CHBE 4510 – Spring 2026

Project Part 1

Introduction
Polystyrene is a commodity plastic made from styrene monomer. The monomer is typically produced
from ethylbenzene, in turn made from a reaction of benzene and ethylene. An alternative to produce
styrene is to react toluene and methanol. Although there is a side product, the side product is
ethylbenzene, which may also be sold to conventional styrene producer.

Assignment
1) Synthesize a process that transforms a feed of toluene and methanol into styrene, including
necessary recycle and purge schemes.
2) Design the reactor(s) and separation units to the extent that you can provide detailed mass and
energy balance around each unit operation, but not including sizing and costing of the units.
3) Calculate the energy use of the operations. The energy costs of cooling, heating, and electricity
should be considered separately (you should not calculate “net energy use”).

General specifications
The feed streams are toluene and methanol at 25°C and 1 atm.
The desired annual production is 25,000 metric tons of styrene.
Products styrene should be 99.5+% pure (by mole) and stored at 40°C (or lower) and 1 atm.
Ethylbenzene can be sold as a side product, but here it is of lesser value than styrene (~25% the value).
Waste streams should be minimized and waste treatment must be given proper considerations.
Physical properties of molecules are to be obtained from Aspen, using the PSRK method.

Reaction
The reactions involved are catalyzed gas-phase reactions typically run on a packed-bed reactor:

C6H5CH3 + CH3OH → C6H5C2H3 + H2O + H2 (1)

Each reaction has its rate expressed as the rate of consumption of toluene: rate = ki PT1.5 PM0.5
where ki is the reaction rate constant, PT and PM are partial pressures of toluene and methanol.
The reaction rate constants are given as Arrhenius expressions: ki = A exp(-Ea/RT).
For reaction (1): A = 405 kmol/(h⋅atm2⋅kg catalyst) Ea = 52 kJ/mol
For reaction (2): A = 97,200 kmol/(h⋅atm2⋅kg catalyst) Ea = 81 kJ/mol
The reactions are reversible. Instead of modeling the equilibrium in the reaction kinetics, you may simply
simulate the reaction to proceed to 80% conversion of toluene or methanol, whichever one is limiting.

Many of the components start to degrade at 375°C in this reaction and therefore temperatures above
350°C should be avoided. You do not have to specify reactor dimensions in this first part of the project.
However, you should decide on and report the mass of catalyst used in the reactor.

Separation
Decide on the necessary separation steps, which may involve different units. Make use of the differences
in properties of the products (styrene, ethylbenzene, water, hydrogen) and unreacted toluene and
methanol. You may explore the use of any separation unit beyond the ones on Aspen, especially if you
have credible information from literature on the details of the unit(s).
Deliverables
Write a report on your design. The main components of the report: Executive Summary, Introduction,
Process Flow Diagram (PFD) and Stream Tables, Process Description, Energy Use, and Conclusion and
Recommendation. See the description below for details on each section.

The reports should be written with both brevity and clarity in mind. Detailed calculations and simulation
results may be included in the Appendix. A typical report length is 15-30 pages including the Appendix.

Submit one report per group, in both Word and PDF format.

Report Format

1) Cover Page

Include the following items: title of report; team number and members; relative contribution of each team
member to the report as a percentage of the total effort, or a statement indicating equal effort; signatures

2) Executive Summary

Include a one-page summary and should stand on its own, making no references to the main body of the
report or to outside literature. The target audience is typically an executive who has good general
knowledge of the chemical industry and familiarity with chemical engineering terminologies, but who is
ultimately more interested in the big picture and viability of the process than in the details. Use units that
reflect this audience, e.g., reporting production in metric ton/year is better than using kmol/sec.

3) Introduction

Include a brief motivation and introduction of the process, without going through the details. Also
describe major alternatives that you considered but rejected.

4) Process Flow Diagram (PFD)

Provide a diagram for your process, with labeled streams and unit operations. Be consistent with the use
of labels throughout the report. The PFD should not extend beyond one page. You may use the
landscape orientation if it suits your process better.

5) Process Description

Write a narrative of the process that guides the reader through the process, one unit at a time. You may
omit the specifics of the equipment items at this point, such as size and cost. Simply refer to the aspects of
the unit operations required to accomplish the changes in the state of the mass in the plant. You should
provide justification for major design decisions as well as the assumptions used. It is often useful to
include a summary of important parameters for each unit operation, either in the text or in a table.
Derivations and simulation details should generally be included in the Appendices instead. Use
consistent units for flow rates and energy (see sections 6 and 8).
6) Energy Balance

Provide the major energy requirements of the base case process in terms of any heating or cooling duties
for achieving the appropriate process conditions. Also show the flows and temperature or pressure
changes required for relevant streams. You do not need to include pressure change operations that are
merely to overcome pressure drop along pipes. As mentioned before, you do not need to determine the
size or cost of any equipment for now.

One convenient way to provide this list is to use a table that describes, for each major units, the energy
requirement (whether it is heating, cooling, etc.), its magnitude (kJ/hr), and the temperature change (e.g.,
heating xxx kg/hr from yy oC to zz oC) or pressure change (e.g., compressing xxx kg/hr from pp kPa to
ppp kPa) or phase change.

7) Conclusions and Recommendations:

Identify the major decisions that you have made during the design of the process. Identify the areas
where you think the design requires more study and refinement including, but not limited to, major losses
of value and energy consumption. Recommend the next course of action and any changes to the process
that can be pursued to improve the process economics.

8) Material Balances (Stream Table):

You should report flow rates in kmol/hr and kg/hr and liters/hr, temperatures in oC, pressures in kPa, and
phase (solid, liquid, vapor, or mixture). Although you should use these units consistently throughout the
main body of the report, you may also include additional numbers in other units for convenience or for
clarity.

You should give total molar, mass, and volumetric flow rates of a stream, as well as the molar and mass
flow rates for all the major components in the streams, using the units given above. You should also
include mole fractions on streams (but not the mass or volume fractions). Include a copy of the Process
Flow Diagram on the page before the stream tables for ease of reading.

9) References

Give appropriate references for the information that you use in the main report. Make sure that any web-
based information is appropriately cited. Do not give citation for a work that is used only as background
research. Be sure to reference your references from within the main body of the report.

10) Appendices

Provide detailed calculations or derivation as well as details of simulations and codes here. Screenshots
may be included, but only include relevant information and make sure the screenshots are readable.