1.

Procedure
1. A new ICON project was started.
2. Then, the Advance Peng-Robinson property package for the thermodynamic model
was selected.
3. The components used in this experiment which are Water and Methanol were added in
the component tab, then the apply button was clicked.
4. The simulation is started by selecting Add material stream in the Simulation Tree
and the Methanol and Water was added. It is created by going to the main flow sheet.
5. The material feed stream is composed of equimolar mixture of Methanol and Water
which is 50% of Methanol and 50% of Water at mole flow of 2700 kgmole/hr at
temperature of 25oC and pressure of 520 kpa. The stream is named S1 and the data
can be seen as figure below.

Figure 1: Material Stream (S1)

6. After that, a splitter is added to the flow sheet and the output stream was also added
and named as S2 and S3. The mole flow of Water and Ethanol is 1350 kgmole/hr in
both data output stream S2 and S3.

Figure 2: Splitter (SP-1)

Figure 3: Material Stream (S2)

Figure 4: Material Stream (S3)

7. The material stream S2, goes into a valve. Then the output stream S4 was added. The
output pressure of 101 kPa was added to the data as shown in the figure below.

Figure 5: Valve (Vlv-1)

Figure 6: Material stream (S4)

8. The material stream S3 from the splitter undergoes further reaction in the distillation
column named by DC-1 as shown below. The outlet stream S5 and S6 was considered
as final product.

Figure 7: Distillation column (DC-1)

Figure 8: Material Stream (S5)

Figure 9: Material Stream (S6)

9. At the same time product from stream valve S3 was undergoes further reaction in the
distillation column named by DC-2 as shown below. The outlet stream S7 and S8 was
considered as final product. The stream data can been as figure below.

Figure 10: Distillation column (DC-2)

Figure 11: Material Stream (S7)

Figure 12: Material Stream (S8)

2.0

Process Flow Diagram.

3.0 Workbook
Stream Summary

Name

S1

S2

S3

S4

SP-1.Out0

SP-1.Out1

Vlv-1.Out

Description
Upstream Op

Downstream Op

SP-1.In

Vlv-1.In

DC-1.Feed_11_feed

DC-2.Feed_11_feed

VapFrac

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

T [C]

25.0

25.0

25.0

25.1

520.00

520.00

520.00

101.00

P [kPa]
MoleFlow/Composition

Fraction

kgmole/h

Fraction

kgmole/h

Fraction

kgmole/h

Fraction

kgmole/h

WATER

0.5000

1350.00

0.5000

675.00

0.5000

675.00

0.5000

675.00

METHANOL

0.5000

1350.00

0.5000

675.00

0.5000

675.00

0.5000

675.00

1.00

2700.00

1.00

1350.00

1.00

1350.00

1.00

1350.00

Total
Mass Flow [kg/h]

67577.14

33788.57

33788.57

33788.57

Volume Flow [m3/hr]

78.814

39.407

39.407

39.416

Std Liq Volume Flow [m3/hr]

78.706

39.353

39.353

39.353

Std Gas Volume Flow [SCMD]

1.5351E+6

7.6757E+5

7.6757E+5

7.6757E+5

Energy [W]

-2.287E+7

-1.144E+7

-1.144E+7

-1.144E+7

H [kJ/kmol]

-30494.8

-30494.8

-30494.8

-30494.8

82.041

82.041

82.041

82.089

25.03

25.03

25.03

25.03

857.4204

857.4204

857.4204

857.2303

Cp [kJ/kmol-K]

85.760

85.760

85.760

85.788

Thermal Conductivity [W/m-K]

0.2885

0.2885

0.2885

0.2885

6.9255E-4

6.9255E-4

6.9255E-4

6.9104E-4

0.029

0.029

0.029

0.029

0.0072

0.0072

0.0072

0.0014

S [kJ/kmol-K]
MW
Mass Density [kg/m3]

