Mixing tanks (Vessels)

 for viscous, non-Newtonian fluids or streams with suspended solids

 abbreviated V

In Aspen, multiple streams of the same composition cannot be sent to units or multiple streams cannot be
drawn out from units; so, mixers and splitters are used; high-pressure gases and low viscosity liquids mix
easily and hence do not need a mixer tank

Splitter
 output streams have the same temperature, pressure, and composition as the input stream; only
flow rates change
 pipe and valve systems

Mixer:
 changes composition, temperature of the output stream
 T pipe joints

Pumps: increase pressure of liquids

 Pumping vapors/gases leads to cavitation and pump damage (NPSH = fluid pressure @ suction –
vapor pressure of fluid; if pressure at suction side < vapor pressure, fluid boils and forms bubbles
that spoil the impeller over time; NPSHA(available) > NPSHR (required); NPSHR is the
minimum inlet pressure to prevent cavitation at a given flow rate
 To avoid cavitation
o keep inlet pipes short and of small dia i.e keep pipe losses to the minimum – minimal use
of pipe fittings such as valves, tees
o increase the static head
 Pump type (centrifugal/reciprocating/axial/rotary) chosen based on flow rate, horse power
required, inlet & outlet pressure of process streams and price
o Centrifugal pumps convert mechanical energy of the impeller to kinetic energy (fluid
velocity and pressure)
 have shut-off head – when net flow through the pump stops while the pump is
working – happens when gravity prevents the water from rising in the discharge
pipe; liquid rises to a level and then quits rising when it cannot overcome gravity
o Reciprocating or Positive displacement pumps directly displace fluid from pump inlet to
outlet in discrete volumes; expand the cavity on suction side to take in fluid and decrease
the cavity on discharge side for fluid to leave
 do not have shut-off head; cannot operate at all against a closed discharge valve;
will cause pressure in discharge line increase leading to line burst or pump
damage
 Abbreviated P
 Drive provided by
o Electric motor – power < 100 hp; high efficiency
o Steam turbine - >100 hp; power outage; less efficient than electric; create motion by
sending steam through turbine which generates rotation which is used to run
pumps/compressors; converts thermal and pressure energy to mechanical energy;
pressure and temperature energy together is enthalpy
o Gas turbine – instead of steam through expander, gas/vapor is used
o IC Engine – remote areas, combust fuels, highly inefficient
o Efficiency: Electric > Steam> Gas> IC Engine
Compressors: increase pressure of vapors, gases
 Fluid is accelerated in the turbine by rotors and then compressed by sending them through tapered
channel
 Abbreviated C
 Drive provided by
o Electrical – power < 100 hp; high efficiency
o Steam turbine - >100 hp; power outage; less efficiency
o Gas turbine –
o IC Engine – remote areas, combust fuels, highly inefficient

Turbines (expanders): depressurize liquids, gases and vapors

 Drive – none required; fluid does work on the turbine, loses its heat energy, depressurized and
expands
 Has negative shaft power as energy is removed from fluid
 Overall efficiency = turbine efficiency as no drive
 Abbreviated C (since turbines are essentially compressors in reverse)

Valves
 depressurize liquids, gases
 ball, gate – designed to be kept all the way open or closed; using them to vary flow rates damages
them
 butterfly, globe – both manual valve and control valve – used to throttle or control flow
 control valve - control flow rates via feedback or feed forward control mechanisms
 not labelled or included in equipment summary table; not abbreviated; ancillary equipment

Storage Tanks (Tk)

 not accumulators or surge or flash
 to store raw materials, products
 heuristic: should not hold more than one month’s worth of material

