Process simulation of bis (2- Hydroxyethyl) terephthalate and its recovery using two-stage evaporation systems

Abstract

To preserve the petroleum feedstock and eliminate the environmental problems peculiar to polyethene terephthalate (PET) bottles littering the environment. Chemical recycling method was adopted to convert PET into useful products of prosperous sizeable industrial application. This work employed ASPEN PLUS V8.8 to simulate chemical glycolysis depolymerisation process of PET plastic wastes, using plug flow reactor for commercial production of pure bis (2- hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET). The data for modelling were gotten from the experimental PET glycolysis depolymerisation work. Excess ethylene glycol (EG) was used to degrade PET waste with zinc acetate (Zn(Ac)2) as the active catalyst. The optimum operating conditions of the reaction were mean particle size PET of 127.5 μm, EG:PET (w/w) ratio of 5:1,469 K temperature, 101325 N/m 2 pressure and 3 h residence time. Reaction results were 100 % depolymerisation of PET, 85.24 % yield of BHET and 14.76 % Oligomer. Purification of the BHET was done with two stages evaporation processes using flash columns and crystallizer. Higher temperature and lower pressure were observed to increase the efficiency of the evaporators, but the heat duties increased and momentarily reduced the BHET recovery. BHET recovery was observed to decrease with increase in temperature in the case of crystallisation operation. This work achieved a higher yield and purity of BHET, a higher EG removal for re-use and less heat duties demanded in comparison to previous works. The processes with its operating conditions can be used for future scaling up of commercial processes.