Student Roll No : CB.EN.

U4CHE16018
Student Name : FREDERICK J
Class : CHEMICAL FIRST YEAR
Title of the Report : CASE STUDY:MANUFACTURE OF XYLENES
Objectives :
1) To Draw of Process Flow Diagram
2) To Perform material balance
3) To perform energy balance
4) To size the reactor

Introduction :
The case study is about the process involving in the manufacture of xylenes(composed of
three isomers ortho,meta and para) which are naturally occur in petroleum.They have wide
commercial use such as solvent in industries and manufacturing cleansers.It is a colorless
mixture of chemically-related hydrocarbons that often finds use as a solvent for paints and
printing inks. It's very good at dissolving compounds that dissolve less in water, which is why
it is so useful.This project is a case study in which involves the usage of each and every
concepts learned in this semester such as material balance,solving chemical engineering
problems,heat transfer,mass transfer,fluid mechanics and reactor sizing.
The description of the project has been given in the text book with technical details required
to solve the problems in the book

Procedure:

PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM

The process flow diagram of the process has been drawn by the project description and shown
in the figure(a) below.

1
Figure(a)

2
 MATERIAL BALANCES ON THE PROCESS
Material balance around the pump:
Feed = 106 kg/day
= 106/ (24*3600) kg/sec
= 11.57 kg/sec
At Entry:
o-x in the feed stream= (0.29*11.57) kg/sec
=3.36 kg/sec
m-x in the feed stream= (0.48*11.57) kg/sec
=5.55 kg/sec
p-x in the feed stream= (0.23*11.57) kg/sec
=2.66 kg/sec
Total mass flow rate=11.87 kg/sec
At Exit:
Amount of o-x=3.36 kg/sec
Amount of m-x=5.55 kg/sec
Amount of p-x=2.66 kg/sec

Material balance around the Heat Exchanger I:

At Entry:
Amount of o-x=3.36 kg/sec
Amount of m-x=5.55 kg/sec
Amount of p-x=2.66 kg/sec
At Exit:
Total mass flow rate=11.87 kg/sec
Density of the stream at 77 F=870 kg/m3
Volumetric flow rate= (11.87/870) m3/sec
=0.0133 m3/sec
=13.33 l/sec
Material balance around the reactor:
Reaction: 2(m-x)p-x+m-x
Given, 70% of the reaction is complete
Amount of xylene reacted= (5.55*0.70) kg/sec
=3.885 kg/sec
Moles of xylene reacted= (3.855/106) kmoles/sec
=0.036 kmoles/sec

3
2kmoles of m-x 1kmole of o-x +1kmole of p-x
Amount of o-x formed= (0.036/2) kmoles/sec
=0.018 kmoles/sec
=1.908 kg/sec
Amount of para-xylene formed= (0.036/2) kmoles/sec
=0.018 kmoles/sec
=1.908 kg/sec

At exit:
Amount of o-x= (1.908+3.36)kg/sec
=5.27 kg/sec
Amount of m-x =1.665 kg/sec
Amount of p-x= (1.908+2.66) kg/sec
=4.57kg/sec
Total mass flow rate= (5.27+1.655+4.57)kg/sec
=11.51 kg/sec
Material balance around heat exchanger II:
Amount of o-x=5.27 kg/sec
Amount of m-x =1.665 kg/sec
Amount of p-x=11.51 kg/sec
Density of stream (T= 577F)=525 kg/m3
Volumetric flow rate= (11.51/525) m3/sec
=0.021 m3/sec
=22 l/sec
Material balance around separation system:
At exit:
Amount of o-x=5.27 kg/sec
By the mass fractions,
Let the mass fraction of stream 2 be b and stream 3 be c.
Amount of m-x=0.03b+0.7c=1.665 kg/sec eq(1)
Amount of p-x=0.97b+0.3c=4.57 kg/sec eq(2)
Solving (1) and (2)
b=4.03kg/sec, c=2.21 kg/sec
Mass flow rate of stream 2=4.03 kg/sec
Mass flow rate of stream 3 =2.21kg/sec
ENERGY BALANCES
Energy balance at pump:

4
+ ((P1/g) + (v12/2g) +z1) = ((P2/ g) + (v22/2g) +z2 ))
z1=z2, v1=v2
=P2-P1/ g
Pressure at pump entry=14.7psi(atmospheric pressure)
Pressure at pump exit=P (separation system at entry) +P (separation system at exit) +
P (heat exchanger) +P (reactor) +P (product cooler)
= (165+14.7+15+5+15) psi
=214.7psi
Density at 77F=870 kg/m3
= ((214.7-14.7)/14.7*101325)/ (870*9.8) m
=161.69 m
=*g*161.69
=11.57(kg/s)*9.8(m/s2)*161.69 m
=18333.38 J/s
Given the operates at 85% efficiency
=0.85*18333.38 J/sec
=15583037 J/sec
Energy balance at Heat Exchanger I:
(CpT)FS= (Hvap)steam
steam = (CpT) FS/Hvap
steam= (25.51 lb/sec*0.33(Btu/lb F)*423 F)/650(Btu/lb)
steam= 580.71 lb/sec
steam= 263.41 kg/sec

