AIChE 2017 Student Design Competition: Manufacturing facility for nylon 6,6

Abstract

A preliminary grass roots design was performed for a continuous nylon 6,6 polymerization process. The objective of this project was to create a safe and sustainable process for the polymerization of nylon 6,6 that produced 85 MM lbs/yr using Adipic Acid and HMDA as the constituents. Upon completing the design and economic evaluation, it is recommended that management consider moving forward with this process.

The initial investment for creating a grass roots plant for producing nylon 6,6 was determined to be $18,800,000. Upon completing the economic analysis, the net present value for the 100 percent production was determined to be $70,120,000 while the 67 percent production is $31,100,000. The payback period for the 100 percent production was found to be 2.25 years with a DCFROR of 69 percent.

Some key assumptions needed to be made while creating the economic analysis. With the economic evaluation, the assumption is made that all of the product made is sold and all raw material purchased is used. While another assumption is that all of the prices for raw material, utilities, and sales price remain the same throughout the entire life of the analysis. Although these will deviate, the NPV will still be much greater than zero while the DCFROR will stay above 15 percent. Therefore, it is recommended to begin moving forward with the creation of this plant and produce nylon 6,6 pellets.