BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM AND GAS | v. 13 n. 4 | p.

323-332 | 2019 | ISSN 1982-0593

DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A SYSTEM TO OBTAIN POLYMER GRADE

PROPYLENE BY MEANS OF VAPOR RECOMPRESSION DISTILLATION

a, b
Fontana, M. 1; b Fernandes, L. M.; c Souza, T. A.

a
University of Campinas (UNICAMP), School of Chemical Engineering, Campinas, SP, Brazil
b
Federal Technological University of Paraná, UTFPR, Department of Chemical Engineering, Francisco Beltrão, PR, Brazil
c
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Graduate Program in Technology of Chemical and Biochemical Processes, School of
Chemistry, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Received: 15.08.2019 / Revised: 03.11.2019 / Accepted: 03.11.2019 / Published on line: 20.12.2019

ABSTRACT
Propylene in a purity degree above 99.5% (polymer purity grade- PPG) is a first-generation basic
petrochemical that represents a vital link in refining-petrochemical integration. The strict specification of
the product and the need to maximize the energy efficiency of the propylene/propane distillation process
poses several challenges to the optimization of both the design and operation of the plant. Using a Petro-
SIM (KBC) technology, a polymer grade general model from a propylene distillation unit was developed by
means of vapor recompression. The sensitivity for feeding with different propylene fractions was
analyzed, reaching a value of 0.94, which is considered the minimum propylene fraction in the feed
required to the tower to generate a product with polymer purity grade. Based on the data obtained in the
simulation, the tower was designed and evaluated by means of vapor recompression, showing a potential
alternative way to obtain propylene at polymer grade which could be cost saving in industrial processes.

KEYWORDS
propylene; distillation; steam recovery; simulation, design

1
To whom all correspondence should be addressed.
Address: School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Av. Albert Einstein, 500 - Cidade Universitária,
CEP, Campinas, SP, Brazil.
ZIP Code: 13083-852 | e-mail: [email protected]
doi:10.5419/bjpg2019-0027

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1. INTRODUCTION 231.05 K at ambient pressure (He et al., 2018;

GETIS, 2018). This similarity of propane and
The separation of propane/propylene mixtures propylene boiling points makes it difficult to
is very important commercially for the chemical separate their mixtures, requiring the use of large-
and petrochemical industry (Rege & Yang, 2002; sized towers, increasing expenses due to the high-
He et al., 2018). Propylene is used in the reflux stream (Briggs & Segers, 1971).
production of polypropylene, acrylonitrile, acrylic
acid, isopropanol, cumene, phenol, gasoline blend, The propylene and propane mixture separation
trimmers, tetramers for detergents, propylene is conventionally carried out via distillation (Umo &
oxide, and oxo-alcohols (Gomes et al., 2009; Umo Bassey, 2017). These processes involving
& Bassey, 2017; Roeentan et al., 2017; Ravanchi et distillation are the main consumers of industrial
al., 2010). energy, accounting for 40 to 70% of capital and
operating costs in a typical chemical plant
The most common way of obtaining propylene (Bruinsma et al., 2012).
is via fluidized catalytic cracking or steam cracking;
the latter accounting for 56% of the global The propylene splitter is the last distillation
propylene production (He et al., 2018; Kuah et al., column from the fractionation system of liquefied
2018). An important source of propylene is through petroleum gas (LPG). Its purpose is to separate
three-carbon hydrocarbons, which are obtained in propane and propylene streams from other
several processes of refinement and cracking to impurities (Lopes, 2011). The propylene feeding
which oil is subjected. The propylene produced in splitter varies in composition and this is the main
the refineries can be found in three specifications: process disturbance. The feed that arrives at the
(1) the refinery-grade, which has 50 to 70% of propylene splitter comes from the de-ethanizer, in
purity; (2) the chemical grade, containing between which all the lighters of the stream (methane,
90 and 95% of molar purity; and (3) the polymer ethanes, ethenes, CO, CO2, and H2S) are separated.
grade, which exceeds 99.5% of molar purity (Umo
Aiming at producing propylene to supply the
& Bassey, 2017). commercial demand, the industry is gradually
The polypropylene industry accepts only adopting technologies such as propane
propylene at polymer purity grade (PPG) (Lopes, dehydrogenation, olefin metathesis, and methanol
2011). Polypropylene is a thermoplastic polymer, to propylene. However, regardless of the technique
that is, it can be molded using heating. It is one of used to obtain this product, the propane and
the most used olefin polymers because it does not propylene mixture is always generated, and it must
include any polar group in its chain (Kawasumi et be separated with one more process step (Umo &
al., 1997). To produce polypropylene, propylene is Bassey, 2017).
polymerized through high catalytic activity, under
Nowadays, the propylene and propane are
controlled heat and pressure. Industrially, separated by distillation. Such process demands a
propylene is reacted with an organometallic, great amount of energy because of the
transition metal catalyst, to provide a site for the
resemblance in their relative volatilities (Bruinsma
reaction to occur. Propylene molecules are added et al., 2012; Ghosh et al., 1993). Due to the low
sequentially through a reaction between the thermodynamic process efficiency (Kazemi et al.,
metallic functional group on the growing polymer
2017a) and the increasing of environmental
chain and the unsaturated bond of the propylene requirements for quality petroleum products
monomer (Maier & Calafut, 1998). Thus, high-
(Speigh & Heinemann, 2006), it becomes
purity propylene is necessary, since even low
necessary to expand the knowledge about these
amounts of impurities deactivate the catalysis in
systems. The low energy efficiency of the process
the production of polypropylene (Mauhar et al., lies in a large amount of energy required in the
2004). reboiler and in the thermal demand at a lower
Propylene is a highly flammable colorless gas. temperature in the condenser (Bruinsma et al.,
Its molecular formula is C3H6, and its boiling point is 2012; Ponce et al., 2015; Zygula & Kolmetz, 2011).
225.45 K at ambient pressure. The propane Due to the increase of oil prices and the growing
molecular formula is C3H8 and its boiling point is market demand for propylene, the interest in

