Production of Monoethanolamine $($MEA$)$

A new facility to produce Monoethanolamine $($MEA$)$ is being considered due to an increase in demand. Therefore, you have been requested to design a plant to produce $10000$ metric tons per annum of Monoethanolamine $($MEA$)($at $99\mathrm{.}5\%$ purity$).$ The plant is to be located in Richards Bay, South Africa.

The following feed streams are available:

Ammonia feed is available at $10$atm and $50C$ from an adjacent plant. Ammonia is available as an aqueous solution of $55wt.\%$ of ammonia and $45wt.\%$ water.

Ethylene Oxide $(99\mathrm{.}99\%$ pure$)$ is available at $5$ atm and $40C.$

Reaction temperature of $150C$ is maintained in the reactor, and a pressure of $160$ atmosphere to avoid the evaporation of ammonia.

Under specified conditions of reaction, only MEA is produced when the feed ratio of Ammonia $/$Ethylene oxide is $10.$

The plant should operate for $330$ days in a year, in order to allow for shutdown and maintenance.

In this assessment, you need to assess the feasibility of such a process by conducting a conceptual design, that covers the following topics:

$1\mathrm{.}1.$ Design basis

$1\mathrm{.}2.$ Literature Review

$1\mathrm{.}3.$ Process Description

$1\mathrm{.}4.$ Preliminary block flow diagram $($BFD$)$ and process flow diagram $($PFD$)$

$1\mathrm{.}4\mathrm{.}1.$ Block diagram of the entire process

$1\mathrm{.}4\mathrm{.}2.$ Process flow diagram

$1\mathrm{.}5.$ Preliminary major equipment list

Report Submission

Compile your findings in an appropriate technical report. Please refer to Learning Unit $3$ of your Workbook for information regarding how the report should be structured.