Chapter 2
PROCESS FLOW SCHEME
2.1. Process Flow Diagram
The Vinyl Chloride production plant is divided into five sections: Unit 1000 Conversion
Section, Unit 2000 EDC Purification Section, Unit 3000 Pyrolysis Section, Unit 4000 and Unit
5000 VCM Purification Section. In the process, the VCM is produced by direct chlorination and
oxychlorination of Ethylene.
In Unit 1000, ethylene feed is separated to direct chlorination and oxychlorination
process with a ratio of 62.2% and 37.8% respectively. This is regulated by a ratio control. In
stream 1, ethylene is mixed with chlorine and heated at 100 ℃ . The heated feed enters the direct
chlorination reactor (R-1010), with an operating temperature and pressure of 100 ℃ and 2.026
barg, with EDC conversion of 99.13%. The stream that exits the (R-1010) is cooled at 50 ℃ . In
stream 2, ethylene is mixed with the HCl recycled from Unit 4000 and the Air feed. The mixed
feed was compressed to 3.84 barg and heated at 225 ℃ . The compressed and heated feed enters
the oxychlorination reactor (R-1020) with and operating temperature and pressure of 225 ℃ and
3.14 barg, with EDC conversion of 19.7%. The stream that exits the (R-1020) is cooled at 50 ℃ .
This is mixed with the cooled exit streams coming from direct chlorination process. The
operating pressures and temperatures of the steams entering a mixer should be equal.
In unit 2000, the mixed streams containing EDC was cooled at 35 ℃ and undergo 3
stage purification. First it enters the flash vessel (V-2010), in which the light components were
separated, the exit streams from (V-2010) has an EDC purity of 75.53%. It enters the Liquid-
Liquid Extractor (T-2010) using water as a solvent and then gives an EDC purity of 90.22%. To
further increased the EDC purity, it enters the last stage of purification which is the Reboiled
Absorber (T-2020), the EDC exit at the bottom with an EDC purity of 98.01%, while the
distillate containing EDC was cooled at 50 ℃ and recycled back to the system.
In unit 3000, the liquid product stream enters the pump (P-3010) to increase the pressure
from 3.21 barg to 25.33 barg, then enters the furnace (H-3010) and heated at 550 ℃ . The heated
stream enters the pyrolysis reactor (R-3010), with an operating temperature and pressure of
550 ℃ and 25.33 barg, then cooled using two consecutive cooling heat exchangers (E-3010 and
E-3020) at 157 ℃ and further cooled at 50 ℃ .
In unit 4000 and 5000, two consecutive distillation column was used to purify the VCM.
The tower (T-4010) consists of an overhead condenser (E-4010), overhead receiver (V-4010),
overhead pump (P-4010), bottoms reboiler (E-4020), and reboilers condensate pot (V-4020). The
desired product is in the bottoms. The distillate containing HCl was heated at 25 ℃ , it was then
recycled back to Unit 1000. The tower (T-5010) consists of an overhead condenser (E-5010),
overhead receiver (V-5010), overhead pump (P-5010), bottoms reboiler (E-5020), and reboilers
condensate pot (V-5020). In Unit 5000, the VCM is in the distillate with a purity of 99.12%. The
bottom containing EDC was cooled at 50 ℃ and then recycled back to Unit 3000.
Figures 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 show the processes and equipment for the five
respective units of the vinyl chloride production plant. The stream numbers, operating
conditions, instrumentations and process control schemes are also indicated.
Flow controls are often used in the system to control the material and heat balances.
These controls are also used to regulate the flowrate and pressure of fluids through the streams.
Level controls are provided for all vessels and towers to maintain the desired levels of liquid in
the equipment. The valves for this control are placed on the discharge lines. A pressure control
was added at the overhead of the V-2010, T-2010, T-2020, T-4010, and T-5010 to keep process
conditions at the required pressure so that the product specifications are met for the separation
condition.
A hot vapor bypass setup was used for the overhead of the VCM Purification columns to
control the distillation tower’s pressure. A temperature control was located at the second tray of
the column to achieve finer control of the reflux and constant top composition.
All heat exchangers have a temperature control at their shell side discharge lines with a
flow control cascade at the tube side inlet of the exchanger to control the flow of the steam or
cooling fluid, in response to the reading at the temperature control. This is done to ensure the
desired outlet temperature is reached.
2.2 Heat and Material Balance
Figure 2.6 shows the heat and material balances of the VCM production plant. 26093
kg/hr chlorine feed, 21474 kg/hr ethylene feed, 28850 kg/hr air feed are required to produce the
plant capacity of 34930 kg/hr VCM. The chlorine feed is composed of 100% chlorine at 368
kmol/hr. The ethylene feed is composed of 100% ethylene at 765 kmol/hr. The air feed is
composed of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen at 1000 kmol/hr. All feeds are of the same
temperature and pressure at 25°C and 2.7 barg. The VCM product is 99.12 wt% pure with
0.87% H2O, 0.01% HCl, and minimal amount of ethylene in its composition.
2.3 Utility Balance
[INSERT NECESSARY FIGURES AND TABLES]