July, 1922 T H E JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINFERIATG CHEMISTRY
Study of C.hemica1 Engineering by the Unit-Operation
Method'
. - By W. I(. Lewis and R. T. Haslam
ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL PRACTICE, MASSACHUSETTS
INSTITUTE OF
The School of Chemical Engineering Practice, as established by
;the Massachusetts institute of Technology, gives the student practice
i n applying previously learned theory to the "unit operations"
into which the field of chemical engineering is dioided. The two
primary unit operations are flow of fluids and flow of heat, while
the secondary unit operations are eoaporation, distillation, filtratign,
extraction, combustion, drying, etc. I t is felt that not only is it
necessary for the student to have a knowledge of the fundamentals of
the science but that he also must have training in the use of this knowl-
edge. Instruction in the application of knowledge is eflectioely
gioen by using industrial plants as laboratories of chemical engineer-
ing, since the work is not stereotyped and may be made to deoelop
resourcefulness and judgment in the student.
B EFORE considering the study of chemical engineering by
the unit-operation method as carried out in the School
of Chemical Engineering Practice of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, i t will be necessary to give a brief
description2 of this School, together with the methods employed
in teaching chemical engineering by experimental work on full
scale operating equipment.
SCHOOL ENGINEERING
OF CHEMICAL PRACTICS
At three industrial centers, the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology has established field stations of the School of Chemi-
cal Engineering Practice, each station having access to two or
more industrial chemical plants. Here the student studies the
practice of his profession and carries out quantitative tests on
the process and equipment to determine their efficiency and how
they may be improved. As the attendance is limited, there are
never more than twelve students a t a time a t one station and
these men are under close supervision of a member of the Insti-
tute Faculty and his assistant who devote their entire time to
the educational work of the station. After graduating from the
usual four-year course a t the Institute or any other school of
recognized standing and therefore being well grounded in the
principles of general inorganic and organic chemistry, analytical
chemistry, physical chemistry, and chemical engineering, the
student spends six months in the School of Chemical Engineer-
ing Practice, where the work is confined t o teaching him how t o
use this knowledge in the plant. By means of experimental
work on full scale equipment and the application or comparison
of theory and practice there are fixed more firmly in the student's
mind the fundamental factors of chemical engineering and this
knowledge is rendered more available for future use. Although
the plants which cooperate with the Institute cover a wide
field of industrial chemical processes, namely, the manufacture of
sulfite and soda pulp, writing-paper, caustic soda, chlorine, heavy
chemicals and acids, rubber, sugar, iron, steel, gas, coke, benzene,
ammonia, soap, etc., the majority of the time in the Practice
School is not spent on the study of industrial chemistry but on
the study of chemical engineering which the manufacture of these
materials illustrates.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OPERATIONS
The field of chemical engineering has been divided into unit
1 Presented before the Section of Chemical Education at the 63rd Meet-
ing of the American Chemical Society, Birmingham, Ala., April 3 to 7, 1922.
For a more complete description of the School of Chemical Engineer-
iog Practice see THISJOURNAL, 18 (1921), 4 6 8 ; 9 (1917), 1087.
647
TECHNOLOGY,
CAMBRIDGE,
MASSACHUSETTS
operations and the particular industries cooperating in the work
have been so chosen that in them we find numerous examples of
each. A list of these unit operations may be found in THIS
JOURNAL, although this list has been slightly enlarged and
modified during the past year. The two basic or primary unit
operations are, first, the flow of fluids (liquids and gases) and,
second, the flow of energy, usually in the form of heat. Those
secondary unit operations which are of next importance are
evaporation, distillation, drying, combustion, filtration, extrac-
tion, etc.
BROAD SCOPE OR THE PRIMARY UNIT OPERATIONS
The primary unit operations, flow of fluids and flow of heat,
are of utmost importance to every chemical engineer. They
provide the means for carrying out or controlling almost all in-
dustrial chemical processes since the rate of reaction, the yield
and the efficiency of a process are usually regulated by the rate
at which material or heat energy is put into or taken away from
the system. Furthermore, a study of the remaining unit opera-
tions is dependent on a knowledge of these two primary unit
operations. Examination, in detail, of two of the secondary
unit operations reveal: the intimate part the two primary unit
operations play.
Consider distillation and fractionation. Heat has to be sup-
plied to the wall of the still, passed by conduction through the
walls of the still itself and into the liquid which is being distilled.
