This thesis will detail two goals of my capstone design project. The first goal is to simulate a given base case of a vapor phase reaction ethylbenzene production facility in PRO/II simulation software and discretely optimize the process in order to increase the profitability of the plant. The second goal is to develop a base case process flow diagram, stream tables, utility tables, and equipment tables for an ethylbenzene facility with liquid phase reactions. The base case simulation and optimization is a group task with my assigned group members in Ch E 451. The first part of this study looks at the plant during startup and the first twelve years of its operation. Both the vapor and liquid phase models of the ethylbenzene facility contain appropriate stream, equipment, and utility tables. The vapor phase model also includes an analysis of the plants profitability and a comparison of the optimized plant to the base case model. The base case for the liquid phase reaction ethylbenzene plant was modeled using Microsoft Excel
