Contact

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Uwe Hampel

Head
Experimental Thermal Fluid Dynamics
u.hampel@hzdr.de
Phone: +49 351 260 2772

Work Package 1.2 - Heat management and process simulation in the nitrobenzene hydrogenation

Principal investigator: Dr. P. Pfeifer (KIT)


Main scientific Goals:

The use of structuredc atalysts, monoliths or modular micro process engineering equipment is expected to increase the process performance of multiphase processes through enhanced heat and mass transfer of reactants between the phases. By applying higher pressure and temperature in the reaction zone heat utilization is improved and the overall process efficiency might thus be increased. However, the application of higher temperature and pressure will also consume energy and might finally result in process changes due to an influence on the product yield.

In consequence, it is necessary to evaluate the overall process efficiency by help of standardized software like ASPENPLUS® or AspenCustomModeller®. At KIT the example of the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline is investigated as a base case: The implications from process intensification due to new reactor concepts for this reaction will be compared to well known and established industrial standards like the liquid-phase and gas phase processes.

Material and energy flow diagrams will be elaborated and pinch analyses will be performed to determine the heat recovery levels.

This work package represents a bridge between system analysis and method development in Work Package 2.

HEA-WP1.2-Fig1

Figure: Scheme of the liquid phase aniline process in Aspen®.