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developing new processes for propylene This work aims at evaluating the distillation
production has increased in recent years (Kazemi process of vapor recompression to achieve
et al., 2017b). Therefore, processes such as vapor propylene at a polymer purity grade using the
recompression, heat pump distillation (Kazemi et simulator Petro-SIM (KBC). Moreover, a distillation
al., 2017c), thermally coupled distillation columns tower was designed to find an efficient internal
and internally heat-integrated distillation columns tower, aiming at reducing the cooler load to obtain
have been proposed to reuse the heat from the an efficient and environmentally friendly process.
currents of their own system (Kazemi et al.,
2017a). By means of process simulators, a plant
can be operated in several conditions, determining
which condition provides the optimum operating 2. SIMULATION AND TOWER DESIGN
performance (Rocha, 2009).
The propylene and propane distillation tower
The thermodynamic operation principle of a projects were carried out by the Petro-SIMTM
distillation system by vapor recompression uses software (KBC). The simulation was based on
work to produce temperature differences to allow operational parameters such as temperature,
for heat transfer (Luyben, 2018). The heat from the pressure, flow rate, molar composition, and
overhead vapor is upgraded by means of a product composition obtained from the literature.
compressor to such a level that its saturation
temperature exceeds the reboiler temperature The plant design was assembled according to
(Bruinsma et al., 2012). Therefore, the the vapor recompression distillation system
condensation heat can be used to drive the discussed by Kazemi et al. (2018). The distillation
distillation column reboiler (Bruinsma et al., 2012). tower was simulated with 190 theoretical stages
Because of this, no water stream is required in the with the main feeding into stage 121. Two recycles,
reboiler (Coker, 2010), making the process one from the bottom stream fed into tray 190 and
economically attractive. Cost savings even greater another from the top stream fed into stage 1 were
than 42% can be achieved using the vapor considered. The thermodynamic package used was
recompression system (Harwardt & Marquardt, Peng Robinson, as accurately predicted by Kazemi
2012). et al. (2018) to describe a propane/propylene
distillation system. Other data for the base case are
The use of an appropriate process simulator
shown in Table 1.
makes it possible to quickly evaluate various
industrial scenarios, and it is also useful to help in The purity degree obtained with the proposed
the decision-making process (Jorge et al., 2017). conditions was evaluated, and a sensitivity analysis
The Petro-SIM (KBC) simulator makes it possible to was performed, changing the propylene fraction at
evaluate them. The use of these innovative the tower feed. Since the tower distillation
technologies improves the management of the internals were designed based on a series of sizing
challenges facing the industry significantly. This calculations where tower internals were sized
platform integrates business data into a database according to the methodology presented by Caldas
system offering operational support for plant et al. (2007).
designs and for performance monitoring (KBC,
2017).

