Chapter 1b – Sustainable

Process Design
Hierarchical approach to process design
Factor between Batch OR Cont.
• Size • Demand
• Prod. Quality • Rate
• Flexibility • Fouling
• Product variation • Safety
• Efficiency • Controllability
• Maintenance
• Feedstock
Guidelines for Choosing Separation Units
1. Use distillation as a first choice for separation of fluids
when purity of both products is required.
2. Use gas absorption to remove one trace component from a
gas stream.
3. Consider adsorption to remove trace impurities from gas
or liquid streams.
4. Consider pressure-swing adsorption to purify gas streams,
especially when one of the components has a cryogenic
boiling point.
5. Consider membranes to separate gases of cryogenic
boiling point and relatively low flowrates.
6. Choose an alternative to distillation if the boiling points
are very close or if the heats of vaporization are very high.
7. Consider extraction as a choice to purify a liquid from
another liquid.
8. Use crystallization to separate two solids or to purify a
solid from a liquid solution.
9. Use evaporation to concentrate a solution of a solid in a
liquid.
10. Use centrifugation to concentrate a solid from a slurry.
11. Use filtration to remove an almost dry solid form from a
slurry.
12. Use screening to separate solids of different particle size.
13. Use float/sink to separate solids of different density from
a mixture of pure particles.
14. Consider reverse osmosis to purify a liquid from a solution
of dissolved solids.
15. Use leaching to remove a solid from a solid mixture.
16. Consider chromatography for final purification of high-
value products (such as proteins) from dilute streams.