Control Loops/philosophy – for safety, efficiency and efficacy – predictable, consistent performance
 To avoid runaway reactions, unwanted side reactions, unexpected concentration changes –
feedback control loop – vary power supply or valves to open/close
 Place control valves on streams that can be independently adjusted (except for level control) eg;
utility streams
 Avoid cv on process streams unless at the beginning or the very end of process or on a vessel
controlling liquid level
 Minimize dead time and lag time
 Don’t adjust streams if not related to the variable being controlled
 Streams with same compositions need not have two control valves on them!
 Parallel heat exchangers, compressors or pumps must both be controlled to maintain similar
stream conditions when those parallel streams are joined at one point
 Solid line – capillary (liquid) signal; dotted line – electric (voltage) signal; # - pneumatic (air)
signal
 Temperature
o Increase or decrease cooling supply or steam supply to heat exchanger
o vary utility to reactor cooling jackets
 o distillate temperature controlled by feed flow rate and composition, reboiler/condenser
duties and column dimensions; distillate temp related more to concentration coming out
of the top of column; more common to control reboiler heat duty but it effects distillate
temperature indirectly
 Pressure
o Best controlled by pumps, compressors, depressurization valves
o power supply to pumps/compressors motors; no need of control valves as power is varied
 Level
o Important in flash units, towers, vessels
o control valve to control flow out of the equipment
 Flow rate
o Like level control; only difference is flow rate is measured as opposed to level
o Process equipment is not one size fits all; they are custom made and cannot arbitrarily
adjust to any flowrate, temp, pr, concentration;
o Flow rate of product control – cannot send feedback to feed due to large dead time and
there may have been problems anywhere in the process and not feed flow rates
 Isothermal reactor - inlet temperature, inlet pressure and temperature in the interior of reactor are
all controlled

Reactors (R) – CSTR, Plug flow, PBR, Fluidized Bed Reactor

 PFR – non-agitated reactors; no axial mixing; well mixed radially
 PBR – large sized catalysts
 Fluidized – small catalysts
 Moving bed – reactants and catalysts either move counter or co-current; when catalysts prone to
fouling, decay and needs regeneration
 All reactors can be designed to run under isothermal or adiabatic conditions in Aspen
 Isothermal reactors: cooling water, high/medium/low pressure steam, refrigerated water, electric
heat are used

Towers-distillation, adsorption, absorption, stripping, liquid-liquid extraction (T)

 single feed, 2 streams out - Tray or packed columns
 2 stream continuous flow separators – tray or packed; adsorption, absorption, stripping, liquid-
liquid extraction; separating chemicals from a stream using another stream
 Distillation – separating chemicals using heat – boiling point differences and volatilities;
energetically expensive but no needed to dispose or regenerate spent chemicals unlike in other
types of towers – widely used for homogeneous mixtures; cheap and efficient if
disposal/regeneration costs considered; boiling occurs on every tray; always a vertical column as
vapor rises and liquid falls – so always a tower
 Extractive/azeotropic distillation – chemicals are used to facilitate separating close boiling
mixtures
 Absorption – liquid used to clean a gas; based on solubility; components being removed must be
more soluble in the liquid phase compared to gas; spent liquid; water used commonly; Tray or
packed columns
 Stripping – gas used to clean a liquid; contaminants transferred to gas from liquid (spent gas);
steam and air used commonly; Tray or packed columns
 Adsorption – solids to clean liquid or gas; packed column/bed; activated carbon, silica, clays are
adsorbates
  Liquid-liquid extraction - One liquid washes another; immiscible liquids of varying density;
based on solubility; water and hexane – common solvents
 Distillation – condensers and boilers usually at ground level; reflux pumped to top of tower;
bottoms flow by gravity to heat exchangers and vapors rise to the base of the column

Vessels (V) – accumulation (surge tanks/ blow down drums) - flash tanks (vapor/liquid
separator/knock out)
 process units and are not storage tanks -– not for longer time storage

Flash / knock out/ v-l separator (separation by

Accumulators/blowdown/surge
temporary storage
hold overflow, process streams short-term
eg: Reflux Drum
one stream coming in and going out
can be horizontal or vertical
boiling)
separate a homogenous stream into vapor and
liquid with different compositions
not splitters where composition remains same
and only flow rates change
single stage distillation without condenser or
reboiler
one stream in and 2 or more streams out
always vertical

Heat Exchangers (E)

