Chemical Process

Industries
LESSON 1
  the profession in which knowledge of
mathematics, chemistry, and other natural
sciences gained by study, experience, and
Chemical practice is applied with judgment to develop
economic ways of using materials and energy
Engineering for the benefit of mankind.

- American Institute of Chemical Engineers (2016)

  the application of the principles of the physical
sciences together with the principles of
economics and human relations to fields that

Chemical pertain directly to processes and process

equipment in which matter is treated to effect

Engineering a change in state, energy content or

composition

- American Institute of Chemical Engineers (1956)

Chemical Engineering

 concerned with the development and application of

manufacturing processes in which chemical or
certain physical changes of materials are involved
 These processes may usually be resolved into a
coordinated series of unit physical operations and unit
chemical processes
 Underlying sciences: Chemistry, Physics, and
Mathematics
 Guide in practice: Economics
 Objective: To deliver the best product or the most
efficient service at the lowest cost to the consuming
public (from raw materials to salable products)
Raw materials for
150 industrial
chemical
 “The chemical industry is its
own best customer”
 The product of one industry is
frequently the raw material
of another
Factors in Chemical Processes

1. Unit processes: chemical change

2. Unit operations: physical change
3. Physical chemistry: equilibriums and reaction rates
4. Economics: costs, statistics, and consumption
5. Energy and power: chemical as well as electrical and mechanical
Unit Processes and
Unit Operations
CHEMICAL ENGINEER = UNIT PROCESSES + UNIT OPERATIONS
Unit Operations vs Unit Processes

 A Chemical Engineer is concerned primarily with the design,

construction, and operation of equipment and plants in which these
unit operations and unit processes are applied

Units or blocks of the manufacturing in chemical industries:

 unit operations – physical changes
 include the physical changes in energy or position, such as heat flow, liquid
flow, or separation
 unit processes – chemical changes
 consider the change in chemical energy and the resultant effects
Unit Process

 the commercialization of a chemical reaction under such

conditions as to be economically profitable

 includes the machinery needed and the economics involved, as

well as the physical and chemical phases
Unit Operation

 a physical change connected with the industrial handling of

chemicals or allied materials

 frequently tied in with the unit process as when heat flows into an
endothermic chemical reaction or out of an exothermic reaction

 distinctly separated from the chemical change as when, by "flow of

fluid," a liquid is moved from one part of an industrial establishment
to another
Chemical Process

 develop through flow sheets, which are definitely constructed from

a coordinated sequence of unit processes and operations that
fabricate the raw materials into the finished product and by-
products

 where both unit processes and unit operations are carried on either
simultaneously or independently in suitable equipment under the
guidance of skilled labor supervised by chemical engineers
Principal
Unit
Processes
and
Operations
 Summary of 1. Each unit process points out the unitary or like
aspects in a group of numerous individual
the reactions
characteristics 2. Frequently there is a factory segregation by
of unit unit processes
There frequently is a close relationship in the
processes as
3.
equipment used for making many examples
applied to the under a unit process

manufacture 4. Equipment may be conveniently transferred

from the making of one chemical to that of
of chemicals another within the same unit process
 5. The unit process classification enables a
Summary of chemical engineer to think from group
performance to that of a new individual
the chemical in the like class
characteristics 6. As the basis of unit process classification is a
of unit chemical one, this places stress upon the
chemical reaction
processes as 7. The inorganic and the organic procedures
applied to the need not be set apart industrially

manufacture 8. The design of equipment is greatly aided by

the generalizations arising from the unit
of chemicals process arrangement rather than by
considering each reaction separately
Physical Chemistry in Unit Processes

 In handling unit processes, the more that is understood about the

underlying physical chemistry of the equilibriums and the reaction
rates, the better will be the control, the higher the conversion, and
the lower the costs
 It is very important to know how fast a reaction will go and how far
 Many times, conditions that increase the rate decrease the
equilibrium
 Therefore, conditions are first secured to cause a high rate of
reaction and then, toward the end, are changed to favor the
equilibrium
Applications of Unit Operations
Unit Operation
1. Fluid flow or fluid dynamics
2. Heat transfer
3. Evaporation
4. Humidification
5. Gas absorption
6. Solvent extraction
7. Adsorption
8. Distillation and sublimation
Industry or Product
Water and wastes; oils and fats; petroleum
Fuels and power; distillation of coal; fuel gases; industrial
gases; ceramics; cement; glass; soda ash; phosphorous;
sulfuric acid; ammonia; petroleum
K salts; salt; caustic soda; phosphoric acid; glycerin; sugar
Textile fibers
Distillation of coal; fuel gases; industrial gases; bleach;
nitric acid; hydrochloric acid; leather
Coal gas; insecticides; perfumes; oils; ascetic acid; rosin;
lubricating oils;
Water and waste purification; artificial leather solvent
recovery
Distillation coal; industrial gases (𝑂2 , 𝑁2 ); perfumes;
glycerin; alcohol, acetone; petroleum; intermediates
Applications of Unit Operations
Unit Operation Industry or Product
9. Drying Ceramics; sodium salts; pigments; soap; sugar; pulp
and paper; rubber
10. Mixing Fertilizers, dynamite; paints, lacquers; dyes
11. Classification or sedimentation Cement rock; phosphate rock; K salts; caustic soda
12. Filtration Ceramics; Ca & Mg salts; K salts; Na salts; sugar; rayon;
paraffin; intermediates and dyes; organic chemicals
13. Screening Cement; soda ash; silicon carbide; sugar
14. Crystallization Ca & Mg salts; K salts; Na salts; sugar
15. Centrifugation 𝑁𝐻4 sulfate; Ca & Mg salts; K salts; Na salts; sugar
16. Size reduction Ceramics; cement; glass raw materials; paints; resins
17. Materials handling Fuels; fuel gases; ceramics; cement; glass; soda ash;
wood; rubber
“…the engineer is the man who must build
equipment, assemble it into a process, and
make it run, whether or not he, has all the
theoretical data necessary for its calculation.
He must think of equipment in terms not of
strictly solved differential equations but of
actual chunks of cast iron and steel that
somebody shall be able to fabricate,
assemble, and operate in terms of a working,
practical, economical process.”

 W. L. Badger, Chemical Engineer

end
Quiz 1

1. Objective of Chemical Engineering

2. Differentiate unit process from unit operation
3. Top 2 most widely used raw material in manufacturing industries
4. Two aspects of physical chemistry important in chemical processes
5. One example of unit operation with industrial application