Methods

First, the target EO process is described. Then, after the design of experiments (DoE) and the adaptive design of experiments are described, the procedure for combining these methods is discussed.
Ethylene Oxide (EO) process
The process flow diagram (PFD) of the designed EO process is shown in Figure 1. Here, the products are 99.5 wt-% EO and a 10.0 mol-% aqueous EO solution13. In the EO reactions, it is assumed that a silver catalyst is used. Ethylene and oxygen are supplied to a plug-flow reactor (R1) and catalyst at a high temperature and pressure, and are converted into EO. The produced EO is then absorbed by water in the absorption column (T1). As noted above, there is a risk of explosion in the reactor because of the large number of exothermic reactions; hence, there are restrictions on conversions and reactor inlet compositions. The unreacted gases are recycled and purged with raw materials, such as argon or ethane, and the carbon dioxide by-product is removed before they are supplied to the reactor again. Ethylene oxide absorbed in water is removed from the water (T2), and from light hydrocarbons (T3), and rectified in the distillation column (T4).