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MEG/EG complex, Jubail, Saudi Arabia

How to simulate ethylene glycol plant: fiber-grade meg + deg/teg byproducts

Extends the EO/glycol chain all the way to separated products. Ethylene + O2 make ethylene oxide over a silver catalyst (with the competing total-combustion side reaction), EO condenses out, and then hydrates through the real CONSECUTIVE glycol reactions — EO + H2O -> MEG, EO + MEG -> DEG, EO + DEG -> TEG (all atom-balanced, keyed on the shrinking EO pool) — giving the industrial ~90/9/1 mono-/di-/tri-ethylene-glycol selectivity that a high water:EO ratio produces. The purification train recovers the water for recycle and splits the glycols into fiber-grade MEG (>=99.9%), DEG, and TEG products. HONEST SCOPE: the reaction chemistry is rigorous stoichiometry (real atom balances, realistic selectivity set by the fixed conversions); the PURIFICATION is modelled with spec-based component-split separators to the known product purities (the Aspen 'Sep'-block technique for a well-understood separation section), NOT rigorous vacuum distillation columns — a converged 99.9%-fiber-grade MEG column is not tractable in this solver under Peng-Robinson (the MEG/DEG relative volatility is too narrow for the wide-boiling MESH path; a real plant uses large multi-effect evaporators + vacuum columns). The water-recycle stream is left open (not looped back) — an honest simplification, like the parent EO example's ethylene recycle.

Ethylene FEED
O2 FEED
MIX0
Epoxrx
Combrx
Cool0
Condense
Purge GAS
Waterfeed
MIX1
RXN1
RXN2
RXN3
Cool1
Degas
Offgas
Dewater
Water Recycle
MEG COL
MEG Product
DEG COL
DEG Product
TEG Product
  1. 1
    Open the ready-made model

    Open the "Ethylene glycol plant: fiber-grade MEG + DEG/TEG byproducts" model in the MaximaLabs workspace — no install, no license. It loads live on the canvas, ready to edit and run.

  2. 2
    Confirm the thermodynamics

    This process is modeled with the PENG-ROBINSON property package over ethylene, oxygen, ethylene_oxide, co2, water, ethylene_glycol, diethylene_glycol, triethylene_glycol — already selected, so the phase equilibrium and enthalpy are physically consistent from the first run.

  3. 3
    Review the flowsheet

    The flowsheet chains 2× MIX1, 5× RXN3, 2× Cool1, Condense, 4× DEG COL. Every block is a real, solvable unit op you can reconfigure on the canvas.

  4. 4
    Run the simulation

    Click Run. The deterministic solver converges the material and energy balances (recycles included) and fills the live stream table — the AI never invents a number.

  5. 5
    Read the results and iterate

    Inspect the converged streams, tweak a spec, and re-run — or ask the AI copilot to explain a result or diagnose a failed solve in plain English.

What you'll build
Thermodynamics
PENG-ROBINSON
Components
ethylene, oxygen, ethylene_oxide, co2, water, ethylene_glycol, diethylene_glycol, triethylene_glycol
Unit operations
2× MIX15× RXN32× Cool1Condense4× DEG COL
Open this model in the workspace

Opens live on the canvas — free, no install.

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