Chemical Process

Industries [1]
LESSON 2A:
CHEMICAL PROCESSING AND THE WORK OF THE CHEMICAL ENGINEER
Contents

1. Introduction 7. Chemical Process Economics

2. Basic Chemical Data 8. Market Evaluation
3. Batch vs Continuous Processing 9. Plant Locations
4. Flowcharts 10. Safety: Hazards such as Fire or
Toxic Materials
5. Chemical Process Selection,
Design, and Operation 11. Construction of Plant
6. Chemical Process Control and 12. Management for Productivity
Instrumentation 13. Research and Development
14. Patents
15. Process System Engineering
1. Introduction

 In 1980, there were about 60,000 Chemical Engineers (ChEs) and

250,000 chemists gainfully employed in the U.S. [1]

 More currently, there are now 33,900 ChEs [2] and 95,800 Chemists
and Material Scientists [3] in the U.S. as of 2018

 The job market for ChEs are expected to grow at a rate of 7.3% until
2026 [2]
 1. Introduction

Industry Profile for Chemical

Engineers as of May 2018 [4]
 Industries with the highest levels of employment for ChEs
 1. Introduction

Industry Profile for Chemical

Engineers as of May 2018 [4]
 Industries with the highest concentration of employment for ChEs
 1. Introduction

Industry Profile for Chemical

Engineers as of May 2018 [4]
 Top paying industries for ChEs
 1. Introduction

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

reported that over 90% of Chemical Engineers are employed
in the following functional areas: [1]

 Process  Project management

 Research and development  Environmental engineering
 Administration  Education
 Production  Product engineering
 Design  Maintenance
 Consulting  Quality control

ChEs must be trained to function in any

phase of chemical manufacturing
 1. Introduction

Commercial
chemical
processing involves
chemical
conversions and
physical operations
and presupposes
factory scale
equipment and
Chemical
Engineering Image source: https://www.gtreview.com/power-plant-factory/
experience.
2. Basic Chemical Data

 Chemistry – the basic science for chemical industries

Chemical Engineer’s function:

 To apply the chemistry of a particular process through the use of
coordinated scientific and engineering principles
 Develop the research laboratory results of the chemist into an
economical chemical process

Chemical Engineer’s goal:

 To have the conversion equal the yield
2. Basic Chemical Data

 Yield
– fraction of raw material recovered as the main (desired) product
– the most important single factor in cost

 Conversion
– fraction changed to something else, whether products or by- products
– indicates the amount changed by a single pass through an apparatus
when multiple passes are used

 Example: Ammonia synthesis

 2. Basic Chemical Data

Improving Conversion in Methanol

and Ammonia Synthesis Plants
• Lower conversions = larger plant size

Changing operating conditions can shift equilibrium and enhance

conversion:
• Higher operating pressure = greater yields but higher equipment costs
• Faster reaction time = closer approach to equilibrium, but requires
larger, more expensive equipment
• Improved catalysts = shorter reaction time, but equilibrium remains
unaffected
 2. Basic Chemical Data

Kinetics

 Kinetics is the study of reaction

speeds
 It is essential in plant design,
since reaction speed
determines equipment size

 Catalysts are materials that

increase reaction speed
 Example: Iron catalysts for
ammonia synthesis

Image source: https://phys.org/news/2018-03-catalyst-iron-important-

reaction-compounds.html
 2. Basic Chemical Data

The Haber-Bosch
Process [5]

 Invented by German chemists

Fritz Haber & Carl Bosch in 1909-
1910 & won the Nobel prize
 converts atmospheric nitrogen
(N2) to ammonia (NH3) by
combining it with hydrogen (H2)
 Iron (Fe) catalyst provide a
perfectly porous and high
surface area material for the
reaction

Image source: http://www.liberaldictionary.com/haber-process/what-type-of-reaction-takes-place-in-the-haber-process-exothermic-2/

 2. Basic Chemical Data

Material Balances, Energy

Changes, and Energy Balances
 Costs are most strongly affected by material use and distribution

 Material balance is an essential first step in any processing study

 Material Balance – shows the original and ultimate disposition of all
materials used in a process

 Chemical processing is an energy-intensive industry

 Goal is towards reducing energy use

 Thermodynamics provide data on all phases of technical reactions

3. Batch vs Continuous Processing

Batch process
 performing of an industrial process on material in batches of a limited
quantity or number
 can be measure most concisely and readily duplicated

