Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-12-2023

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Chemical Engineering

First Advisor

Joanna Harrelson

Second Advisor

Adam Smith

Third Advisor

Mike Gill

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The production of 99.9 wt% acetone from isopropanol in Unit 1100 is designed to start up in 2025 and operate for 12 years after startup. The engineering team was tasked with designing the process, creating an economic model, and optimizing the net present value (NPV). The process was simulated in AVEVA PRO/II Simulation for the design process, and the economic analysis was estimated in Microsoft Excel. Parametric and topological optimization was performed linearly on the unit operations in the process. The NPV was improved by $14M from a base case of $122M to an optimized case of $136M. The project is recommended to continue for more in-depth economic analysis and further optimization. Furthermore, the safety, environmental, and societal impacts from the facility will be analyzed before the plant is constructed. Additionally, a fluidized bed reactor was then simulated in PRO/II and optimized based on selectivity of the desired product, acetone, to the raw material, isopropanol. The optimized reactor is discussed after the isopropanol to acetone optimization.

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