Term 222

Process Design And Control Of MTBE Production From CO2 Driven Methanol

Project Type: Self-Initiated

Project Description

The objective of this project is to design an MTBE process and control system based on CO2-driven methanol production, in order to meet the growing demand for MTBE. In order to do so, we first had to study market needs and implement Quality Function Deployment (QFD) techniques, which lead us to focusing on four key specifications: purity, plant reliability, production rate and yield. After comparing and ranking multiple alternative solutions, we ultimately decided that using the hydrogenation process would be most suitable; this process uses captured carbon dioxide as a raw material in order to produce environment-friendly methanol and subsequently use this methanol with isobutylene in order to produce MTBE. Additionally, when investing in an MTBE production project, it is important to calculate the estimated profit margin to ensure profitability and minimal costs. All this will be achieved through a complete convergence flowsheet for detailed economic analysis of the process as well as P&I diagram design. The outcomes of this project are therefore centered around presenting a fully detailed report combining all factors from automated main equipment of the plant up to economic feasibility analyses.