Continuous process
 process where product comes out without interruption and not in groups
 require smaller, less expensive equipment
 less material in process, more uniform operating conditions and products
 require more concise control of flows and conditions (computer control)
 3. Batch vs Continuous Processing

 Batch for small quantities,

continuous for large quantities
 Reason: Reduction in plant
cost per unit of production
 As the volume of production
increases, the Chemical
Engineer calculates that point
where the expense – labor,
research, instrumentation,
equipment – justifies a
continuous process

Source: https://blog.processsystemsdesign.com/2017/09/batch-processing-vs-continuous.html
 Example of a block flow process
4. Flowcharts diagram for benzene production

 A flowchart is a graphical
representation of a process,
coordinating the sequence of
unit operations and unit
processes

 Simple blocks show material and

energy flows and operating
conditions
 More elaborate blocks show
everything in a process and
become extremely complicated
 Special blocks show details, ex.
fire lines, instruments & control
systems, air lines, drains, etc.

Image source: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1915161

5. Chemical Process Selection,
Design, and Operation
 Adequate and flexible initial design is essential.
 Some factors that must be considered in planning a plant:
 Pilot plants
 Equipment
 Corrosion, Materials of Construction

 Process Engineer – a specialist in current aspects of chemical process design

 Senior Design Engineer – foresee and solve even the “less obvious” plant problems
(maintenance, safety, conformation to standards)
 Experienced consultants – advise, design, and/or erect chemical processing plants
 5. Chemical Process Selection, Design, and Operation

“to commit blunders on a small scale

Pilot Plants and make profits on a large scale”
 small-scale units designed to:
 allow experiments that obtain design
data for larger plants
 (sometimes) produce significant
quantities of a new product to permit
user evaluation
 expensive, so “calculate more and use
pilot plant less”
 cheaper to correct errors than in actual
plant
 more reliable data than laboratory tests
(ex. Corrosion tests)
 Design engineers use statistical analysis
of procedures to determine data
A pilot plant remains central to process
required for the design of a pilot plant
development, for evaluating processes, generating
data or making sample quantities of product
 5. Chemical Process Selection, Design, and Operation

Equipment
 “items necessary for a
purpose”
 Chemical engineers
must be familiar with
industrial equipment
 Pump
 Filter press
 Distillation tower
 etc
 See: Chemical
Engineering Catalog

Image source: Wikipedia

 5. Chemical Process Selection, Design, and Operation

Corrosion, Materials of Construction

CORROSION
 the gradual destruction of materials
(usually metals) by chemical and/or
electrochemical reaction with their
environment
 a natural process that converts a refined
metal into a more chemically-stable form
such as oxide, hydroxide, or sulfide
 cannot be prevented, only minimized
 Corrosion-resistant materials:
 Rubber-covered steel
 Resin-bonded carbon
 Tantalum to resist HCl
 Polymeric organic materials Image source: http://scalebuster.com/cost-of-corrosion/
 5. Chemical Process Selection, Design, and Operation

Corrosion, Materials of Construction

Construction materials used
by Chemical Engineers:
 Brick
 Cast iron
 Steel
 Wood
 Cement
 Platinum
 Tantalum
 Silver

Image source: Wikipedia

6. Chemical Process Control and
Instrumentation
 Automatic and instrument-controlled chemical processes are
essential
 Reasons for instrumentation
 Increase in continuous procedures
 Increased cost of labor and supervision
 Unreliability of human actions
 Availability of instruments

Instrument Types
1. Indicating instruments
- Present current data, value or
deviation from a norm
2. Recording instruments
- Permit study and analysis
3. Indicating/Recording and
Controlling instruments
- Permit all of the above and
control the operation
6. Chemical Process Control and Instrumentation
1. Analog instruments
- Show results by mechanical movement of
some type of device, which is proportional to
the quantity being measured
- Ex. Spring thermometer, Bourdon gages
2. Digital instruments
- Utilize a transducer and electronic circuitry to
convert signals to readable numerical figures
(digits), which are displayed and/or recorded
- Transducer – a device to convert the quantity
being measured into some type of signal
(electrical or pneumatic)
References

[1] Austin, G. T. (1984). Shreve’s Chemical Process Industries, 5th ed.,

McGraw-Hill: Singapore
[2] https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/chemical-engineer/job-
market/
[3] https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/chemists-
and-materials-scientists.htm
[4] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172041.htm
[5] https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/the-haber-bosch-
process-what-is-it-why-is-the-process-so-important.html
end