Improvement ofPGB Depropanizer Column Model by Removing Ideal Mixture Assumption

This report entitled "Improvement of PGB Depropanizer Column Model by
Removing Ideal Mixture Assumption" is basically a dissertation report for the
Chemical Engineering Final Year Research Project. Since a long time ago, chemical
engineers have been dealing with a lot of optimization methods for distillation
column. The optimization is crucial because the best parameters are needed so that the
desired product of distillation column can be achieved and also saving energy
consumed in the plant which automatically saves million of dollars for the plant. The
main purpose of this research is to improve the de-propanizer column modeling by
removing the ideal mixture assumption made in the early stage of this project. The
results obtained are compared with the results obtained from HYSYS by using the
plant data of PGB De-Propanizer Column. The final objective of this project is to
show the results in the form of graphical user interface, GUI. The modeling for the
non-ideal mixture was done by using the MA TLAB 7.0 software. First of all, mass
balance was done by using the narrow feed boiling procedure and it was converged by
applying the theta-convergence method. Then, the energy balance calculation was
taken into consideration by calculating the energy balance for ideal system and nonideal
system. Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) method was used for the
convergence of matrix. Comparison of results between results obtained from MODEL
with the results obtained from HYSYS was made. The results were presented in the
form of graphical user interface GUI for more users friendly. Several results were
obtained for mass balance and energy balance and discussed in the discussion section.
Some recommendations were made for future improvement of the model. This project
is crucial as optimization of distillation column is one of the most important features
to be achieved by the engineers in any plant. This is because any changes in the data
and operating parameters such as the temperature and pressure of the column will
results to the difference in compositions of product and by-product. It is hoped that
this model will be used as a tool for engineers to obtain desired parameters and would
predict the results of the actual distillation column by referring to the model.