Process Simulation Of MTBE/Butene-1 Unit

With the development of petrochemical enterprises, the production of C4 hydrocarbons increases year by year in our country. But the level of C4 hydrocarbons utilization in our country is low and most of the C4 hydrocarbons are directly burned as fuel without separation, resulting in the waste of resources. MTBE/butene-1 unit is C4 hydrocarbons comprehensive utilization unit. It can convert isobutene in C4 hydrocarbons into MTBE (methyl tert butyl ether) with high octane number and high purity butene-1 can also be isolated from C4 hydrocarbons through this unit. This unit greatly improves the utilization of C4 hydrocarbons and process simulation of MTBE/butene-1 unit has important significance.Process simulation and optimization of MTBE/butene-1 unit are carried out by using Aspen Plus simulation software in this paper. The equation of state model of SRK is selected in the light off column, activity coefficient model of NRTL is selected in the methanol recovery tower and butene distillation column, activity coefficient model of UNIF-LL is selected in extraction column and the rest of the equipment uses the UNIFAC activity coefficient model. On this basis, separation equipment model and simulation process of MTBE/butene-1 unit are established and the simulation results agree well with the actual value, verifying the reliability of the model.Based on the right simulation process of MTBE/butene-1 unit, the effect of process parameters such as theoretical plates, reflux ratio, overhead recovery ratio and feed stage on the unit is investigated by sensitivity analysis tool and the optimized process parameters are obtained. Under the optimized process parameters, the mass fraction and the recovery ratio of MTBE can reach 98.8% and 99.71%, isobutene conversion can reach 98.52%, the heat duty of MTBE unit is reduced 8.86%. Also, the mass fraction and the recovery ratio of butene-1 can reach 99.52% and 90.51%, the heat duty of butene-1 unit is reduced 6.63%.