A dynamic simulation of a styrene production process

Abstract

Dynamic simulation plays a crucial role in process engineering, especially in designing control systems. As the interest in dynamic simulation for effective control and operation rises, the goal of the paper is to study and improve the dynamic performance of a styrene production process using simulation software to tackle various process design problems. The simulation process is carried out in four stages. In the first stage, flowsheet topology and process parameters are selected to meet the requirement of the main product. Control systems are designed for each piece of equipment in the process in the second stage. Both of the stages mentioned earlier are conducted in a steady-state environment. After finishing the second stage, steady-state simulation is complete. The third stage involves tuning control parameters of control loops in a dynamic environment. In the final stage, the performance of the system is tested by introducing disturbances in the form of pulse inputs. The results of the dynamic simulation illustrate that the control system is significantly influenced by the ethylbenzene feed flowrate disturbance. The production rate is heavily affected by the disturbance, while the production quality is assured. The average settling time of the process is 270 minutes.