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.
- 1Open 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.
- 2Confirm 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.
- 3Review 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.
- 4Run 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.
- 5Read 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.
- Thermodynamics
- PENG-ROBINSON
- Components
- ethylene, oxygen, ethylene_oxide, co2, water, ethylene_glycol, diethylene_glycol, triethylene_glycol
- Unit operations
- 2× MIX15× RXN32× Cool1Condense4× DEG COL
Opens live on the canvas — free, no install.