Designing an Ethylene Oxide Plant: My Toughest Challenge in Chemical Engineering
When I started the Chemical Process Design (CED 342) course at Gebze Technical University, I knew it would be different from anything I had done before. This was not just another class, it was a semester-long journey of building a factory on paper. Together with a team of five, and as the group leader, I carried the responsibility of turning a chemical into a full-scale industrial process.
Out of many options, I chose Ethylene Oxide (EO). This was not a random pick: EO is the direct precursor of Polyethylene Oxide (PEO), a polymer electrolyte I had previously studied in connection with solid-state batteries. Choosing EO allowed me to bridge my battery-oriented vision with one of the most demanding courses in our curriculum.
Throughout the semester, I often felt like a startup founder rather than just a student. Every week we had to deliver hundreds of pages of reports, present updates, and make tough technical and managerial decisions. Planning, researching, calculating, managing the team, keeping motivation alive—it was a full package. By the end, we had produced a 300+ page final report and a comprehensive presentation, essentially simulating the setup of a real EO production plant.
Project Scope
The Process Design course was structured almost like a bootcamp: every week, we had to submit detailed reports, present our progress, and steadily build towards a complete industrial design. Each weekly report was around 200 pages, and by the end of the semester, our final deliverable had grown into a 300–400 page document that contained everything from market analysis to reactor sizing.
Our project began with gathering general information about Ethylene Oxide, its properties, hazards, and uses in industries ranging from polymers and detergents to medical sterilization. We then analyzed its global and Turkish market presence, noting that Europe and Asia dominate production while Turkey’s EO capacity remains limited.
After this, we had to make a crucial decision: which production route to choose. While the chlorohydrin process was historically important, we opted for the direct oxidation of ethylene (air or pure O₂), as it reflects modern industrial practice and better sustainability.
From there, the technical challenge intensified. We designed process flow diagrams in Unisim software, performed material and energy balances, and moved on to equipment design, reactors, heat exchangers, distillation columns, absorbers, strippers, pumps, and compressors. This project required us to apply nearly all the fundamentals of chemical engineering: thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, mass transfer, and separation processes. It was the closest experience to running a real plant without leaving the classroom.
Leading this project was unlike any group work I had done before. Our team consisted of five members, but as the designated team leader, the responsibility to keep everything moving forward was on my shoulders. Every week brought new technical hurdles, balances, simulations, equipment design but equally important were the human challenges: managing deadlines, motivating teammates, resolving conflicts, and keeping everyone aligned.
There were moments when I felt as if I was carrying the entire process almost alone, balancing both the engineering side and the leadership side. It was not just about drawing flow diagrams or calculating reactor sizes, it was about decision-making, planning, and emotional management.
This experience made me realize that a chemical engineer is not only a problem-solver in equations, but also a leader in complex projects, much like a startup founder who has to wear multiple hats at once. For me, this project was as much about personal growth as it was about technical mastery.
Results & Deliverables
Our semester-long work was structured week by week, with each step adding a new layer to the design. By the end, this process had expanded into a 300–400 page final report and a full presentation. Here is how the journey unfolded:
- Week 1 – Project Selection
We chose Ethylene Oxide (EO) among several alternatives, linking it strategically to my earlier focus on polymer electrolytes and batteries. - Week 2 – General Information
We researched EO’s physical, chemical, and toxic properties, its reactions, occurrence, and production methods. - Week 3 – Global & Turkish Market Situation
We studied the largest producers worldwide, plant capacities, trade values, imports, and exports. We also examined Turkey’s production scale and its commercial limitations. - Week 4 – Process Selection & Capacity
We compared production technologies (chlorohydrin vs direct oxidation), presented flow diagrams, and explained why we selected direct oxidation for our design. - Week 5 – Block Flow Diagrams
We created block flow diagrams, listed the required equipment, defined feedstocks and products, analyzed by-products, and discussed economic evaluations. - Week 6 – Process Flow Diagrams (Unisim)
We built full process flow diagrams in Unisim, including equipment and stream specifications. - Week 7 – Material & Energy Balances
We calculated complete balances to ensure realistic industrial-scale flows. - Week 8 – Equipment Design
Finally, we designed major process equipment: reactors, vessels, heat exchangers, distillation columns, absorbers, strippers, pumps, and compressors.
This structured, week-by-week progression forced us to apply nearly every principle of chemical engineering,thermodynamics, mass transfer, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and separation processes. It was the closest I’ve come to designing a real plant.
Below are two snapshots from our work: one taken from our final presentation, and another from our comprehensive final report. They reflect the scale and depth of what we produced during the semester.
For those who would like to dive deeper, we have uploaded both the full final report (300+ pages) and the final presentation file to a shared Google Drive folder. You can access them here:
📂 [EO Production Project – Final Report & Presentation (Google Drive)](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17S8ZE8d7P8O5E7mcZj4d4Oo0tHx9WsFM)
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