Table 1. Base case data.

Vapor Flow Composition (molar

Pressure Temperature Energy
Stream (phase Stage rate fraction)
[kPa] [K] [kW]
fraction) [kmol/h] Propylene Propane
Feed 1.0 121 2240 348.75 376.4 0.9622 0.0378 -
Bottom_recycle 1.0 190 2240 333.19 4729.5 0,1971 0,8029 -
Top_recycle 0.03 0.97 2200 325.83 4829.9 0.9958 0,0041 -
Condenser - - - - - - - -4350
Compressor - - - - - - - 3054

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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION distillation column. These two pieces of equipment

were eliminated from the system to give rise to
Propane and propylene have similar molecular another type of current integration to supply the
sizes and physical properties, which makes the energy required. Even though they were not
process of separation problematic. The separation considered in the simulation, both condenser and
is generally performed in towers with a stage reboiler still appear interconnected to the
number between 150 and 200, with high reflux and distillation column in the illustration. The
high pressure (1600 to 2640 kPa), requiring high justification for their presence is because the
energy (Umo & Bassey, 2017; Gadalla et al., 2005). design of the tower in the simulator is fixed and
This justifies the use of 190 stages at the tower and does not change with their removal from the
high pressure (2200 kPa). According to Roeentan et flowsheet. Based on the study of Kazemi et al.
al. (2017), distillation columns up to 100 m height (2018), the process arrangement used in the
that include about 200 trays with very large reflux simulation was organized. Figure 1 shows the
ratio are usually required. Besides that, the number configuration applied in the study, as well as the
of trays is related directly to the column capital currents that interconnect the system.
cost. A higher tray number means higher capital
invested in the tower and a reduction on the The top stream that passed through the
capital invested in the heat exchanger, also compressor was compressed from 2200 kPa to
reducing energy costs (Hussain & Lee, 2018). 5226.2 kPa. Its temperature was increased from
Likewise, high pressure values lead to a decrease in 325.83 to 388.55 K and to the dew point. Then, the
the column diameter, as the vapor density top stream was used to supply the energy to the
increases (Hussain & Lee, 2018). bottom stream using a shell and a tube heat
exchanger. Afterwards, the top product passed
The steam recompression system does not have through the shell and its temperature decreased
a condenser and a reboiler coupled to the from 388.55 K to 351.85 K. The bottom stream

Figure 1. Propylene distillation by means of vapor recompression.

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Table 2. Base case output process data.

Molar fraction 3
Stream Flow rate [kmol/h] Density [kg/m ]
Propylene Propane
Top product 0.9958 0.0042 5189.4 48.71
Bottom product 0.1973 0.8027 4746.4 407.2
Propane 0.1973 0.8027 20.56 51.85
Propylene 0.9958 0.0042 355.8 344.84

