Basic engineering of polyol polyester production process

Abstract

Polyester polyol is a polymeric organic compound characterized by the presence of ester groups and terminal hydroxyl groups. Nowadays, polyol polyesters are the second most important group of oligo-polyols for the production of polyurethanes, representing around 18% of the polyols used. In recent years, the production of polyurethanes has increased significantly to produce foams, adhesives, paints, textile fibbers and automotive components. Consequently, the polyester polyol production necessary to satisfy the demand has also increased. For this, the basic engineering of the polyester polyol production process has been carried out with the aim of manufacturing the required polyester polyol amount by designing a discontinuous plant, whose time and batch sizing must be determined in order to satisfy the annual demand for the product. The design does not present limitations of resources, but of time. The design must meet the demand for the desired annual production of polyester polyol. In this project, there’s a stirred tank reactor working in batch mode, a rectification column, a condenser and a collection tank, each with its auxiliary equipment, its control and automation. Through all the concepts listed above, the equipment will be dimensioned to meet an annual demand of 9000 tons considering its operating conditions, mode and the time of each stage of the production process.