 Conductive or convective heat transfer across a surface and not combustion

 General representation of heat exchanger - Black lines zig zagging through the heater/cooler
symbol carries the utilities stream to heat up or cool down the process stream (grey line) – more
of a temporary place holder i.e. do not connect any utility streams to them; no way to specify the
type and properties of utility streams in this type; carry out a rough calculation with this simple
exchanger when designing reactors and separators; then replace generic with a rigorous, realistic
exchanger such as shell and tube
 Shell & tube – most common type – 2 stream heat exchanger – temperature of stream not
deciding factor for fluid placement in shell/tube
o Tube side – high pressure fluids, vacuum pressure fluids, corrosive fouling fluids – eg:
hps through tube and process stream through shell
o Shell side – condensing vapors, viscous fluids – eg: vapor from top of distillation column
through shell side of condenser and cooling water through tubes; vapor process stream
condenses on the surface of the tubes
o If both streams are high or vacuum pressure, corrosive, fouling – put the more extreme
one on tube and less extreme one on shell
o If both streams viscous – more viscous on shell
o Neither stream under above conditions – under more extreme pressure on tube
 At exact same pressure – doesn’t matter which fluid goes in tube/shell
o Fixed head – tubes are fixed to tube sheets inside a shell
o Floating head – tubes which are on a floating head that allows tubes to expand/contract to
accommodate large temp differences between the streams and between the inlet and
outlet streams
o U-tube – u-shaped tubes which allow for some expansion/contraction and allow fluid
flow easily through exchangers – for viscous fluids
  For efficient heat transfer, wide range of areas but expensive, have high pressure drops;
inappropriate for corrosive, fouling, viscous fluids
o Plate and frame – maximum heat transfer using minimum volume; hot and cold fluids
enter and exit on same side of exchanger
o Plate and fin/ compact – industrial radiators; highest maximum surface area heat
exchanger
o Either stream can be on shell/tube
 Smaller heat exchangers, for viscous fluids
o Double pipe – tube inside a tube
o Multiple pipe – multiple tubes inside a tube
 Exchangers when stream undergoes phase change – evaporation, condensation, boiling
o Kettle Reboiler – like a shell and tube; has unique shape to accommodate overhead vapor
space; good for boiling fluids on the shell side; eg: boiling liquid in a distillation column
o Bayonet – like a shell and tube without shell; can be installed inside a vessel; tubes fixed
to a tube plate only on one end; each tube has a smaller one within it creating a inner
concentric cylinder and annulus; high pressure fluid enters through inner concentric tube,
moves to the opposite end, reverses direction and exits via the annulus; inlet fluid is kept
separate from the outlet fluid through the use of 2 tube plates; process stream inside the
vessel is like shell side and exchanges heat with the fluid in the tube
 Air-cooled exchanger – for large areas, low maintenance and operating costs
o Uses blown air to cool down a liquid or gas
o Motor-driven fan unit with rotating fan blades to circulate air and cool down the ht fluid
in the tube bundle mounted on top of the fan unit by air convection
o Air – shell side; fluid – tube side (no shell exists actually)
 Temp change across a heat exchanger be greater than 5 C but not more than about 15-20c to
avoid energy burden on equipment supplying utility streams to process (>20c) or excessively high
utility flowrate (<5c) which requires large steam boiler or cooling tower; adjust flowrate of utility
stream to get the desired temperature change
 For utility streams that undergo phase change, a temperature difference of 5 – 10c should be
enough
 Vary flowrate or type of utility to achieve desired temperature of process streams and to keep safe
operating temperatures

Furnaces or Fired Heaters (H)

 To heat streams to 400 – 1500 C by using flammable gases (methane, ethane, propane leftover
streams that need to be disposed) natural gas – ng; fuel gas – fg; fuel oil – fo; liquified petroleum
gas – lpg; flammable liquid hydrocarbons – gasoline, diesel, flammable oil; solids- coal, coke,
anthracites
 Most fuel sources have same adiabatic flame temperature – exiting gases are at same temp for
almost all the fuels for a well-insulated system
 Very expensive, furnace insides lined with ceramic bricks for insulation
 Very tall with high vent stacks;
 vertically aligned tubes have process streams sent through them to be heated by surrounding hot
gases; flammable gas on shell side
 Radiant section – tubes in bottom section that receive most heat from gases being burnt
 Convective section – lower in temperature than radiant section and above radiant section