passed through the tube. With this step, the 0.8027 of propane and 0.1973of propylene was
bottom stream became vapor. Following, the obtained at a molar fraction, leaving the tower at a
bottom product returned to the bottom in a vapor molar flow of 4746.4 kmol/h. This stream passes
recycle stream at 333.19 K. In the end, the top through the heat exchanger, where it becomes
product underwent a pressure drop from 5226.2 purely vapor and its flow is divided between the
kPa to 2200 kPa, as well as a cooling step to recycle that returns to the tower (4725.84 kmol/h)
decrease its temperature from 325.83 K to 324,07 and the product stream that leaves the system
K, entering the tower as a liquid recycle stream, (20.56 kmol/h).
going to the top of the distillation tower (Kazemi et
al., 2017c). The simulation was also studied by varying the
propylene molar fraction in the main feed stream.
As shown in Table 2, at the top product, PGP In this study, the main feed composition stream
was obtained in a molar fraction of 0.9959 and was considered to contain propylene and propane.
propane was obtained at 0.0041. This stream This analysis was carried out to obtain, for the
leaves the tower at a flow rate of 5189.4 kmol/h same processing conditions, the feed containing
and only a part of it (355.8 kmol/h) is removed lower propylene molar fraction that still provided
from the system, the remaining 4833.6 kmol/h PGP as the product from the top stream. The more
return to the tower through the recycle stream propylene at the feed also contributes to more
from the top. These data corroborate the results propylene at the top (Fig. 2) and bottom (Fig. 3)
obtained by Kazemi et al. (2018) in the Aspen stream.
Hysys simulator and in an operational plant. Both
studies generated a flow of 359.9 kmol/h at the top The lowest molar fraction of propylene in the
in a propene molar fraction of 0.9960. tower feed that made it possible to obtain the
polymer grade propylene at the top was 0.94 of
In the bottom stream, the composition of propylene, with the remaining 0.06 of propane

Figure 2. Sensitivity analysis of propylene at the top stream.

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Figure 3. Sensitivity analysis of propylene at the bottom stream.

molar fraction. With this feed composition, it was propane was generated, leaving the system in a
possible to generate PPG with molar composition flow rate of 23.96 kmol/h.
of 0.9953 of propylene and 0.0047 of propane at a
molar flow rate of 352.4 kmol/h. In addition, under The presence of impurities, such as n-butane,
these conditions, a bottom stream with propylene even in low fractions in the feed composition can
molar composition of 0.1134 and 0.8866 of be listed as a negative factor in yield. Table 3 shows

Table 3. Analysis with the presence of n-butane in feed composition.

Molar fraction
Chemical species
Feed Top product Bottom product
Propylene 0.9600 0.9958 0.1982
Propane 0.0350 0.0042 0.8023
n-butane 0.005 0 0.0003
Propylene 0.9535 0.9957 0.1965
Propane 0.0450 0.0043 0.8033
n-butane 0.0015 0 0.00011
Propylene 0.9530 0.9957 0.1966
Propane 0.045 0.0043 0.8031
n-butane 0.002 0 0.00015
Propylene 0.9525 0.9956 0.3532
Propane 0.0465 0.0044 0.6467
n-butane 0.001 0 0.0001
Propylene 0.9525 0.9956 0.3532
Propane 0.0455 0.0044 0.6466
n-butane 0.002 0 0.0002
Propylene 0.952 0.9957 0.1965
Propane 0.0455 0.0043 0.8032
n-butane 0.0025 0 0.00019
Propylene 0.9515 0.9957 0.1965
Propane 0.0455 0.0042 0.8032
n-butane 0.003 0 0.00023
Propylene 0.951 0.9957 0.1965
Propane 0.0455 0.0042 0.8032
n-butane 0.0035 0 0.00028
Propylene 0.95 0.9957 0.1964
Propane 0.0455 0.0042 0.8031
n-butane 0.0045 0 0.00035
Propylene 0.949 0.9957 0.1963
Propane 0.0455 0.0042 0.8031
n-butane 0.0055 0 0.00043

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the composition obtained in the top and bottom (Galvão, 2016). The vapor recompression
products with the presence of n-butane in the feed technology is used to upgrade the heat by
at different molar fractions. compressing the vapor distillate, emerging as a cost
saving opportunity (Kiss et al., 2012). In a context
For the less favorable feed conditions (rich in C4 in which automation technologies guide the
and low in propylene), the model has difficulty at necessary process evolution industry to the
converging, a condition that is only reached when technological level idealized for Industry 4.0, the
there is strict specification control of the maximum development of in silico chemical processing model
fraction of C4 (<0.0055 molar fraction) in the assumes fundamental importance for the
upstream process (depropanizer). development of advanced manufacturing tools and
technologies (Joly et al., 2018).
The top distillation product almost reaches the
temperature to be used as a thermal source, but it According to Kazemi et al. (2018), the vapor
is usually incapable of direct utilization, being recompression results in a 73.6% reduction in cold
treated as waste heat in conventional processes utility process requirements when compared to the

Table 4. Tower project.

