It is desired to produce a hot vapor stream of benzene to feed a reactor for a certain petrochemical process. the benzene is available from an off-site storage facility at 1 atm pressure and ambient temperature (assume 25°C), and the reactor requires the benzene to be at 250°C at 10 atm. Two possible process schemes are being considered to heat and pressurize the feed: (1) pump the liquid benzene to pressure and then vaporize it in a heat exchanger, and (2) vaporize the benzene first and then compress it to the desired pressure. Answer the following: a. Discuss qualitatively which scheme (if either) is better. Use simple PFDs with stream flags.
b. Confirm your answer to s) by comparing the costs using both schemes to feed 1000 kg/h of benzene to the reactor. (Assume the cost of heating is $15/GJ and that the electricity costs $0.06/kWh)