Stream tables/ Flow summary table – physical properties of process streams

 Temp, pr, vapor fractions, flow rates, compositions - mass/mole fractions, enthalpy, heat
capacity, density for each stream number
  List reactants first and then products for each stream
 Align numbers to the right – right justify for readability

Equipment Summary Table

Provide critical physical characteristics of each piece of equipment that has a letter and number
designation on PFD; help estimate the initial and ongoing cost of each equipment and profitability of the
project
 Compressors/Pumps/Turbines
o Type, drive, materials of construction (MOC), properties of stream – flow rate,
inlet/outlet temp, inlet/outlet pressure, fluid density, vapor pressure, Shaft power (power
required to run a pump/compressor or generated in a turbine)
o Shaft power = theoretical power/ (shaft efficiency * drive efficiency); theoretical power is
by assuming 100% efficiency of shaft and drive; overall efficiency = shaft efficiency *
drive efficiency for pumps, compressors; overall efficiency = turbine efficiency for
turbines as no drive
 Reactors/Vessels/Towers
o Orientation – vertical or horizontal; plug flow/pbr – horizontal; fluidized, moving bed,
cstr – vertical; towers/flashes – vertical; accumulators – vertical/horizontal;
o MOC – based on temp, chemical composition – durable, cost
o Stream properties – inlet flowrates, temp, pr, vapor fraction; outlet properties not listed to
avoid clutter; from Aspen
o Dimensions
 height or length of reactor, diameter - calculated based on residence time,
pressure drop. Minimum fluidizing velocity, package placement, density of
packaging etc;
 Height of flash– from Aspen/hand calculations
 Depend on flow rate, physical properties of stream, desired residence
time of liquid, volatility
 height of distillation column – based on number of trays and their spacing
(default: 0.6 m or 2 ft spacing in Aspen; not to be used for towers with <1ft
diameter); number of theoretical stages assumes 100% separation and is <
number of trays with incomplete separation
 Number of trays = (theoretical stages – partial condenser- partial
reboiler)/ /tray efficiency
 Tower height = [(number of trays-1) *tray spacing] + overhead vapor
space + bottoms liquid holdup space
 total condenser completely condenses the vapor to liquid , vapor fraction
= 0 and is not considered an equilibrium stage; partial condenser has vle
and so is a stage; partial reboilers – heat exchanger partially vaporizes
liquid; total reboilers are rare
o internals
 reactors – inert packing, catalyst, trays – weight, size and type of catalyst and
type of reactor; number of trays and their MOC
 distillation columns – number of trays, MOC, type of trays
 vessels – single tray, MOC, type of tray
o Condenser and reboiler heating duty of distillation – not designated explicitly as heat
exchangers
o Reflux ratio – distillation column – must be included to help size reflux drum, reflux
pump; higher reflux ratio means large diameter column and high condenser duty
o heating jacket duty – isothermal reactors; zero for adiabatic
  temperature decrease in a flash is because of phase change and not because of
any heating or cooling jacket
 distillation columns and vessels do not have any jackets
 Heat Exchangers
o Type – based on cost, area, stream properties, stream conditions
o Area – A = Q/U*LMTD; U = overall heat transfer coefficient (depend on moc, phase of
the stream); lmtd = temp driving force; A = heat transfer surface area
o Heat duty
o Lmtd
o Shell-side properties
o Tube-side properties
o MOC –extreme temperatures of streams going through exchanger, corrosive/reactive
chemicals and cost; can choose different materials for shell and tube; cladded materials –
fluids are in contact with less reactive surface but the exchanger has the thickness of the
cheaper material below
o Designate the phase of the fluid going through heat exchanger based on the vapor
fractions
 Fired Heaters or Furnaces
o Type – gas/liquid/solid
o Shell and tube side MOC – SS, Nickel Alloy, Ceramics (up to 3000 C)
o Heat Duty
o Radiant, Convective Area
o Process stream physical properties – shell side pressure need not be specified as most
gases rise through the furnace and are vented out at the top of furnace