Energy balance at Reactor:

The amount of heat required=295 cal/gmol of m-xylene reacted
Moles of xylene reacted=0.036 kmol/sec
=36 gmole/sec
The amount of heat required =295 cal/gmol *36 gmol/sec
=10620 cal/sec
=42.12 Btu/sec
=44453.196 J/sec
Heat energy of stream entering = 3560.941 Btu/s
(Hvap)steam=42.12 Btu/sec
steam=42.12(Btu/sec)/6.132(Btu/lb)
steam=6.87 lb/sec

5
steam=3.12 kg/sec
Energy balance at Heat Exchanger II:
TFS=500F T=?
T
HEAT EXCHANGER II
Twater=120 F Twater=90 F
Twater=90 F

T1=380 F
T2=90-T F
Tavg= (T1+ T2)/2
=(380 + 90-T)/2 =10 (given)
T = 450
To find the amount of water used in the heat exchanger II
(CpT)FS = (CpT)water
water=(25.53 lb/sec* 35(Btu/lbmol )*50)/1.009(Btu/lbmol )*30
water=1475.966 lb/sec
water=669.487 kg/sec
SIZING OF THE REACTOR
Sizing of Heat Exchanger I:
Q=UA(T)avg
U (steam-liquid) =150 Btu/hr ft2 =0.0421 Btu/sec ft2
A=Q/ (U*(T)avg)
A=3560.941 (Btu/s)/ (0.0421 (Btu/sec ft2 )*10
A=8478.4 ft2
A= 787.7 m2
Sizing of the reactor:
VR= (VAO*XA)/(-rA)
VR= (VAO*XA)/ (k*(1-XA)
VR= (13.3 L/sec*0.7)/ (2.21*10-3*(1-0.7))
VR=14000 L
The size of the reactor is 14000 L.
Sizing of Heat Exchanger II:
Q=UA (T)avg.
Q=421.42 (Btu/s)
U (liquid-liquid) =50 Btu/hr ft2 =0.014 Btu/sec ft2
A=Q/ (U*(T)avg)
A=421.42 (Btu/s)/ (0.014 (Btu/sec ft2 )*10)

6
A=3010.14 ft2
A=279.65 m2

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

mass flow rate() of the steam in the Heat exchanger I=263.41 kg/sec
mass flow rate() of the water used in the Heat exchanger II=669.487 kg/sec

The work done by the pump =15583037 J/sec

The area of Heat exchanger I=787.7 m2

The volume of reactor =14000 L
The area of Heat exchanger II= A=279.65 m2

7
Flows Process Pump Reactor Reactor Separat Separator Outlet
#1 #2 #3
(lbm/hr feed Outlet feed Outlet or Feed
):
m-xyle 44028 44028 44028 13214.5 13214.5 0 959.539 1277.98
ne 0 0 8865 349
o-xylen 26667.1 26667.1 26667.1 41826.0 41826.0 41826.0 0 0
e 1347 1347 1347 9762 9762
p-xylen 21111.4 21111.4 21111.4 36270.4 36270.4 0 31025.1 5261.99
e 6483 6483 6483 4 4 23 2926
Total 91806.5 91806.5 91806.5 91310.9 91310.9 41826.0 31984.6 6539.97
783 783 783 9762 9762 6289 6416
Temp. 77 77 500 500 450
(F)
Pressur 14.7 214.7 244.5 239.4 179.7
e (psi)

Summary:
PFD of the process has been drawn by the project description in the text book.By the process
Flow Diagram the outline of the process has known.Then the material balance around the
Pump
Heat Exchanger 1
Reactor
Heat exchanger 2 and
Separation system
Has been done and the mass flow rates of unknown streams such as stream 1,stream 2,and
stream 3 which contains the final product has been found.After the energy balances have been
done around the
Pump
Heat Exchanger 1
Reactor and
Heat exchanger 2
To find the work done by the pump of 85% efficiency and the mass flow rates of the water
and the steam required in the Heat Exchanger 2 and 1 respectively.Then the sizing is done for
the

8
 Reactor- to find the volume of the reactor
Heat Exchanger 1- to find the area required
Heat Exchanger 2 - to find the area required
Then the results have been written in a tabular column.

Learnings:
The energy balance is the most important step in designing the production plant.It determines
the pressure increased/decreased after the pumps which controls the velocity of the fluids and
it also useful in determining the amount of water and steam required by the heat exchanger
so any mistakes in energy balance would make every thing worse and it influence the major
parts of the reaction.