The vapor from the boiling liquid passes up through the fraction-
ating column and the liquid reflux passes down on the absorption
of the right amount of heat which must pass serially through the
condensing vapor film, through the material of the condenser
itself, and finally through the film of the cooling fluid on the out-
side. Later, the final distillate must be completely condensed
by another similar process of heat absorption. Throughout
the entire process of distillation and fractionation a n exact
knowledge of the flow of fluids and the transfer of heat energy is,
therefore, indispensable. This is even more emphasized when
we consider the fact that any quantitative study of distillation
depends on suitably equating the material and heat input with
output.
Again, consider the secondary unit operation of drying, and,
in particular, a subdivision of this operation, air-drying. Air
has to be forced through a heater in order to pick up the right
amount of heat t o dry the material properly, the heated air is
passed over the material to be dried, the water in the wet mate-
rial is evaporated by the heat in the air, and the moisture must be
carried out of the dryer by the outgoing air. The power required
t o force the air through the system increases with increased
velocity of the air, but the cost of this is offset by the fact that
increased air velocity aids in the transfer of heat from the heater
to the air and also aids in the rate a t which water is evaporated
from the wet stock. Therefore, i t is seen that both the design
of a n economical air-drying apparatus and its control (either from
the standpoint of quality or quantity of output) depends on a '
thorough knowledge of the flow of fluids and the flow of heat.
So with the other unit operations of chemical engineering, each
may be analyzed and a proper understanding of all will be found
t o depend to a considerable extent on a thorough knowledge of
the two primary unit operations, the flow of fluids and the flow
of heat.
 648 T H E JOURNAL OF INDUXTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY Vol. 14, No. 7
TRAINING
CLASSROOM IN THE UNITOPERATIONS second function has been ignored and the assumption made t h a t
As stated above, before the student enters the Practice Sdhool, if a student knew the fundamentals he could find out by expe-
he must be well grounded on the theoretical side of both the
primary and the more important secondary unit operations.
This is accomplished a t the Institute by mea5s of a course ex-
tending throughout the sen?or year in which these subjects are
treated in a quantitative, mathematical way by means of lec-
tures, recitations, and home problems. The numerous problems
are broad in scope and tax the student’s imagination and judg-
ment, giving him practice in the quantitative application of the
laws and principles taken up in lecture and recitation. The
instruction along these lines is thorough and exhaustive, but as
in any recitation and problem course most of the necessary data
must be supplied by the instructor, and, furthermore, there is a
limit beyond which it is difficult for the average student to go
without corresponding personal experimentation. Therefore,
after the student has completed his four-year undergraduate
course in Chemical Engineering which includes the above lecture,
recitation, and problem work, and for the completion of which
he receives the degree of Bachelor of Science, he then may elect
to go into the School of Chemical Engineering Practice, where
he carries out personal experimentation in the various unit
operations of chemical engineering.
EXPERIMENTAL
WORKIN THE UNIT OPERATIONS
OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
During the first week or so a t each station in the School of
Chemical Engineering Practice, the student examines in detail
the plant layout, construction, and methods of manufacture. per cent 60, in Nue Gases
He correlates his efforts along these lines by making up a flow- P E R CENT EXCESS
AIR AND STACK TEMPERATURES V S . P E R CENT cos I N
F L U E GAWS
sheet of the process or by writing a cbmplete report. Flow-
sheets are made by the student when the sequence of operation,
plant layout, method of handling materials are important; a rience how to apply them. Not only is this incorrect, but it is
report of his detailed study is made when construction methods usually true t h a t i t is much easier for the average student to
and the materials of construction are more important. After absorb knowledge than i t is for him to apply it.
