Material Balances

Design Project

Production of a Drying Oil

Drying oils are additives to products like paint and varnish to aid the drying process when
these products are coated on a surface.

The purpose of this project is to do a preliminary analysis to determine the feasibility of

constructing a chemical plant to manufacture 50,000 tonne/y drying oil.

A suggested process flow diagram is attached. You should use this as a starting point. Your
primary task is to recommend operating conditions for the reactor and a reactor choice that
maximizes the gross profit (defined later). However, any change that you can justify that does
not violate the laws of nature is allowed. Your assignment is to develop a “best” case, where
“best” is dependent upon economic considerations.

Chemical Reaction

The raw material is acetylated castor oil, which we will model as palmitic acid
(C15H31COOH). The primary reaction is one in which the acetylated castor oil is thermally
cracked to the drying oil (which we will model as tetradecene, C14H28) and acetic acid
(CH3COOH). There is an undesired reaction in which the drying oil dimerizes to form a gum,
which we will model as C28H56.

The chemical reactions are as follows:

C16 H 32 O2 (l ) → CH 3COOH ( g ) + C14 H 28 (l ) (1)

2C14 H 28 (l ) → C 28 H 56 ( s ) (2)

Process Description

The process is illustrated in Figure 1. The acetylated castor oil (ACO) feed is mixed with
recycled ACO and is fed to the reactor. In the reactor, reactions in Eqs. (1) and (2) occur.
Immediately following the reactor, there is a filter that removes any solid gum formed in the
reactor. Following the filter, there are two distillation columns that purify the ACO for recycle,
the drying oil (DO) for sale, and the acetic acid (AA) for sale as a by-product.
 V-501 R-501 F-501 T-501 T-502
Recycle Reactor Gum ACO DO Purification
Mixing Filter Recycle Column
Vessel Column

acetylated
castor oil
V-501

acetic acid

R-501

T-502

T-501
drying oil
F-501

gum

Figure 1: Preliminary Process Flowsheet for Drying Oil Production

2
 3

Process Details

Feed Stream and Effluent Streams

Stream 1: ACO – $0.59/kg

Stream 4: Gum waste – no value

Stream 8: Acetic acid by-product – $0.99/kg

Stream 9: DO – $1.19/kg

Equipment

Vessel (V-501): location where feed and recycle streams mix

Reactor (R-501): where the reactions in Eqs. (1) and (2) occur

Filter (F-501): all gum is removed in Stream 4, all AA, ACO, and DO go to Stream 5

Distillation Column (T-501): all AA in Stream 5 goes to Stream 6, all ACO in Stream 5
goes to Stream 7, 99.5% of DO in Stream 5 goes to
Stream 6

Distillation Column (T-502): 99.5% of AA in Stream 6 goes to Stream 8, 99.5% of DO

in Stream 6 goes to Stream 9

Economic Analysis

When evaluating alternative cases, the following relationship should be used:

gross profit estimate = value of products – cost of feed – cost of recycle – cost of separations (3)

The value of products and cost of feed were given earlier in the Process Details section.
There is a cost for recycle, since equipment and utilities (not shown on the current flowsheet)
cost more if there is more recycle. The cost of recycle may be estimated by

cost of recycle ($/kg ACO leaving reactor) = 3 × 10 −2 (m& ACO / m& DO ) 2 (4)

where m& ACO / m& DO is the ratio of the mass flowrate of ACO/mass flowrate of DO in Stream 3.

There is also a cost associated with removing the gum, which can be ignored (and F-501
removed) if the gum level is below 1 ppm (mass basis) in Stream 3. This cost is function is
 4

cost of gum removal ($/kg DO leaving reactor) = 10 −3 [(ppm gum in Stream 3) − 1] (5)

If the cost of gum removal in Eq. (5) is less than zero, the cost is zero.

Reactor Information

The reaction conditions are limited to temperatures between 310°C and 400°C. Table 1 gives
conversion and selectivity information for the reactor for two different size reactors. You should
recommend whether to use the smaller or larger reactor. The lower the space time, the smaller
the reactor.

