INTRODUCTION

Chemical Engineering is the branch of engineering

which is concerned with the design and operation of
industrial chemical plants. A chemical plant is required
to carry out transformation of raw materials into
desired products efficiently, economically and safely.
Chemical Engineering is that branch of engineering
which deals with the production of bulk materials from
basic raw materials in a most economical and safe way
by chemical means. The profession of chemical
engineering deals with the industrial processes in
which raw materials are converted or separated into
useful products. The treatment of raw materials,
chemical transformation of the raw materials and
separation of the desired product from a product
mixture are the usual stages of any chemical
manufacturing activity. A chemical engineer converts
raw materials into useful finished products of a greater
value in an optimal way through processes involving
physical and/or chemical (or biochemical) changes. A
chemical engineer is the one who is skilled in
development, design, construction, operation and
control of industrial plants in which matter undergoes a
change. He must choose proper raw materials and must
see that the products manufactured by him meet the
specifications set by the customers. Chemical engineers
work in four main segments of the chemical process
industries: research and development, design,
manufacturing/production and sales. The traditional
roles of chemical engineers include teaching, research
and development, design, production, plant
maintenance and trouble shooting, plant management,
marketing, entrepreneurship, and consultancy.
Chemical engineers play a vital role in the development
and production of various essential needs of mankind
like food, clothing, housing, health, communication,
energy, utilisation of natural resources, and protection
of the environment. Chemical engineers are engaged in
the production of fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides,
food products, drugs and pharmaceuticals, plastics,
synthetic fibers, dyes and dye intermediates, paints and
lacquers, synthetic fuels, paper, nuclear energy,
synthetic rubber, etc.

Chemical process: Every industrial chemical process is

designed to produce economically a desired product
from given raw materials through a series of steps
involving physical or chemical change in the material
under consideration. The steps involving certain
physical changes are known as the unit operations;
whereas the step(s) involving chemical changes in the
material under consideration (i.e., chemical reactions)
are known as the unit process(es). Fig. 1.1 shows a
typical chemical process.
The raw materials undergo physical treatment steps so
as to put them in the form in which they can be very
easily reacted. Then, they pass through the reactor in
which chemical transformation of some or all of the raw
materials takes place by one or more chemical
reactions. The product mixture comprising of the
products produced and unreacted raw materials
undergo further physical treatments - separation,
purification to obtain the desired product. So, any
chemical process carried out on a commercial scale, can
be thought of as a series of the unit operations and unit
process(es) performed on the raw materials in a correct
sequence from the feed to the product end.

UNIT OPERATIONS The concept of unit operations was

introduced by A.D. Little in 1905. The operations carried
out in the process industries involving physical changes
in the system under consideration are regarded as the
unit operations.

Features:

1. These are physical in nature, i.e., changes involved in

them are primarily physical.
2. These are common to all types of diverse industries.

3. Individual operations have common techniques and

are based on the same scientific principles regardless
of the material being processed.

4. They are independent of industries in which they are

carried out.

5. Practical methods of carrying them out may be more

or less different in different industries.

Hence, the concentration of solutions by evaporation is

a unit operation (involving a change in the
concentration of the solution) that can be carried out in
all types of diverse industries. This operation is basically
similar in the handling of sugar or salt, or fruit juices
with some differences in the most suitable
arrangements.

They are basically used to conduct the physical steps of

preparing the reactants, separating and purifying the
products, recycling the unconverted reactants and
controlling the energy transfer in and out of the
chemical reactor.

A physical change resulting in a change in any property

of matter occurs by the action of some sort of driving
force. The normal driving force in heat transfer is a
temperature difference.
Broadly, unit operations are Mechanical Operations,
e.g., size reduction (crushing and grinding), filtration,
size separation, etc. Fluid Flow Operations in which the
pressure difference acts as a driving force, Heat Transfer
(Operations) in which the temperature difference acts
as a driving force and Mass Transfer Operations in
which the concentration difference/ gradient acts as a
driving force, e.g., distillation, gas absorption, drying,
etc.

The theory of unit operations is based on the

fundamental laws of physical sciences such as law of
conservation of mass, law of conservation of energy,
Newton's laws of motion, Ideal gas law, Dalton's law of
partial pressure, Newton's law of cooling, Raoult's law,
etc.

CLASSIFICATION OF UNIT OPERATIONS

1. Fluid flow: It is concerned with the principles that

determine the flow or transportation of any fluid from
one location to another.

2. Mechanical operations: These involve size reduction

of solids by crushing, grinding and pulverising, mixing,
conveying and mechanical separations such as
decantation, filtration, settling and sedimentation,
screening, flotation, etc.
 3. Heat transfer: It deals with a study of the rate of heat
energy transfer from one place to another owing to the
existence of a temperature difference. It deals with the
determination of rates of heat transfer. Heat transfer
occurs in heating, cooling, phase change, evaporation,
drying, distillation, etc. The modes/mechanisms by
which heat transfer may occur are conduction,
convection and radiation.

4. Mass transfer: It is concerned with the transfer of

mass from one phase to another distinct phase. Mass
transfer operations depend on molecules diffusing or
vaporising from one distinct phase to another and are
based on (or they utilise) differences in vapour
pressure, solubility, or diffusivity. Molecular diffusion
and turbulent/eddy diffusion are the mechanisms of
mass transfer. Mass transfer operations include
separation techniques like distillation, gas absorption,
drying, extraction, crystallisation, etc.

This text covers heat and mass transfer operations - a

part portion of the unit operations of chemical
engineering.