Simulação do processo de desacidificação do produto líquido orgânico do craqueamento termo catalítico de óleo de palma

Abstract

The suggested approach to lead this work aims at the simulation comparative analysis between two process routes, both able to be applied in the deacidification process and both responsible to adequate the Organic Liquid Product (OLP) acid obtained by the process of Thermocatalytic cracking of oil palm for separation of the fractions in derivatives step, in order to define which process performs the higher operational efficiency. To elaborate the process flow diagram it was used the process simulator ASPEN HYSYS Version 8.4, part of the package Aspen ONE from Aspen Technology. The analyzed cases were the liquid-liquid extraction and the fractional distillation. For the acidification process by liquid-liquid extraction the flow diagram was designed through three extraction stages in series, followed by two separator vessels and two distillation columns, one of them containing 10 theoretical plates for recovery of the hydrocarbons contained in the refined stream, and the other containing 05 theoretical plates to suit the acidity contained in the stream with high hydrocarbonets level to the limit set in the ANP standard. For the acidification process via fractional distillation it was designed a process flow diagram which consists of a column with 25 theoretical plates. In the simulation it was evaluated the impacts on yield and energy consumption of the process variations caused by the acidity of the feed stream, water content of the ethanol used as the solvent, number of plates of the column and energy recovery initiatives lost along the flow . In the simulated conditions, both processes have proven to be effective in the acidification process of the PLO, being obtained from the liquid-liquid extraction 80% and the fractional distillation 91% of the total acidity removal, however, the fractional distillation proved to be more effective for presenting an operating cost lower than the 34.1% obtained by liquid-liquid extraction.