is introduced mostly using heuristics in Part One (Chapters 3 and 5), whereas Part Two provides more detailed algorithmic methods for chemical reactor network synthesis, separation train synthesis, the synthesis of reactor-separator-recycle networks, heat and power integration, mass integration, and the optimal design and sequencing of batch processes. 

Within each of the three general approaches toward process synthesis, key decisions are made about the flowsheet design that have a bearing on the operability characteristics of the plant. For example, in a hierarchical procedure (Ref. 6) we will make decisions about whether the plant is batch or continuous, what types of reactors are used, how material is recycled, what methods and sequences of separation are employed, how much energy integration is involved, etc. In a thermodynamic pinch analysis, we typically start with some flowsheet information, but we must then decide what streams or units to include in the analysis, what level of utilities are involved, what thermodynamic targets are used, etc. In an optimization approach, we must decide the scope of the superstructure to use, what physical data to include, what constraints to apply, what disturbances or uncertainties to consider, what objective function to employ, etc (Ref. 7). 

More often than not, the sequence of separations in chemical and petrochemical operations comprises part of a chemical production process where chemical reactions play a crucial part. Separation processes are often used to purify the feed stream entering the reactor. The products of reaction need to be separated from each other and from the residual feed, with the separated unreacted feed components recycled back to the reactor inlet where the feed stream is introduced. Figure 11.3.1 illustrates schematically this basic mode of operation, without reference to any particular process. Figure 11.3.2 provides an ettample. Naptha fraction (Shreve and Hatch, 1984) from crude oil distillation is taken to a reformer, where the octane number is increased by producing more olefins, compounds having lower molecular weight and achieving more cyclization and aromatization. 

Also, if there are two separators, the order of separation can change. The tradeoffs for these two alternative flowsheets will be different. The choice between different separation sequences can be made using the methods described in Chap. 5. However, we should be on guard to the fact that as the reactor conversion changes, the most appropriate sequence also can change. In other words, different separation system structures become appropriate for different reactor conversions. 

We should be on guard for the fact that as the reactor conversion changes, the most appropriate separation sequence also can change. In other words, different separation system structures become appropriate for different reactor conversions. 

Pressure-tubes allow the separate, low-pressure, heavy-water moderator to act as a backup hesit sink even if there is no water in the fuel channels. Should this fail, the calandria shell ilsdf can contain the debris, with the decay heat being transferred to the water-filled shield tank around the core. Should the severe core damage sequence progress further, the shield tank and the concrete reactor vault significantly delay the challenge to containment. Furthermore, should core melt lead to containment overpressure, the concrete containment wall will leak and reduce the possibility of catastrophic structural failure (Snell, 1990). 

Recently, Wang100 introduced a membrane sequencing batch reactor (membrane-SBR) process for groundwater decontamination, water purification, and industrial effluent treatment. A membrane-SBR is similar to conventional SBR except that membrane filtration is used (instead of sedimentation) for the separation of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) from the mixed liquor. 

Obviously, the use of purges is not restricted to dealing with impurities. Purges can also be used to deal with byproducts. As with the optimization of reactor conversion, changes in the recycle concentration of impurity might change the most appropriate separation sequence. 

Obviously, the main purpose for the introduction of CL detection coupled to CE separations is inherent to the development and improvement of sensitive and uncomplicated devices to achieve a decrease of the band broadening caused by turbulence at the column end, together with the attractive separation efficiency of CE setups. With this purpose in mind, Zhao et al. [83] designed a postcolumn reactor for CL detection in the capillary electrophoretic separation of isoluminol thiocarbamyl derivatives of amino acids, because, like other isothiocyanates, isoluminol isothiocyanate has potential applications in the protein-sequencing area. 

From a computational viewpoint, the presence of recycle streams is one of the impediments in the sequential solution of a flowsheeting problem. Without recycle streams, the flow of information would proceed in a forward direction, and the cal-culational sequence for the modules could easily be determined from the precedence order analysis outlined earlier. With recycle streams present, large groups of modules have to be solved simultaneously, defeating the concept of a sequential solution module by module. For example, in Figure 15.8, you cannot make a material balance on the reactor without knowing the information in stream S6, but you have to carry out the computations for the cooler module first to evaluate S6, which in turn depends on the separator module, which in turn depends on the reactor module. Partitioning identifies those collections of modules that have to be solved simultaneously (termed maximal cyclical subsystems, loops, or irreducible nets). 

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