UGPA 3143

PETROCHEMICAL PROCESSES

Filtrate treatment and catalyst recovery

Class Activity by Tutorial Group 1

Diven Chetiar 1400675

Gum Lueth Achuil Marial 1406071
Kuhathason a/l Kathirayson 1306306
Luvandran a/l Rathinam 1400175
Jegadish a/l Padmanabhan 1501005

1
Filtrate treatment and Catalyst
Recovery
To remove impurities that are present in the filtrate either due to
the purity of p-xylene or due to unwanted side reactions
occurring in the oxidizers.
The solid phase in the oxidizer underflow is separated from the
contaminated acetic acid solution using decanter centrifuges.
The CTA cake from the centrifuges is diluted with fresh wash acid
from the water removal column.
The centrifuge overflow, which consists of the original acid-
catalyst carrier, Crude Terephthalic Acid solids, and impurities, is
flashed and then sent to the filtrate treatment unit for 2 removal
of insoluble and soluble impurities, as well as for recovery of
catalyst and acetic acid.
 Impurities such as p-toluic acid, isophthalic acid, which are fairly soluble in
acetic acid and 4-carboxyaldehyde.
These impurities need to be removed at the lowest catalyst and acetic acid
loss while also keeping operational and capital costs as low as possible.
The catalysts (Co, Mn, and Br) form soluble complexes in water and acetic
acid. These should be recovered.
Filtrate treatment and Catalyst Recovery Process units consists of :
1. Evaporation
2. Azeotropic distillation is a technique of adding another component to
generate a new, lower-boiling azeotropethat is heterogeneous (e.g.
producing two, immiscible liquid phases)
3. Extraction
4. Filtration
5. Process vent scrubber for gas cleaning
 Alfa Laval spiral heat exchanger for
Filtrate Treatment & Catalyst
Recovery
Hualian Sunshine is the only manufacturer of Eastman polymer-grade
terephthalic acid (E PTA) in the Peoples Republic of China. The company
operates a 600,000tpa line using the Lurgi/Eastman/SK process license.
The plant, engineered by Lurgi, officially started up in April 2005.
Crude terephthalic acid is converted from p-xylene in the oxidation unit,
in the presence of a catalyst, air and weak acetic acid.
An Alfa Laval spiral heat exchanger made of titanium is used for heat
recovery in the filtrate treatment and catalyst recovery unit.
Cold filtrate is pre-heated by filtrate from the bottom of the stripping
column before being recycled into the catalyst preparation system, so
that both the catalyst and the solvent can be re-used in the oxidation
unit.
 As this process is prone to blockages because the
filtrates have a high solids content, this spiral heat
exchanger is the ideal way to keep cleaning
requirements to a minimum.
If the heat exchanger is simply flushed with acetic acid
on a monthly basis, the equipment will operate
continuously with no need for mechanical cleaning. This
saves on both downtime and maintenance costs.
It is not only easy to clean, but is also compact and
provides excellent heat recovery performace.
 Technology Features
Minimum p-xylene consumption (646 kg/t E PTA) and maximum
yield (98.3 percent) in Oxidation unit.
Catalyst (Cobalt, Manganase & Bromine) recovery having a
maximum recovery of greater than 95 % thus reduce the cost of
getting a new catalyst.
Remove the catalysts that diluted with acetic acid and recover
acetic acid back to the system.
Reduce environmental impact by remove insoluble and soluble
impurities such as p-toluic acid, isophthalic acid and 4-
Carboxybenzaldehyde.
Cleanest off gas treatment by removing bromine-containing
compounds.