Process simulation of propylene production from crude palm oil by hydrodeoxygenation and propane dehydrogenation

Abstract

The petrochemical industry is a branch of the chemical industry that utilizes raw materials in the form of oil and gas through chemical or physical processes to produce various olefin and aromatic-based industrial products. One of the key products in the petrochemical industry is propylene. Propylene is used for the manufacture of polypropylene resins, acrylic acids and its derivatives, propylene glycol, and others. Several attempts to produce propylene from other raw material sources such as natural gas and coal have been made, but given its non-renewable nature, there needs to be a solution for the utilization of renewable natural resources as raw material for making propylene. One of the potential renewable resources in Indonesia is CPO. The process of turning CPO into green diesel is known as the Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process. This process produces green diesel around 83 percent and propane around 5 percent. Propane produced can be converted into propylene by the Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) process. The simulation process was designed using Aspen Hysys version 8.8. The simulation indicates that from 10.10 m^3/h CPO can be produced 10.73 m^3/h green diesel and 1.03 m^3/h propane with purity 99.85 percent. From propane dehydrogenation can be produced around 0.8 m^3/h propylene with purity 99.06 percent.