Development of simulator for bio-propylene synthesis process

A process simulator was developed for the synthesis of bio-propylene from bio-ethanol with a zeolite catalyst by determining the reaction mechanism and the reaction rate constants that simulate the experimental data. The reaction mechanism thus determined consisted of 28 reactions involving 16 chemical species. The values of the reaction rate constants (the frequency factors and the activated energies) were determined by use of a genetic algorithm to solve the non-linear optimization problem of minimizing the differences between the simulated values and the experimental data. As a result, the behavior of experimental data, especially for the major species such as propylene and ethylene, was well explained by the output of the simulator developed in this work. Therefore, the simulator should be useful for optimizing the design and the operation of reactor in this process.