Prop-001H Revised: Nov 16, 2012

Generate Ethylene Vapor Pressure Curves with Aspen HYSYS® V8.0

1. Lesson Objectives
 Generate vapor pressure curves for Ethylene

2. Prerequisites
 Aspen HYSYS V8.0
 Introduction to vapor-liquid equilibrium

3. Background
Separation processes involving vapor-liquid equilibrium exploit volatility differences which are indicated by the
components’ vapor pressure. Higher vapor pressure means a component is more volatile.

Ethylene is an important monomer for polymers and there are many ethylene plants around the world. A vital
step in ethylene production is separating it from other compounds and as a result the vapor pressure of
ethylene is an important physical property for ethylene production.

The examples presented are solely intended to illustrate specific concepts and principles. They may not
reflect an industrial application or real situation.

4. Problem Statement and Aspen HYSYS Solution

Problem Statement

Determine the vapor pressure of ethylene at 5 °C, and its normal boiling point. Also create a plot of vapour
pressure versus temperature.

Aspen HYSYS Solution

4.01. Create a new simulation in Aspen HYSYS V8.0.

4.02. Create a component list. In the Component List folder select Add. Add Ethylene to the component list.

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4.03. Double click on Ethylene to view the pure component properties. Go to the Critical tab. Make a note
that the Critical Temperature is 9.2°C and the Normal Boiling Point is -103.8°C.

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4.04. Define property methods. Go to the Fluid Packages folder and click Add. Select Peng-Robinson as the
property package.

4.05. Move to the simulation environment. Click the Simulation button in the bottom left of the screen.

4.06. Add a Material Stream to the flowsheet.

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4.07. Double click on material stream (1). The vapor pressure of liquid is the atmospheric pressure at which a
pure liquid boils at a given temperature. The point at which the first drop of liquid begins to boil is
called the bubble point, which is found in HYSYS by specifying a vapour fraction of 0. Therefore, we can
find the vapor pressure of pure liquid by specifying a temperature and vapour fraction of 0.

4.08. In material stream 1, enter a Vapour Fraction of 0, a Temperature of 5°C, and a Molar Flow of 1
kgmole/h. In the Composition form under the Worksheet tab enter a Mole Fraction of 1 for Ethylene.

4.09. You can see that the Pressure is 45.93 bar. This is equivalent to the vapour pressure of ethylene at this
temperature. Next we would like to determine the normal boiling point of ethylene. Instead of
specifying temperature, we will specify pressure. Empty the field for temperature and enter a value of 1
bar for Pressure.

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4.10. The newly calculated temperature is -104.3°C. This is the boiling temperature of ethylene at a pressure
of 1 bar.

4.11. Next we would like to create a plot of vapour pressure versus temperature. First, in the Material
Stream 1 window, empty the field for Pressure and enter any Temperature (below critical temperature).
This will allow us to vary temperature when we perform a case study. Go to the Case Studies folder in
the Navigation Pane and click Add.

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4.12. In Case Study 1, click Add to select the variables. Select the Temperature and Pressure of stream 1. In
the Independent Variable field enter a Low Bound of -150°C, a High Bound of 0°C, and a Step Size of
10°C. Click Run.

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4.13. After running the case study, go to the Plots tab. Here you will see a plot of Pressure vs Temperature.

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4.14. Note that by looking at the plot you can verify that at around -104°C the vapour pressure if
approximately 1 bar, indicating the normal boiling point.

5. Conclusions
As we can see from the generated plot, ethylene is a very volatile component. At 5°C, its vapor pressure is
about 45.93 bar. From this analysis, we also see that ethylene’s normal boiling point temperature is about –104
°C.

6. Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Aspen Technology, Inc. (“AspenTech”). All rights reserved. This work may not be
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