Materials of Construction – temperature, concentration breakdown, chemical property data

 Durability of equipment
o resistance to very high or low temperature, reactivity, corrosion
o pressure not an important variable in MOC as most materials can be manufactured with
appropriate wall thickness to withstand high pressures
 Cost of material
 Carbon steel – can’t stand corrosive fluids - -45 C to 480 C
 Low Alloy steel
 Stainless Steel – 304 SS, 316 SS – resist corrosion and reactivity with many acids, bases; can
with stand very low and high temp reactions
 Aluminum and alloys, copper and alloys, nickel and alloys, titanium and alloys
 Cladded materials – one material (costly) layered on top of a less expensive material
 Chemical compatibility charts – design books (estimation of capital costs chapter)

Utility Summary Table – physical properties of utilities streams

 Utility streams are numbered sequentially at the last after process streams to organize them in one
block for easier readability
 Can incorporate them in stream tables (includes unnecessary information such as heat capacity,
density, flow rates of reactants/ products which only add bulk to the table) or separately (fewer
rows, neat without extraneous information)
 All kinds of steam, cooling water, refrigerated water are all listed as water; can deduce the type of
utility used based on temperature, pressure and vapor fraction
 Cooling water – CW – water that comes from cooling tower and enters exchanger at 30C and
exits at 40 C
  Refrigerated Water – rw, enters at 5C
 Refrigerated Brine – rb – dissolved salt in water, -45C in
 Lps – Low Pressure Steam – saturated steam at 140 – 160C in
 Mps – medium pressure steam – saturated steam at 180 – 200 C in
 Hps – high pressure steam – saturated steam at 250 -270 C in
 Electric heat – el – 220/440/660 volts electricity to resistively heat up a stream
 Htm- heat transfer medium – high boiling point hydrocarbon to heat up a stream up to 400 C
 Freon/ethane/propane/butane/ammonia/glycol – other utility streams without any letter
abbreviation

Miscellaneous
 For liquid flow, assume pipeline pressure drop of 2psi/100 ft of pipe and a control valve pressure
drop of at least 10 psi; for each 10-ft rise in elevation, assume pressure drop of 4 psi
 Use an expander to reduce pressure of a gas or a turbine to reduce pressure of a liquid (instead of
using a simple valve) when more than 20 hp and 150 hp can be recovered respectively
o Theoretical adiabatic horsepower equation
 Line sizing hydraulics – liquid, gas, 2 phase
 Tracing PFDs
 Process Conditions

Load Sheets – Pump, compressor, heat exchanger, fired heater, column, tanks, vessels
Purpose is to transmit process data for equipment specification, hydraulics calculation or for planning
utility systems

Shut off pressure – Centrifugal pumps

Discharge pressure of the pump at zero flow where maximum differential pressure occurs

Pump run out

End-of curve point whose flow corresponds to choked condition with minimal differential pressure

In a Newtonian fluid the shear stress is proportional to the shear rate and the proportionality constant
is called the viscosity
incompressible flow or that density variations along the flow path are negligible

Reynolds number (Re) – laminar or turbulent

Dimensionless parameter called the Reynolds number can be used to define the flow region – laminar or
turbulent Laminar flow is always encountered at Re < 2000. Generally turbulent flow is encountered at
Re > 4000. Between 2000 and 4000 a transition region is found where the type of flow may be either
laminar or turbulent and the fluid exerts properties somewhere in between the two flow regions.

Friction factors are involved in pressure drop calculations. The friction factor is a function of two
main parameters: Re number and relative roughness

For laminar flow, the Darcy friction factor depends only on Re and not on relative roughness
and is given by the following equation: f = 64/Re

In fully developed turbulent flow the friction factor is much less dependent on Re number and
almost completely dependent on relative roughness.