Process Modeling and Simulation

(Ch. E-411)
Assignment # 03

Submitted to:

Mam Aasia Farrukh

Submitted by:

Muhammad Usama Saeed

Registration#:

Uw-19-Che-Bsc-016

Due Date:
2nd November, 2022

Chemical Engineering Department

Wah Engineering College

University of Wah

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 Problem Statement
Ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE) is an oxygenate that is added to gasoline to improve Research Octane
Number (RON) and to increase oxygen content. The goal is to have 2.7% oxygen by weight in the
final product. The legal limit is that ETBE cannot exceed more than 17% by volume. For
simplicity, we use 2,2,4-trimethylpentane to represent gasoline. Since ETBE's molecular weight is
102.18 g/mol, the ETBE in the product stream can be calculated as following,

This yields 17.243% of ETBE by weight in the product stream. calculate:

• For a certain flow rate of gasoline (e.g., 100 kg/hr), how much ETBE should be added to
achieve the oxygen content of 2.7% by weight in the blended gasoline
• Check whether or not the legal limit of ETBE content is satisfied

Solution Steps
❖ Start a new simulation in Aspen HYSYS V8.0 or V11.0
❖ Create a component list. In the Component Lists folder select Add. Add 2,2,4-
trimethylpentane and ETBE to the component list.
❖ Define property package. In the Fluid Packages folder select Add. Select Peng-Robinson
as the property package.
❖ Enter the simulation environment by clicking the Simulation button in the bottom left of
the screen.
❖ Add a Mixer to the flowsheet from the Model Palette (F12).
❖ Double click on the mixer (MIX-100). Create two Inlets called ETBE and Gasoline. Create
an Outlet called Blend.
❖ Define feed streams. Go to the Worksheet tab. For stream ETBE enter a Temperature of
25°C and a Pressure of 1 bar. Leave Mass Flow empty as we will solve for it later.
❖ In the Composition form under the Worksheet tab, enter a Mole Fraction of 1 for ETBE in
the ETBE feed stream.
❖ Define gasoline feed stream. In the Conditions form in the Worksheet tab, enter a
Temperature of 25°C, a Pressure of 1 bar, and a Mass Flow of 82.76 kg/h.

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❖ In the Composition form enter a Mole Fraction of 1 for 224-Mpentane in the Gasoline
stream. The gasoline stream should solve. However. the mixer will not solve because the
flow rate of ETBE is still unknown.
❖ Now create a spreadsheet to calculate the target mass flowrate of stream ETBE. Add a
Spreadsheet to the flowsheet from the Model Palette.
❖ Double click on the spreadsheet (SPRDSHT-1). Go to the Spreadsheet tab and enter the
following text in cells A1 and A2.
❖ Right click on cell B1 and select Import Variable. Select the following to import the Mass
Flow of stream Gasoline to cell B1. Press OK when complete.
❖ Click cell B2 and enter the following formula: = (B1*0.17243) / (1-0.17243). This will
calculate the mass flow rate for stream ETBE. From the background section, we know that
in order to reach the oxygen content goal of 2.7%, we will need the gasoline stream to
contain 17.243% ETBE by weight.
❖ We now wish to export the calculated flow rate in cell B2 to stream ETBE. Right click cell
B2 and select Export Formula Result. Make the following selections and click OK when
complete. The mixer should now solve.
❖ We will now calculate the volume percent of ETBE in the blended stream to make sure
that the ETBE content is below the legal limit of 17 volume percent. This can easily be
observed in the spreadsheet. In the spreadsheet, enter the following text in cell A4.
❖ Right click on cell B4 and select Import Variable. Make the following selections to import
Master Comp Volume Frac of ETBE in the blended stream. Click OK when complete.
❖ The volume fraction of ETBE in the blended stream is 0.1596, which is below the legal
limit of 0.17. It is determined that the target flow rate of ETBE to be mixed with this
gasoline stream is 17.24 kg/h.

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Results

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Conclusion:
From Aspen Hysys, given the maximum allowable concentration of ETBE in blended gasoline
stream, spreadsheet pellet can be used to predict the flowrate of ETBE stream that would
correspond to the max allowable concentration. Moreover, these simulators are used when there
are many unknown components in the gasoline stream and gasoline contents vary as feedstock or
plant operating conditions change.

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