ENG. ANDREW OMWENGA
Chemical & Process Simulation Engineer • Thermodynamic Specialist
Cumene Industrial Process Simulation & High-Purity Distillation
Section 1.0 — Simulation & Facility Metadata
Section 2.0 — Executive Summary
Simulating benzene alkylation with propylene in Aspen Plus, featuring a multi-column distillation train, 99.98% product purity optimization, and unreacted benzene recycling.
Section 3.0 — Problem Statement & Operating Bottlenecks
Industrial cumene production requires high selectivity to avoid diisopropylbenzene (DIPB) byproduct formation while maximizing energy efficiency in the benzene recovery column.
Section 4.0 — Objectives & Rigorous Simulation Methodology
Aspen Plus rigorous simulation using NRTL-RK property package. Kinetic reaction rates incorporated for benzene-propylene alkylation and DIPB transalkylation over zeolite catalyst.
Section 5.0 — Simulation Results & Thermodynamic Findings
Maintaining a 4.5:1 molar feed ratio of benzene to propylene in the reactor feed suppressed DIPB yield to under 2.1%, reducing heavy-ends separation duty significantly.
Section 6.0 — Core Engineering Takeaways
Section 7.0 — Model Assumptions & Future Recommendations
Zeolite catalyst deactivation kinetics over extended operating cycles were modeled as pseudo-steady state.
Dividing wall column (DWC) retrofit evaluation to merge Benzene and Cumene columns into a single shell.
Section 8.0 — Consultant Conclusion & Verification Sign-off
Integrated reactor-recycle flowsheet simulation in Aspen Plus provides precise guidelines for high-purity petrochemical manufacturing.
