Modelagem e simulação em Scilab de uma planta de produção de metanol como ferramenta de otimização de processo

Abstract

Faced with the need for optimized industrial development, the study of processes using modeling and simulation has become an indispensable tool to guarantee their efficiency. The need to redefine the strategies, techniques and simulation procedures that are applied by the production sector aim to obtain more economical and sustainable processes, to maintain market competitiveness. Modeling and simulation allow the prediction of parameters, data and behavior prediction without making changes to the operating systems, reducing costs and speeding up projects. The chemical industry is inserted in this context, with methanol being one of the main commodities on a global scale. The objective of this study is to carry out the modeling and simulation of a methanol production plant, using the free software Scilab, as a tool for predicting the system's behavior due to disturbances. For this, an algorithm was developed to solve the mass balance based on the process variables found in the literature. The results showed that the CO feed flow is directly proportional to methanol production, while the H2 feed flow had no influence. The conversion of limiting reactant (CO) favors the production of the product, however, the costs related to the dimensions of the equipment (reactors) also increase with the increase in this variable. Thus, this study indicated the main characteristics of a methanol production plant and the developed algorithm can be applied as an optimization tool, as well as a study tool in academia.