Model parameterization of the m-xylene oxidation reaction using experimental data and gPROMS

06/30/2014

Purified Isophthalic Acid (PIA) presents exceptional performance characteristics, being its major applications in the productions of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), surface coating resins, unsaturated polyester resins and as key ingredient in the fiberglass reinforced plastic markets. There are currently only seven industrial facilities in the world producing isophthalic acid and it is in the interest of CEPSA QUIMICA, S.A. the optimization of its industrial unit to get better profit margins and compete in the world market. The use of a pilot plant gives great advantages, allowing to test new operational conditions and to have a better understanding of the phenomena occurring inside the reactor. In this work it was used the existing pilot plant in CEPSA’s Research Centre to produce isophthalic acid at a different experimental conditions with the purpose of developing a kinetic model that describes the liquid-phase catalytic oxidation reaction of meta-xylene to isophthalic acid. In the experimental design proposed, eight operational variables were changed throughout one hundred and ten experiments. The developed model kinetic parameters were determined using the Parameter Estimation tool in gPROMS®, where the experimental results were directly compared against the model predictions and their deviations minimized. Altogether the final model obtained has forty parameters that account for the effect of temperature and contribution of reactant and intermediates, catalyst and the presence of water.

Authors in the community:

• 

  A

  Ana Catarina Gouveia Braz

  ist165019

Supervisors of this institution:

• 

  I

  Izaskun Barrio Iribarren

  ist422588

• 

  H

  Henrique Aníbal Santos de Matos

  ist12553

chemical-engineering - Chemical engineering

por - Portuguese

Instituto Superior Técnico