the student has been made familiar with the particular plant and
EXPERIMENTATIONS 17s. EXPERIMENTATION
IN PLANT
process, he is ready for his unit operation experimental work. IN LABORATORIES
The first experimental work is usually carried out by the en-
tire group a t a given station (from six to twelve students). Here the question might well be raised why plant experimental
I n this way, the student quickly learns how to organize his plant work is considered necessary and why we are not content to have
experimental work, how to attack a plant problem, and comes to the student carry out experimental work on a laboratory scale
appreciate the difficulties of plant research and some of the only. Consider the primary unit operation, flow of fluids. It
precautions that must be observed to obtain reliable figures. is easily possible to arrange a series of laboratory experiments
After two or three “group tests” he is allowed to choose individ- measuring the flow of gas and liquid streams by means of ori-
ual “plant investigations” in the various fields of the unit opera- fices, pitot tubes, etc., and from such work the student obtains
tions. It should be pointed out that in all this experimental information and training of much value. However, the labora-
work in the plant the Director of the station endeavors to throw tory apparatus is practically all set up for him, even the location
on the student the entire burden of designing the test, carrying a t which the orifice or pitot tube must be inserted is evident from
it out, and working up the results. Some men, owing either to an inspection of the equipment, and the student has no oppor-
ability or maturity of judgment, are better able to decide what tunity either to design his test or to exercise any judgment as to
data should be obtained and how, and the significance of poor the most suitable method. He does not decide what instrument
results, while others with less ability along these lines have to or what particular point for measurement is best suited, nor does
be aided to a greater extent by the station’s staff. Such indi- he develop the resourcefulness necessary to obtain this measure-
vidual attention is possible, since the average number of students ment under plant conditions of inaccessibility and continuity
at a station is about ten. I n the‘ period of eight weeks which the of production.
student spends a t a station, he carries out experimental work in The particular example of experimentation just given is of the
each of the unit operations assigned to that station, and he then simplest sort and such work can be made much more effective
proceeds in a like manner to the next two stations, thus in twenty- in technical laboratories than experimental work in the more
four weeks carrying out experimental work in all the more im- complicated unit operations. As carried out in the School of
portant unit operations under plant conditions, such as exist in Chemical Engineering Practice, the student would meet the
seven large chemical industries. above problem as a subdivision of a larger problem, and his first
I n all this experimental work, it should be emphasized that the decision would be that this particular stream of material had to
’
underlying motive is the application of theory, as developed in be measured in order to obtain necessary data for the main
the classroom, to practice, or a comparison of calculated with problem. Next he would have to decide on his method of meas-
observed results. Since the function of engineers is to apply urement, taking into consideration the accuracy needed in con-
science to industry, it is necessary in the training of engineers nection with the problem, as a whole, and how the apparatus
to do two things: first, teach them the fundamentals of their could be installed to give satisfactory results without seriously
science, and, second, teach them how to apply it. Too often the interfering with plant production. I n plant experimentation,
July, 1922 T H E JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
conditions are such t h a t the student develops technical judgment
and mental resourcefulness, whereas in the chemical engineering
laboratory the experimental difficulties are much less and fail
to develop the student properly. E’urthermore, the student has
to find out for himself a t some later date the difficulties of re-
peating his laboratory methods in the plant and how to work
effectively under such changed conditions. Many other points,
such as cost of equipment and cost of operating such equipment,
might be brought up against confining the chemical engineer’s
training to class and laboratory work, but we believe a sufficient
number of points have been brought out to show the superior
effectiveness of plant experimentation.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF EXPERIMENTAL
METHODS
AND RESULTS
Having seen how the field of chemical engineering has been
subdivided and the general method by which the students attack
plant research problems, a few details and illustrative results on
several of the unit operations may be of interest.
COMBUSTION-In view of the wide use and importance of fuels
in all industries, considerable attention is given to the study of
the secondary unit operation combustion. I n the Practice
School many facilities are available for studying this important
phase of chemical engineering, consisting of hand and stoker
fired boilers burning coal, coke breeze, fuel oil, blast furnace gas
and wood waste, open-hearth furnaces and soaking pits burning
producer gas generated in numerous types of producers, coke
ovens burning coke oven gas; rotary kilns using powdered coal,
etc. This unit operation offers one of the most striking fields
for demonstrating the industrial applicability of the principles
of physical chemistry, such as the law of mass action, the effect
of temperature and the effect of catalysts (incandescent brick
surfaces) on the rate of reaction. I n studying combustion, the
student also receives much training in the use and importance of
the two primary unit operations, flow of heat and flow of fluids.
Figs. 1 and 2 show the summary of the results obtained by two
students experimenting with a 500-h. p. boiler burning fuel oil.
These men studied the effect of varying the amount of excess air,
the effect of changing the distribution and mixing of the air and
oil, and the effect of load on the efficiency.
Table I shows a total heat balance on a set of sixty coke ovens.
It should be borne in mind that the primary educational object
Percenfdi in f l u e Gases
HEATLOSTI N FLUEGASES
PER CENT SENSIBLE PIS. PER CENT COOIN
FLUEGASES
649
is not to obtain a “heat balance” but to study one of the unit
operations. The comparison of the heat input and output merely
gives some idea of the completeness of the data, although, of
course, a check may be reached by counterbalancing errors.
