Research on industrial modeling of ethylene oxide hydration reactor

Focusing on ethylene oxide (EO) hydration reactor industrial equipment, the reaction mechanism model is established. Based on the principle of material balance, energy balance and kinetics of the reactions of ethylene oxide with water, partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used in the model to establish a corresponding relationship between the reaction rate constant and the reaction temperature. With kinetic parameters correction by using field data, the results are more tallies with the actual operation. Influences of water/EO molar ratio and inlet temperature on product quality, outlet temperature and energy consumption are analyzed according to the established model. The results showed that the model can preferably reflect the performance of EO hydration reactor and have certain guidance functions to the further advanced control strategies.