INDIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

CHENNAI REGIONAL CENTRE

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

DECEMBER 27 – 30th, 2016 @ Chennai

Optimization In Vinyl Chloride

Production Using Aspen Plus

*Anurag Jawal¹ Simi Sharma² Suhani Arora3

1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Chandigarh University, Mohali-140413, Punjab, India

Corresponding author: anurag_jaswal@yahoo.com

Vinyl chloride is an organic chloride with the formula C2H3CL. This compound is used in
the production of Poly-Vinyl Chloride (PVC) polymer. At ambient conditions, vinyl
chloride is a gas with sickly sweet odor. It is highly toxic, flammable and carcinogenic in
nature. VCM is mostly used exclusively for the manufacture of polymers. For the purpose
of optimization study, the process was simulated in Aspen Plus. Aspen Plus simulation
software is used for steady state simulation. Process flowsheet was prepared in Aspen Plus
simulation environment. The type of process selected was Polymer. The property method
selected was Peng Robinson. Radfrac model was selected for simulating distillation
column and RStoic for reactor modeling. In the course of study various parameters have
been optimized. Case study and sensitivity analyses were then performed to understand
the effect of various variables like column pressure, reflux ratio, etc., without affecting the
top and bottom product specifications. Besides energy savings, simulation was utilized for
evaluating the potential for increased throughput in the column. The tray ratings were done
by specifying the existing geometry of sieve trays, and the flooding tendency was
evaluated in various sections of the column.

Keywords: Vinyl chloride; Poly-vinyl chloride; simulation; optimization; Aspen plus