Techno-economic analysis of aniline production via amination of phenol

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate through a techno-economic assessment that aniline can be industrially produced using a profitable and inherently safer process than the ones currently employed. The aniline production process was designed using process simulation software. From this, the mass and energy balances were determined, the equipment sizing was performed and the net present value (NPV) was calculated to be USD 93.5 million. Additionally, a heat integration analysis was carried out in order to improve process profitability, obtaining a new NPV of USD 97.5 million. The economic sensitivity analysis showed that the process could withstand fixed capital investment changes of up to +89%, weighted average cost of capital changes between 16–24% and a decrease in cyclohexylamine demand of up to 44%. The conceptual design is still profitable when aniline price is varied in a range of 1224–1840 $/t and phenol cost in a range of 815–1178 $/t.