SIMULATION FOR SPHERIPOL PROCESS OF HOMOPOLYMER POLYPROPYLENE PRODUCTION – EFFECT OF INCREASING PRODUCTION CAPACITY ON REQUIRED REACTOR COOLING

• Main Author: Afandi, Dodi
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/76057
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

<p align="justify">Polypropylene production at PT XYZ uses the Spheripol process technology from the LyondellBasell licensor. When operated with an increase in production capacity from 30 to 35 tons per hour (TPH), this polymerization process experienced operational problems because the flow of cooling water into the reactor jacket space was not able to maintain the polymerization reactor temperature as desired (72.5oC). This thesis study aims to prepare and use a simulation model to evaluate the options for solving these operational constraints. Because it is not possible to increase the area of the reactor cooling jacket, the scope of this study is focused on the choice of options for optimizing the performance of the cooling system used by adjusting the flow rate and inlet temperature of the cooling medium flow into the reactor cooling jacket space. Option-1 is optimization by maintaining the existing cooling system configuration, while Option-2 is installing additional heat exchangers. Because it requires modeling features of the polymerization reaction system, the Aspen Plus simulation model, which has been validated with actual operating data, is used to calculate the prediction of the reactor cooling rate. As for optimizing the flow rate and cooling water temperature and determining the optimal additional area, modeling, and carrying out simulations, use the Aspen Hysys. The evaluation results show that the temperature of the R-2 reactor can be maintained at 72.5oC with two options, the first is increasing the reactor cooling water flow rate from the normal base condition of 850 to 863 TPH and increasing the flow rate of the cooling water supply (CWS) as a heat exchanger cooling medium by 46.2%, that is, from the normal basis conditions of 2000 to 2924 TPH which are flowed to two units of plate and frame heat exchangers. The second is installing an additional plate and frame heat exchanger with a heat transfer area of 219 m2 to increase the total heat transfer area by 35.2%. With the installation of additional heat exchangers, the CWS flow rate only increased by 7.25%, while the reactor cooling water flow rate remained constant. Option-1 requires a payback period of 4.15 years, while Option-2 takes 4.06 years.