A comparative study on the recovery of 1,2-dichloroethane and the removal of benzene contained in the byproducts of VCM process

Abstract

A comparative study has been performed to compare initial investment costs and operation costs for two different process configurations. The two processes were used to recover 1,2-dichloroethane (EDC) and to remove benzene contained in the byproducts of the vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) process. The objectives of this process were to recover 70% of EDC contained in the byproducts and to reduce the benzene content below 0.7 wt%. The first process configuration for comparison is a conventional distillation column that consists of upper and lower columns. The other process configuration is an extractive distillation process that uses Normal Formyl Morpholine (NFM) as a solvent to remove benzene. The conventional distillation process which consists of upper and lower distillation columns was superior to the extractive distillation process, which used a solvent, in the aspects of the initial investment and annual operating cost.