The measurement of the heat quantities shown in Table I gives
good training in the study of the flow of fluids and the flow of
heat as well as in combustion, although the main benefit of such
a test lies in the power of reasoning developed in the design of
the test and the practice obtained in organizing for effective work.
A comprehensive test on coke ovens gives excellent training in the
measurement of material and heat quantities, in gas and fuel
analysis, in the study of the laws of heat radiation and convec-
tion, and in the use of industrial stoichiometry. Furthermore,
to increase the efficiency of teaching in the School of Chemical
Engineering Practice, all the work is “motivated,” that is to say,
the student is not told to carry out experimentation in the unit
operation itself, but some definite and usually attainable ob-
jective, the importance and significance of which he understands,
is placed before him.
I-HEAT BALANCEON SETOF 60 COKEOVENS
TABLE
INPUT
Per cent
Coal, latent.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.82
Coal, sensible.. ..... 0.01
Fuel gas latent ................................. 7.15
Fuel gas: sensib . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.02
-
100.00
OUTPUT
Per cent
Coke, latent. . ........................................ 61.5
Coke, sensible. . . . . . . . . ..... 3.63
21.04
1.24
Tar, latent.. . . . . . . . ......................... 4.84
Tar, sensible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.22
Stack, sensible. . . . . . . . ..... 1.29
..........................
Foul gas wate ...................
Foul gas wate ...................
Radiation., . ....................
Unaccounted .................................. -3.06
100.00
ExTRAcTIoN-In this field there are a number of phases;
let us consider the absorption of a gas by a stream of liquid trav-
eling in opposite direction to the gas stream. The underlying
principles of countercurrent extraction are studied thoroughly
in class by the student before going into the Practice School, so
this theory is applied to plant practice under various conditions.
For example, the student applies these principles to such prob-
lems as the absorption of sulfur dioxide by milk of lime to form
bisulfite cooking liquor used in the manufacture of sulfite wood
pulp, t o the absorption of hydrogen chloride gas by water in the
manufacture of muriatic acid, t o the scrubbing of light oil from
coke oven gas by paraffin oil, and to the absorption of ammonia
from coke oven gas by water, Knowing the equation expressing
the theoretical performance of such a countercurrent extraction
system, we can measure the efficiency of the extraction tower by
means of a “tower coefficient,” The “tower coefficient” enables
the student to compare quantitatively the efficiency of various
forms of tower packing, and to forecast the effect on output of a
change in the temperature of the gas or absorbing liquid, of
increasing the size of the tower, and of increasing or decreasing
the partial pressure of the solute in the entering gas stream.
Some of the “tower coefficients” determined by the students
which were used by them in forecasting results under changed
conditions are given in Table 11. The determination of these
coefficientsalso shows the student how small towers may be used
experimentally in determining the proper size of a new installa-
tion of commercial towers.
These coefficients are all expressed as lbs. of solute absorbed
per min. per cu. ft. of inside tower space per mm. of Hg driving
pressure of the solute (partial pressure of solute in gas minus
partial pressure of solute in solvent).
 650 THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
TABLE
I1
TOWER
COEFFICIENT
Sol absorbed in milk of lime, tile tower. ., ..,, ..., . .. .. .. .. .. ..
SO1 absorbed in milk of lime, plate tower
Benzene absorbed in paraffin oil, slat tower. .,..
Ammonia absorbed in water, slat tower.. . . . . . . . . . . .
. I , ,
DRYING-Drying, an important secondary unit operation,
is given much attention, and experimental work has been carried
out by the students on coal-fired, semi-indirect rotary coal
dryers, steam-heated rotary sugar dryers, steam drum dryers,
can dryers for drying pulp and paper, French dryers used for dry-
ing flake soap, etc. The student is taught to find the largest
resistance to the flow of heat or to the diffusion of water, to con-
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE
Petroleum Hydrocarbons
Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry:
While reading the recent interesting paper by Dr. Van H.
Manning on “The Pioneer’s Field in Petroleum Research,” I
observed the following statement: “Our knowledge of the con-
stituent hydrocarbons making up lubricating oils is well nigh
a blank, and so much depends on the quality of those oils.”