Table 1: Reactor Conversions and Selectivities

T X selectivity X selectivity
(°°C) conversion to AA moles DO/moles gum conversion to AA moles DO/moles gum
space time 10 min space time 10 min space time 4 min space time 4 min
310 0.130 6.43×107 0.069 6.41×108
320 0.184 4.97×106 0.107 6.44×107
330 0.245 9.18×105 0.161 4.28×106
340 0.314 2.38×105 0.214 7.58×105
350 0.375 7.08×104 0.283 1.74×105
360 0.444 2.29×104 0.345 4.92×104
370 0.513 8.55×103 0.413 1.61×104
380 0.559 3.38×103 0.475 3.78×103
390 0.597 1.43×103 0.528 2.22×103
400 0.635 5.58×102 0.574 9.17×102

Other Information

You should assume that a year equals 8000 hours. This is about 330 days, which allows for
periodic shut down and maintenance.

Deliverables

Each group must deliver a word-processed report. It should be clear and concise. The format
is explained in a separate document. When presenting results for different cases, graphs are
superior to tables. The body of the report should be short, emphasizing only the results and
briefly summarizing computational strategies. The report appendix should contain details of
calculations that are easy to follow. Calculations that cannot be followed easily will lose credit.

The project is due November 6, 2002, at the beginning of class. There will be oral
presentations of project results on that day.

Anyone not participating in this project will automatically receive an F for ChE 201,
regardless of other grades earned in this class.
 5

Groups

You will work on this project in groups of 3 or 4. More details of group formation and peer
evaluation will be discussed in class.

Revisions

As with any open-ended problem; i.e., a problem with no single correct answer, the problem
statement above is deliberately vague. The possibility exists that as you work on this problem,
your questions will require revisions and/or clarifications. You should be aware that these
revisions/clarifications may be forthcoming.
 Energy Balances and Numerical Methods

Design Project

Production of a Drying Oil

Drying oils are additives to products like paint and varnish to aid the drying process when
these products are coated on a surface.

The purpose of this project is to do a preliminary analysis to determine the feasibility of

constructing a chemical plant to manufacture 50,000 tonne/y drying oil.

A suggested process flow diagram is attached. You should use this as a starting point. Your
primary task is to recommend operating conditions for the reactor and a reactor choice that
maximizes the gross profit (defined later). However, any change that you can justify that does
not violate the laws of nature is allowed. Your assignment is to develop a “best” case, where
“best” is dependent upon economic considerations.

Chemical Reaction

The raw material is acetylated castor oil (ACO), which we will model as palmitic acid
(C15H31COOH). The primary reaction is one in which the acetylated castor oil is thermally
cracked to the drying oil (DO, which we will model as tetradecene, C14H28) and acetic acid (AA)
(CH3COOH). There is an undesired reaction in which the drying oil dimerizes to form a gum,
which we will model as C28H56.

The chemical reactions are as follows:

C16 H 32 O2 (l ) → CH 3COOH ( g ) + C14 H 28 (l ) (1)

2C14 H 28 (l ) → C 28 H 56 ( s ) (2)

Process Description

The process is illustrated in Figure 1. The acetylated castor oil (ACO) feed is mixed with
recycled ACO and passed through a vessel that helps maintain constant flow downstream of the
mixing point. The ACO stream is then heated to the required reactor temperature in a fired
heater (furnace), H-501. The hot ACO stream is fed to the reactor (R-501), where the reaction
proceeds. In the reactor, reactions in Eqs. (1) and (2) occur. The reactor effluent is quenched to
180°C in E-501, using cooling water. In F-501, the gum is filtered out, and the filtrate is fed to a
distillation column, T-501, where the unreacted ACO is recycled. The top product of T-501 is
fed to a second distillation column, which purifies the AA and DO. More details on distillation
columns and the associated heat exchangers are presented later.
 V-501 H-501 R-501 E-501 F-501 T-501 E-502 E-503 T-502 E-504 E-505
Recycle Fired Reactor Reactor Gum ACO ACO ACO DO DO DO
Mixing Heater Quench Filter Recycle Column Column Purification Column Column
Vessel Exchanger Column Reboiler Condenser Column Reboiler Condenser

acetylated
castor oil poc
V-501
H-501

E-505
E-503 cw
R-501

cw acetic acid
ng air T-502

T-501

E-504
E-501
hps
E-502 drying oil
cw Dowtherm A
F-501

gum

Figure 1: Preliminary Process Flowsheet for Drying Oil Production

2
 3

Process Details

Feed Stream and Effluent Streams

Stream 1: ACO – $0.59/kg – Stream at 25°C

Stream 8: Gum waste – no value

Stream 11: Acetic acid by-product – $0.99/kg

Stream 12: DO – $1.19/kg

Equipment

Vessel (V-501)

This is the location where feed and recycle streams mix.

