CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION TO
DESIGN

EKB 3203 PLANT & EQUIPMENT DESIGN

 Outline

1. Nature of Design
2. Structure of a Chemical Manufacturing Process
3. Organization of a Chemical Engineering Project
4. Project Documentation
5. Codes and Standards
6. Design Factors
7. Selection of Design Variables
 1.Nature of Design
• Chemical engineering – one of the highest-paid engineering
professions.
• The demand for chemical engineers is always there in many
sectors of industries – chemicals, polymers, foods, fuels etc.
• The reason that companies value chemical engineers so high
is because:
Starting from define the problem statement- for example the customer needs,
chemical engineer develop the understanding and use the understanding to
create a plans and specification, which if implemented, it will lead to predicted
financial outcome

• The creation of plans and specification and the prediction of

the financial outcome if the plans were implemented is the
activity of chemical engineering design.
 1.Nature of Design
• Design is a creative activity, can be one of the most
rewarding and satisfying activities undertaken by an
engineer.
• It is the synthesis, the putting together of ideas to achieve a
desired purpose.
• The design does not exist at the commencement of the
project. The designer starts with a specific objective or
customer need, and by developing and evaluating possible
designs, arrives at the best way of achieving that objective;
for the chemical engineer, a new chemical product or
production process.
• When considering possible ways of achieving the objective,
the designer will be constrained by many factors, which will
narrow down the number of possible designs.
 1.Nature of Design

Types of constraints:
1. External constraints
• Outside the designer’s influence
• Fixed and invariable
2. Internal constraints
• The designer has some control
 1.Nature of Design
The Design Process:
• The stages in the development of a design

The design process.

 1.Nature of Design
Chemical engineering projects can be divided into three
types, depending on the novelty involved:
1. Modifications, and additions, to existing plant; usually
carried out by the plant design group.
2. New production capacity to meet growing sales demand,
and the sale of established processes by contractors.
Repetition of existing designs, with only minor design
changes.
3. New processes, developed from laboratory research,
through pilot plant, to a commercial process. Even here,
most of the unit operations and process equipment will
use established designs.
 2.Structure of a Chemical Manufacturing
Process
• The basic component of chemical process.

• Each block represent a stage for producing product from raw

material

• Show the general process, not all stages will be needed for any
process, and each stage depend on the nature of the process.

The chemical process.

 2.Structure of a Chemical Manufacturing
Process
Continuous and batch processes
• Continuous processes are designed to operate 24 hours a day,
7 days a week, throughout the year. Some down time will be
allowed for maintenance and, for some processes, catalyst
regeneration.
• Batch processes are designed to operate intermittently. Some,
or all, the process units being frequently shut down and started
up.
• Continuous processes will usually be more economical for large
scale production.
• Batch processes are used where some flexibility is wanted in
production rate or product specification
2.Structure of a Chemical Manufacturing
Process
Continuous Batch
Production rate greater than 5 x Production rate less than 5 x 106
106 kg/h kg/h
Single product A range of products or product
specifications

No severe fouling Severe fouling

Good catalyst life Short catalyst life

Proven processes design New product

Established market Uncertain design

Comparison between continuous and batch processes.

3.Organization of a Chemical Engineering
Project
• The design work required in the engineering of a chemical manufacturing
process can be divided into two broad phases:
 Phase 1
• Process design, which covers the steps from the initial selection of
the process to be used, through to the issuing of the process flow-
sheets; and includes the selection, specification and chemical
engineering design of equipment. In a typical organisation, this
phase is the responsibility of the Process Design Group, and the
work will be mainly done by chemical engineers. The process
design group may also be responsible for the preparation of the
piping and instrumentation diagrams
 Phase 2
• The detailed mechanical design of equipment; the structural, civil
and electrical design; and the specification and design of the
ancillary services. These activities will be the responsibility of
specialist design groups, having expertise in the whole range of
engineering disciplines
Project Organization
 4.Project Documentation
General correspondence within the design group and with:
government departments
equipment vendors
site personnel
the client
Calculation sheets design calculations
costing
computer print-out
Drawings flow-sheets
piping and instrumentation diagrams
layout diagrams
plot/site plans
equipment details
piping diagrams
architectural drawings
design sketches
Specification sheets for equipment, such as:
heat exchangers
pumps
Purchase orders quotations
invoices
 5.Codes & Standards
• The need for standardization arose early in the evolution of the
modern engineering industry. In engineering practice they cover:

1.Material, properties and compositions.

2.Testing procedures for performance, compositions and quality
3.Preferred sizes; for example, tubes, plates, sections.
4.Design methods, inspection, fabrication.
5.Codes of practice, for plant operation and safety
• For the designer, the use of a standardized component size
allows for the easy integration of a piece of equipment into
the rest of the plant.
• For an operating company, the standardization of equipment
designs and sizes increases interchangeability and reduces
the stock of spares that have to be held in maintenance
stores.
 6.Design Factors
• Design is an inexact art; errors and uncertainties
• Experienced designer include design factor or safety factor to
ensure that the design built meets product specifications and
operate safely.
• "Design factor" is a better term to use, as it does not confuse
safety and performance factors.
• In mechanical and structural design, the magnitude of the
design factors used to allow for uncertainties in material
properties, design methods, fabrication and operating loads are
well established.
• Design factors are also applied in process design to give some
tolerance in the design.
• The greater the uncertainty in the design methods and data,
the bigger the design factor that must be used.
 7.Selection of Design Variables
• The structure of design problems is examined by representing the
general design problem in a mathematical form
• There will be a certain number of variables that the designer must
specify to define the problem, and which he can manipulate to seek
the best design.

The “design unit”

• The information flows are the values of the variables which are
involved in the design; such as, stream compositions, temperatures,
pressure, stream flow-rates, and stream enthalpies
• The values of some of the variables will be fixed directly by
process specifications. The values of other variables will be
determined by “design relationships” arising from constraint
• Some of the design relationships will be in the form of explicit
mathematical equations (design equations); such as those
arising from material and energy balances, thermodynamic
relationships, and equipment performance parameters
• The difference between the number of variables involved in a
design and the number of design relationships has been called
the number of "degrees of freedom"; similar to the use of the
term in the phase rule.
• The number of variables in the system is analogous to the
number of variables in a set of simultaneous equations, and the
number of relationships analogous to the number of equations.
• If Nv is the number of possible variables in a design problem and Nr
the number of design relationships, then the "degrees of freedom" Nd
is given by:

• Nd represents the freedom that the designer has to manipulate the

variables to find the best design.
• If Nv=Nr,Nd = 0 and there is only one, unique, solution to the
problem. The problem is not a true design problem, no optimisation is
possible.
• If Nv < Nr, Nd < 0, and the problem is over defined; only a trivial
solution is possible.
• If Nv > Nr, Nd > 0, and there is an infinite number of possible
solutions.
• However, for a practical problem there will be only a limited number
of feasible solutions. The value of Nd is the number of variables which
the designer must assign values to solve the problem.
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