Practice Problems for ASPEN PLUS

Q1.
A total of 100 lb-mol per hour of a 40 mol% methanol and 60 mol% water mixture is to be separated at 1
atm to give a distillate that contains 92 mol% methanol and a bottom product that contains 4 mol%
methanol. A total condenser is to be used and the reflux will be returned to the column as a saturated
liquid at its bubble point. An operating reflux ratio of 1.5 times the minimum will be used. The feed is
introduced into the column as a saturated liquid at its bubble point. Use ASPEN PLUS to complete the
following:
a) determine the minimum number of theoretical stages
b) determine the minimum reflux ratio,
c) determine the heat loads of the condenser and reboiler for the condition of minimum reflux,
d) determine the quantities of the diestillate and bottom streams using the actual reflux ratio,
e) determine the actual number of theoretical stages,
f) determine the heat load of the condenser for the actual reflux ratio,
g) generate a plot of the temperature profile and composition profile as a function of stage number (for
both methanol and water).
Q2.
(USE THREE DISTILLATION SUBROUTINES DSTWU, Distl and RadFrac SEPARATELY)
A mixture containing 50.0 wt% acetone and 50.0 wt% water is to be separated into two streams- one
enriched in acetone and the other in water. The separation process consists of extraction of the acetone
from the water into methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), which dissolves acetone but is nearly immiscible
with water. The overall goal of this problem is to separate the feed stream into two streams which have
greater than 90% purity of water and acetone respectively. Use ASPEN PLUS to
a) calculate the flow rate of the second feed stream of MIBK, in order to get the desired >90% purity of
our water stream through the use of a sensitivity analysis.
b) calculate the flow rate of MIBK that is necessary to achieve 95% purity of the water stream?
c) Show your results with the stream table from your simulation.

Q3.
a) Consider the flash separation process shown below:

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 `2

Using ASPEN PLUS, solve all three cases using the MIXER, FLASH2, FSPLIT, and PUMP
subroutines and the RK-SOAVE option set for thermophysical properties. Compare and discuss
the flow rates and compositions for the overhead stream produced by each of the three cases.
b) Modify Case-3 (i.e. FSPLIT) to determine the flash temperature necessary to obtain 850 lb/hr of
overhead vapor. A design specification can be used to adjust the temperature of the flash drum to
obtain the desired overhead flow rate.

Q4.
In HDA case study, the following streams at 100 oF and 484 psia is to be separated by two distillation
columns into the products as mentioned in the Table 1.
Table 1

Flow rate, lbmol/h

Species Feed Product 1 Product 2 Product 3
H2 1.5 1.5
CH4 19.3 19.2 0.1
Benzene 262.8 1.3 258.1 3.4
Toluene 84.7 0.1 84.6
Biphenyl 5.1 5.1

Two different distillation sequences are to be examined, as shown in Fig. 1. In the first sequence, H 2 and
CH4 are removed in the first column. Using ASPEN PLUS and the DSTWU subroutine, estimate the
reflux ratio and theoretical tray requirements for both sequences.

More Information:

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In addition, RK-SOAVE option is set. Specify, a reflux ratio equal to 1.3 times the minimum. Use design
specification to adjust the isobaric column pressures so as to obtain distillate temperature of 130 oF.
However, column pressure cannot be less than 20 psia. Also, specify total condensers.

Figure 1

Q5.
Consider the ammonia process in which N 2 and H2 (impurities Ar, CH4 and CO) are converted to NH 3 at
high pressure (Fig. 2). Using ASPEN PLUS and the following subroutines:
Table 2

Compressor COMPR
Reactor RSTOIC

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 Heat Exchanger HEATER
High-Pressure Separator FLASH2
Low- Pressure Separator FLASH2
Recirculating Compressor COMPR
prepare a simulation flowsheet. Feed stream contains the components as follows:

Table 3

Component Flow rate kmol/h

Hydrogen 5160
Nitrogen 1732
Methane 72
Argon 19
Carbon monoxide 17
Feed stream is available at 25.5 bar and 280oC. Assume a fractional conversion of 40% of Nitrogen.

Figure 2

Q6.
Toluene (C3H8) is to be converted thermally to benzene (C 6H6) in a hydrodealkylation reactor. The main
C 7 H 8 H 2 C 6 H 6 CH 4
reaction is . An unavoidable side reaction occurs that produces biphenyl:
2C 6 H 6 H 2 C12 H 10 H 2
. The reactor section of the process and the conditions of feed and two
recycle streams are shown in Fig. 3. The flow rate of the quench stream should be such that the reactor

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effluent is quenched to 1150oF. Conversion of the toluene in the reactor is 80 mol%. Two mole percent of
the benzene present after the first reaction occurs is converted to biphenyl. Use ASPEN PLUS to perform
material balance with the RK-SOAVE option.

