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c. Determine the boiling points of DME, methanol, and water (see data
tables in topics on chemical engineering thermodynamics) and find out
if separation of these three components can be achieved by means of
condensations.
d. Suppose DME is formed in a reactor operating in at steady-state continuous
flow mode at 500 K and 10 bar. How much reaction heat must be removed
fromthe reactorwhen0.5kmol
s
−1
methanol is converted in the reactor?What
cooling medium would you prefer: low pressure steam (at 410 K), medium
pressure steam (at 480 K), or a cold methanol process stream (at 325 K)?
e. Develop a block diagram for the DME process. Create some alternative
configurations and explain which one you prefer.
f. Compute the molar flows in the process block diagram you prefer. The
feed rate of pure methanol to the process is 0.5 kmol
s
−1
. To keep things
simple, you can work with the simplifying assumptions that reaction equi-
librium fixes the conversion of methanol and that complete physical sep-
aration of a component is achieved (100% separation efficiency).
Optional
: You can also use a chemical process flow sheeting program to
solve the molar balances of the components. In that case, more realistic
performance conditions for process units can be set: e.g., methanol con-
version is up to 98% of the equilibrium conversion, and separations
achieve 99% recovery of a component.
g. Obtain estimates of the prices of feed and products from public sources
and determine the economic potential at the input
-
output level (see
Chapter 7 for the definition of economic potential).
h. Write a design report with the results along with the rationales for your
design decisions.
INTERNET REFERENCES
REFERENCES
Brown LF. A comparative study of fuels for on-board hydrogen production for fuel-cell-
powered automobiles. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2001;26(4):381-397.
Deshmukh SR, Tonkovich ALY, McDaniel JS, Schrader LD, Burton CD, Jarosch KT, Simpson
AM, Kilanowski DR, Leviness S. Enabling cellulosic diesel with microchannel technology.
Biofuels 2011;2(3):315-324.
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