Viscosity [Pa-s]
Molar Volume [m3/kmol]
Z Factor
Surface Tension
Speed of Sound

Name

S5

S6

S7

S8

DC-1.LiquidDraw_0_condenserL

DC1.LiquidDraw_15_reboilerL

DC2.LiquidDraw_0_condenserL

DC2.LiquidDraw_12_reboiler
L

Description

Upstream Op
Downstream Op
VapFrac
T [C]

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

123.4

153.1

73.0

98.5

P [kPa]

520.00

MoleFlow/Composition

Fraction

520.00
kgmole/h

Fraction

101.00
kgmole/h

Fraction

101.00
kgmole/h

Fraction

kgmole/h

WATER

0.47917

621.00

0.99995

54.00

0.47944

621.35

0.99354

53.65

METHANOL

0.52083

675.00

0.00005

0.00

0.52056

674.65

0.00646

0.35

1.00

1296.00

1.00

54.00

1.00

1296.00

1.00

54.00

Total
Mass Flow [kg/h]

32815.71

972.86

32810.85

977.72

Volume Flow [m3/hr]

42.830

1.063

40.185

1.022

Std Liq Volume Flow

[m3/hr]

38.379

0.974

38.371

0.982

Std Gas Volume Flow

[SCMD]

7.3686E+5

3.0703E+4

7.3686E+5

3.0703E+4

Energy [W]

-7.708E+6

-3.684E+5

-9.413E+6

-4.321E+5

H [kJ/kmol]

-21410.5

-24559.9

-26148.0

-28806.8

108.113

98.409

95.393

88.009

25.32

18.02

25.32

18.11

766.1823

915.2577

816.4957

956.5875

Cp [kJ/kmol-K]

98.478

81.193

90.104

77.623

Thermal Conductivity [W/mK]

0.2555

0.6814

0.2741

0.6678

2.0677E-4

1.7854E-4

3.4650E-4

2.8601E-4

0.033

0.020

0.031

0.019

0.0062

0.0035

0.0013

0.0007

S [kJ/kmol-K]
MW
Mass Density [kg/m3]

Viscosity [Pa-s]
Molar Volume [m3/kmol]
Z Factor
Surface Tension
Speed of Sound

4.0

Questions

1. What is the molar flow before entering DC1 and DC2?

Molar flow

DC1
1350 kgmole/hr

DC2
1350 kgmole/hr

2. How to reduce pressure in DC2?

To reduce the pressure in the DC2 the valve is added to the stream S2 before enter to
DC2.

3. What is the temperature at the bottom of DC1 and DC2?

Temperature

DC1
153.1oC

DC2
98.5oC

4. Did the process achieve a methanol that free from water? What is the purity of the
methanol? How to increase the purity?
No. The process was not achieved a methanol that free from water. The purity of the
Methanol at the overhead product stream for DC1 is 0.52083 which is contributed to
52.083% of the Methanol whereas 47.917% is water and the overhead stream at DC2
is 0.52056 which is 52.056% of Methanol whereas another 47.944% is water. The
purity can be increase if the feed flow rate increase. Therefore the purity rate of
Methanol products will increase, if the feed flow rate of Methanol increase. While the
purity rate of Water flow will decrease.

Theory

The production of methanol is carried out in a moderate-pressure synthesis loop by direct

hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, which generates a liquid product that contains a binary
mixture of methanol and water in approximately equal proportions. In this process the
Advance Peng-Robinson property package for the thermodynamics model selected.
Basically for this process, three equipment had been used in the iCON which are:

I.
II.
III.

Splitter : split the mixture to single components

Valve : to reduce pressure
Distillation column: to separate the component substances from a liquid mixture by
selective vaporization to produce vapour product and condensation to produce liquid
product.

Discussion
As to produce the methanol a moderate-pressure synthesis loop by direct hydrogenation of
carbon dioxide, which generates a liquid product that contains a binary mixture of methanol
and water in approximately equal proportions, the Advance Peng-Robinson property package
for the thermodynamics model selected. For this process three type equipment had been used
in the ICON which are splitter, valve and distillation column. At the feed stream 0.5 of
Methanol and 0.5 of Water is supplied to the feed stream of the 2700 kmol/hr at 25 oC and 5.2
bar.