Optimisation of Ethylbenzene Conversion and Selectivity of p-diethylbenzene Using Differential Evolution Technique via OLS Modelling

Abstract

This paper delves into the application of a robust optimisation tool, differential evolution (DE), to the disproportionation of ethylbenzene (EB) to produce the commercially important para-diethylbenzene (p-DEB). Through the application of this technique, EB conversion and selectivity of the p-DEB product are maximised against the three input variables of temperature, pressure and liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV), using a model. The catalytic process is represented by a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) orthogonal least-square (OLS) algorithm, using historic data. The optimised solutions are experimentally verified and show significant improvement in the p-DEB conversion and selectivity.

Keywords:

• Process modelling
• Process optimisation
• EB disproportionation
• Radial basis function network
• OLS