For more than a year, I have been industriously engaged with
the aid of several assistants on the continuation of the work
described in the preliminary paper I presented before the Petro-
leum Section of the SOCIETY a t the Rochester Meeting in May
1921, and have separated from representative samples of the
world’s supply of petroleum the undistillable lubricant and
asphaltic hydrocarbons. Within a few months I expect to
publish a n account of the separation of these hydrocarbons, and
their identification by specific gravity, molecular weight, and
analysis, together with their index of refraction, and viscosity,
and with the relations in general of specific gravity and viscosity.
F. MABERY
CHARLES
C A S E SCHOOL O FAPPLIEDS C I E N C E
CLEVELAND, OHIO
May IR, 1922
The Plant Manager and the Chemist
Editor of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry:
T HE ideal chemist is the catalytic agent in a plant, furnish-
ing and examining ideas to improve or cheapen manu-
facture, to produce new and desirable products, and to
standardize production. Upon him rests the selection of raw
materials to build up into the finished line upon which the repu-
tation of the house rests. He is the judge of the standard to be
attained by the finished product, and upon his ability to read
aright the desirability of the finished article rests the whole force
of the sales department. He is the leaven working through the
foremen in the plant, developing a cooperative spirit of construc-
tive criticism leading to the development and improvement of
the different steps of manufacture.
The chemist and his “Lab” and his assistants are the media
for the investigation and the rejection or the translation into
practice of the ideas not only of his own force but of the plant
manager and the other members of the manufacturing force.
No person is too exalted to have his ideas carefully tested before
attempting to use such ideas in manufacture, and no employee
is too humble not to have his thoughts receive careful attention.
Vol. 14, No. 7
centrate on this particular resistance and reduce it by one means
x lG-0
85 or another, thereby bringing the dryer to the maximum possible
2160 capacity for the machine or stock in question. For example, a
2240
216 test by some students on a can dryer drying paper showed that
the major resistance to the flow of heat from the steam inside the
drum to the paper was tho resistance between the outside face
of the drum and the underside of the stock. The student could,
therefore, direct his attention to the most probable point for a
successful attack. Again, in the air-drying of sugar a similar
method of attack showed the importance of increasing the air
velocity, which made possible a considerable increase in output
from the same dryer.
Now as a plant manager, I find that the chemist is far from the
ideal. The fundamental failure of the chemist is first in a lack
of knowledge-of thoroughness of education in chemical and re-
lated lines. The chemist must, first of all, know chemistry.
He must be familar with modern thought and development,
particularly in the chemistry involved in the type of manufac-
ture in which he is employed. He must be a good, rapid, ac-
curate analyst because practically all investigative and research
work rests on the bed-rock of accurate analysis. One might
write a volume on the failure of our universities to realize this
fundamental truth in industry. And not only should a chemist
be thoroughly familiar with analytical methods, he must in in-
dustry be able to secure results rapidly, for information which
is quickly available is of greatly enhanced value. But above all,
his conclusions drawn from analysis must be correct.
Any plant manager who has given work to chemists or com-
mercial laboratories is familiar with the appalling lack of agree-
ment in simple analytical determinations. Far too often, the
plant manager knows the chemist is wrong and still oftener he
suspects gross inaccuracy and carelessness. These poor results
are not confined to graduates of secondary schools, and it would
appear high time that somebody of authority should pass on a
commercial laboratory’s ability t o do correct work in the indus-
trial lines in which it claims to be expert.
The second great failure of the chemist has been in salesman-
ship. The chemist must sell himself and his ideas to the plant
manager, to the superintendent, and to the various foremen.
All too often, meritorious ideas are abandoned because the man
actually carrying out the operations has not had the matter
thoroughly clarified to him and does not give it a fair trial. If
the chemist has good salesmanship, every man from the manager
down will always feel that his suggestions have potential merit
and no idea will get across in production without such faith.
Brains must have the cordial cooperation of labor. When the
chemist has the plant foremen as eager helpers, it is safe to say
that he is not only a good chemist but a reasonable human being
with a proper respect for men working in subordinate positions.
This leads to my third criticism that too often the chemist is
seeking authority in the plant rather than responsibility. The
chemist who must have personal authority to get work done by
employees in a factory is about a certain failure. What a plant
needs in a chemist is one who takes responsibility for progress
in manufacture and does not require authority in order to secure
all the cooperation he needs. To secure such help the chemist
must remember that any man who is doing his work well even in
a menial position takes pride in that work and is anxious to do
it better but resents any trace of overbearing authority. The
Golden Rule will pay a chemist greater dividends in a factory than