Thermodynamic Optimization of the Ethylene Oligomerization Chemical Process

The use of olefin oligomerization in the synthesis of liquid fuel has broad application prospects in military and civil fields. Here, based on finite time thermodynamics (FTT), an ethylene oligomerization chemical process (EOCP) model with a constant temperature heat source outside the heat exchanger and reactor pipes was established. The process was first optimized with the minimum specific entropy generation rate (SEGR) as the optimization objective, then multi-objective optimization was further performed by utilizing the NSGA-II algorithm with the minimization of the entropy generation rate (EGR) and the maximization of the C₁₀H₂₀ yield as the optimization objectives. The results showed that the point of the minimum EGR was the same as that of SEGR in the Pareto optimal frontier. The solution obtained using the Shannon entropy decision method had the lowest deviation index, the C₁₀H₂₀ yield was reduced by 49.46% compared with the point of reference and the EGR and SEGR were reduced by 59.01% and 18.88%, respectively.