Simulation and Modeling of an Integrated Process Route for the Synthesis of Vinyl Chloride Monomer from Acetylene: Factorial Design Method and Artificial Neural Network

Vinyl Chloride gas is a nonirritating and colorless substance. It is usually colorless at a concentration lower than 3900 ppm (10,000 mg/m3). Vinyl Chloride is simply compressed to liquid for storage and shipping. At a concentration between 200 and 500 mg/m3, a Sweetish odor of Vinyl Chloride may be detected. This research paper is focused on the simulation of an integrated process route for the synthesis of Vinyl chloride Monomer from Acetylene via Aspen Hysys Simulation as well as the Factorial Design of the experiment with MINITAB 17.0. Fit Regression and Artificial Neural Network were employed for the modeling of the responses. Molar flow rates of acetylene (C2H2) and hydrogen chloride (HCl) predicts the conversions of acetylene and hydrogen chloride. A recycle unit is added to the process flow diagram and the maximum conversion of C2H2 and HCl is found to be 99.90 and 99.80 %, respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) gives the results of the statistical correlation between the independent variables and response variables. The simulation and modeling results reveal that the Artificial Neural Network model gives better prediction and analysis of the process route with correlation coefficient (R squared values) of 97.921 % and 98.423 % for the conversion of C2H2 and conversion of HCl, respectively compared to the Factorial Design Method model with R squared values value of 79.47 % and 73.70 % for the conversion of C2H2 and conversion of HCl, respectively