Structure & Synthesis of

Process Flow Diagrams (PFD)

 Factors/Steps of PFD
• Process Design Hierarchy
• Production Rate
• Batch vs Continuous
• Input/Output Structure of Process
➢ Process Concept Diagram
➢ Generic Block Flow Diagram (BFD)
✓Reactor Feed Preparation
✓Reactor
✓Separator Feed Preparation
✓Recycle
✓Environment
✓Others: Feed purity, Traces, Inerts, Equlibrium
✓ Economic Evaluation
• Recycle Structure
• General Structure of Separation
• Pinch Technology : Mass & Heat Integration
•Drawing/Making of PFD
 Process Design Hierarchy

Alternative Chemical Routes/Process Routes

• Synthesis Gas Production: Syngas from Natural Gas, Naphtha,

Heavy Hydrocarbons, CO2 dry forming, Coal to Syngas
Input/Output Structure of Process

Concept Flow Diagram

 Toluene Mixed Gas
(10,000 kg/h) (2,610 kg/h)
Reactor Gas
Separator

Benzene
(8,210 kg/h)
Hydrogen
(820 kg/h)
Conversion Mixed Liquids
75% Toluene

Toluene

Reaction : C7H8 + H2 → C6H6 + CH4

Block flow process diagram for the production of benzene

Major PFD
Utility PFD
Block Flow Diagram (BFD)
Reactor Feed Preparation Block:

• Mostly feed chemicals come from storage

• These chemicals are not at a suitable concentration, temperature, and

pressure for optimal performance in the reactor

• The purpose of the reactor feed preparation section is to change the

conditions of these process feed streams as required in the reactor

Reactor Block:

• All chemical reactions take place in this block.

• The streams leaving this block contain the desired product(s),

unreacted reactants and undesired by-products
Separator Feed Preparation Block:

The output stream from the reactor may not at a condition suitable for
the effective separation of products, by-products, waste streams, and
unused feed materials

The units of this block alter the temperature and pressure of the reactor
output stream to provide the conditions required for the effective
separation of these chemicals

Separator Block:

The separation of products, by-products, waste streams, and unused

feed materials is accomplished via a wide variety of physical processes.

These are unit operations and/or separation classes—like distillation,

absorption, and extraction.
Recycle Block:

The recycle block represents the return of unreacted feed chemicals,

separated from the reactor effluent

Environmental Control Block:

Virtually all chemical processes produce waste streams of gases,

liquids, and /or solids which are to be treated.

These waste streams may contain unreacted materials, chemicals

produced by side reactions
Other Considerations for Input/Output Structure of Process Flowsheet
Feed Purity and Trace Components:

General Guide line for purification

If the impurity is present in large quantities, then purify the feed. Because
significant additional work and heating/cooling duties are required to process the
large amount of impurity

If the impurities are not present in large quantities (say, <10–20%) and these
impurities do not to form by-products, then do not separate them prior to feeding

If the separation of the impurities is difficult (i.e. impurity forms an azeotrope with
the feed upon separation then do not separate

If the impurities foul or poison the catalyst, then purify the feed. For example, one
of the most common catalyst poison is sulfur. This is especially true for catalysts
containing Group VIII metals such as iron, cobalt, nickel, palladium, and platinum
 General Structure of Separation System
General Guidelines for Choosing Separation Operations
• Use distillation as a first choice for separation of fluids when purity of
both products is required.
• Use gas absorption to remove one trace component/impurities from
gas or liquid streams.
• Consider pressure-swing adsorption to purify gas streams, especially
when one of the components has a cryogenic boiling point.
• Consider membranes to separate gases of cryogenic boiling point and
relatively low flowrates.
• Choose an alternative to distillation if the boiling points are very close
or if the heats of vaporization are very high.
• Consider extraction as a choice to purify a liquid from another liquid.

• Use crystallization to separate two solids or to purify a solid from a

liquid solution.

• Use evaporation to concentrate a solution of a solid in a liquid.

• Use centrifugation to concentrate a solid from a slurry.

• Use filtration to remove a solid in almost dry form from a slurry.

• Use screening to separate solids of different particle size.

• Use float/sink to separate solids of different density from a mixture of

pure particles.

• Consider reverse osmosis to purify a liquid from a solution of dissolved

solids.

• Use leaching to remove a solid from a solid mixture.

 Guidelines for Sequencing Separation Units

• Remove largest product stream first. This makes all subsequent

separation units smaller.

• For distillation, remove product with highest heat of vaporization

first, if possible. This reduces heating/cooling duties of subsequent
units.

• Do not recombine separated streams. (This may seem obvious,

but it is often disobeyed.)

• Do easy separations first.

• Do not waste raw materials, and do not over purify streams based
on their uses.

• Remove hazardous or corrosive materials first.

Sequencing of Distillation Columns for Simple Distillation