Parameter Value Unit

dp (Droplet diameter) 25 mm
2
g (Acceleration of gravity) 9.81 m/s
Cd (Drag coefficient) 0.7 -
Ffluid (Fluid factor) 0.9 -
Fsystem (System Factor) 0.9 -
3
CFSgas (Volumetric flow rate of gas in tray conditions) 0.115 m /s
Fflood (Flood factor for the system) 0.8 -
3
GPM (Liquid flow) 407.2 m /h
X (Souders and Brown factor) 0.307 -
Vn (Gas velocity) 0.0605 m/s
CSB (Souders and Brown constant) 0.0216 m/s
Vaf (Maximum gas velocity in a tower running on the air-water system) 0.0605 m/s
Vf (Maximum steam speed) 0.049 m/s
2
Af (Free area) 2.93 m
VDSG (Maximum downcomer speed) 0.234 m/s
2
Adm (Minimum downcomer area) 4.502 m
2
Atower (Tower area) 7.435 m
Dt (Tower diameter) 3.076 m
hw (Output spout height) 60 mm
Dynamic seal 75 mm
2
Ada (Area under the downcomer) 0.225 m
Lw (Length of downcomer) 3.032 m
H (Downcomer height) 1.795 m
hud (Clearance on the downcomer for the entry of liquid into the tray) 74.339 mm
Number of main indents 1 -
2
αfd (Area of all trays drain holes) 0.002 m
td (Drainage time) 6 min
Trapdoor size 0.45 x 0.6 m
“Dead area” (Area on the tray holder without valves or holes) 0.063 m
NPASSE (Tray number passes) 2 -
FPL (Length of liquid path) 13.84 m
Δ (Hydraulic gradient) 0.848 m
ΔPd (Pressure drop on downcomer output) 0.024 m
ΔPiw (Pressure drop on inlet spillways) 0.0004 m
hd (Downcomer pressure drop) 0.024 m
Valve Specification 14 gage
Tray thickness 1.88 mm
Tray hole diameter 38 mm
2
Perforated area 0.351 m
Center to center valves distance 75 mm
Valves number per tray 378 -

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conventional distillation column that requires the 4. CONCLUSIONS

highest net energy for its operation and
application. This system shows significant The distillation with vapor recompression was
improvement in the process regarding energy- effective for the PPG separation at feeds with
saving. Therefore, it is a great process molar propylene fractions over 0.94. The model
intensification system (Niu & Rangaiah, 2016), was robust but significantly sensitive to different
showing operating cost savings for the production feed qualities. This vapor system recompression
of propylene at the polymer purity grade. can show cost savings in the process, being a great
choice to separate propylene from propane.
Although the simulation provides a lot of
information about products, tower configuration It was possible to note that the propylene
characteristics needed to be further developed fraction was reduced in the feed, and so was the
with another methodology. To verify whether the top thermal load. Therefore, the investments
process data and the plant configurations are required for the condenser also decreased. In
applicable to the industry, a methodology of addition, it was possible to see that the efficient
project calculations was applied. Considering the feed control composition is a critical variable for
parameters used in the design calculations, as well the process energy optimization, since it affects the
as the parameters obtained in response, all factors performance and the convergence of the
used in the project were checked. Table 4 shows simulation directly.
the main parameters obtained in the literature to
the project and the calculated ones by the The tower was designed considering valve trays.
equations presented by Caldas et al. (2007). The sizing resulted in a diameter pursuant to that
found in the literature for other processing systems
The diameter calculated for the tower was 3.07 with the same load, which shows that it is suitable
meters. This is also supported by the work of Umo for applications in processes already used in
and Bassey (2017) in a propylene distillation tower, industrial operation.
where they used three meters of diameter tower
to system with 290.7 kmol/h at the feed. Towers
with two passages must be at least two meters in
diameter (Caldas et al., 2007). Because the tower ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
diameter is of approximately three meters, it was
The authors would like to recognize the Federal
chosen for the two-passage plate.
Technological University of Paraná for the support
The perforated area should be 8 to 15% of the provided.
active area, where optimum value is 12% (Caldas et
al., 2007). The value obtained for this parameter
was 0.351 m2. In addition, the number of valves per
plate obtained was equal to 378. These values 5. REFERENCES
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