Figure 3

Q7.
Normal butane, C4H10, is to be isomerized to isobutane in a plug-flow reactor. This elementary reversible
reaction is to be carried out adiabatically in the liquid phase under high pressure using a liquid catalyst
which gives a specific reaction rate of 31.1 h -1 at 360 K. The feed enters at 330 K.
a) Calculate the PFR volume necessary to process 100,000 gal/day (160 kmol/h) at 70% conversion of a
mixture 90 mol % n-butane and 10 mol % of i-pentane, which is considered an inert.
b) Plot and analyze X, Xe, T and -rA down the length of the reactor.
c) Calculate the CSTR volume for the same conditions as the PFR.

Q8.
Determine the plug-flow reactor volume necessary to produce 300 million pounds of ethylene a year from
cracking a feed stream of pure ethane. The reaction is irreversible and elementary. We want to achieve
80% conversion of ethane. The reactor is operated isothermally at 1100K and at a pressure of 6 atm. The

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reaction is: C2H6 (g) C2H4 (g) + H2 (g). Other information: FC2H6,0 = 0.425 lbmol/s (calculated from
300 million pounds of ethylene at 80% conversion), k = 0.072 s -1 at 1000K and activation Energy, E = 82
kcal/gmol.

Q9.
a) A saturated liquid feed of 50 mol % methylcyclohexane, the remainder being n-heptane, is to be
separated by extractive distillation using phenol as the extracting agent. nIt is required that the
ethylcyclohexane product be at least 95 mol % pure and the toluene product be at least 95 mol %
pure. The phenol recycle stream is to be at least 99.5 mol % pure. The columns are to operate at 760
mmHg. The binary parameter values stored in the Aspen Plus data bank are adequate. Design the
system. Determine all the necessary design variables.
b) Production of hydrogen from methanol involves two steps, methanol re-forming and the shift
reaction:
CH4O2H2 + CO
CO + H2OH2 + CO2
Using an REquil block, find the temperature that maximizes hydrogen formation by re-forming at 1
atmosphere. Repeat this problem using a RGibbs block. Compare the results.

Q10.
Cyclohexane is produced by hydrogenation of benzene according to the following reaction:
C6H6 + 3H2 C6H12

The flowsheet of the process is shown in Fig. 4. Setup the simulation according to the given data shown
in the flowsheet.

a) What is the CH4 recovery from the distillation column?

b) What is the heat duty of the reactor in Btu/hr?
c) Adjust the bottoms rate to obtain 99.99% CH 4 recovery in the distillation column. What is the
required bottoms rate?
d) Perform a sensitivity analysis and plot the change in reactor duty as the liquid recycle split is varies
from 10 to 40%.
e) Add another variable to the sensitivity analysis in the previous part to study the effect of changing the
conversion of the reaction. Prepare a plot with multiple graphs showing the change in reactor duty
with split fraction at different conversions.
f) The cooling system around the reactor can handle a maximum operating load of 4.7 MMkcal/hr.
Determine the amount of cyclohexane recycle necessary to keep the cooling load on the reactor to this
amount.

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 Figure 4

Q11.
A mixture of 50 mol/hr of benzene, 50 mol/hr of toluene, and 50 mol/hr of paraxylene is to be distilled at
1 atmosphere. The feed is a saturated liquid at 1 atmosphere. The column is to operate at a reflux ratio of
2.8, and a 1-psi pressure drop across the column is anticipated. Ninety-five percent of the benzene fed and
no more than 5% of the toluene fed is to be taken overhead. Use the shortcut distillation block DISTWU
to estimate the column performance. Generate a table of reflux ratio versus theoretical stages required for
this separation.

Q12.
Methycyclohexane (MCH) and toluene are a difficult mixture to separate, where the vapor composition of
MCH is very similar to that of liquid. Therefore, phenol is used to extract toluene and produce MCH with
high concentrations. The extraction process is done in a distillation column as shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 5

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PART-1

Setup a sensitivity analysis tool to manipulate phenol flowrate and tabulate the mole fraction of MCH in
distillate, reboiler duty, and condenser duty.

a) Prepare a plot showing the change in mole fraction of MCH in the distillate as a function of phenol
flowrate.
b) Prepare a plot showing the change in reboiler duty as a function of phenol flowrate.
c) Prepare a plot showing the change in condenser duty as a function of phenol flowrate.

PART-2

Setup a design specification to determine the design specifications based on MCH purity in distillate by
manipulating the flowrate of phenol. Setup the above design spec to give 98 mol% MCH.

a) What was the mol% MCH before setting up the design spec analysis?
b) What will be the required phenol flowrate to obtain the 98 mol% MCH?