Fired Heater (H-501)

The fired heater heats feed to the reaction temperature. Energy is provided by burning
natural gas (CH4). The lower heating value should be used to determine the cost of
the required natural gas. Additional natural gas is needed to provide energy to reheat
Dowtherm used in E-502.

Reactor (R-501)
This is where the reactions in Eqs. (1) and (2) occur. More details on the reactor are
presented later.

Filter (F-501)
In the filter, all gum is removed in Stream 8, all AA, ACO, and DO go to Stream 7.

Distillation Column (T-501)

In T-501, all AA in Stream 7 goes to Stream 10, all ACO in Stream 7 goes to Stream
9, 99.5% of DO in Stream 7 goes to Stream 10. The column pressure is determined
by the constraint that the bottom of the column may not exceed 300°C, to avoid
additional reaction at the bottom of the column that may form gum.

Heat Exchanger (E-503):

In this heat exchanger, the contents of the top of T-501 are condensed from saturated
vapor to saturated liquid at the column pressure at a rate three times the flow of
Stream 10. One-third of the condensate becomes Stream 10, and the remainder is
returned to the column. There is a cost for the amount of cooling water needed to
 4

remove the necessary energy. The cooling water must always be at a lower
temperature than the stream being condensed. It may be assumed that the stream
being condensed condenses at the dew point temperature of the mixture at the column
pressure.

Heat Exchanger (E-502):

In this heat exchanger, you may assume that the stream being vaporized has the same
flowrate as Stream 9. The stream is vaporized from saturated liquid to saturated
vapor at a column pressure, determined by the temperature constraint at the bottom of
he column, and is returned to the column. The pressure of the stream being vaporized
is the vapor pressure of ACO at the bottom temperature constraint. There is a cost for
the amount of Dowtherm needed to supply the necessary heat, as stated in the
description for H-501. The Dowtherm enters at 380°C and leaves at 360°C. It must
be reheated to 380°C in the fired heater. The Dowtherm temperature must be above
the temperature of the vaporizing stream.

Distillation Column (T-502)

Here, 99.5% of AA in Stream 10 goes to Stream 11, and 99.5% of DO in Stream 10

goes to Stream 12. This column operates at atmospheric pressure.

Heat Exchanger (E-505):

In this heat exchanger, the contents of the top of T-502 (pure AA) are condensed from
saturated vapor to saturated liquid at the column pressure at a rate three times the flow
of Stream 11. One-third of the condensate becomes Stream 11, and the remainder is
returned to the column. There is a cost for the amount of cooling water needed to
remove the necessary energy. The cooling water must always be at a lower
temperature than the stream being condensed.

Heat Exchanger (E-504):

In this heat exchanger, you may assume that the stream being vaporized has the same
flowrate as Stream 12. The stream is vaporized from saturated liquid to saturated
vapor at the column pressure and is returned to the column. The temperature of the
stream being vaporized is the boiling point of DO at the column pressure. There is a
cost for the amount of steam needed to supply the necessary heat. The steam
temperature must be above the temperature of the vaporizing stream.

Other Equipment:

For two or more streams to mix, they must be at identical pressures. Pressure
reduction may be accomplished by adding a valve. All of these valves are not
necessarily shown on the attached flowsheet, and it may be assumed that additional
 5

valves can be added as needed at no cost. Flow occurs from higher pressure to lower
pressure. Pumps are used to increase the pressure of a liquid stream. If pumps are
needed, they are not shown on the PFD.

Reactor Information

The reaction conditions are limited to temperatures between 310°C and 400°C. Table 1 gives
conversion and selectivity information for the reactor for one reactor size. You should
recommend the optimum reactor temperature and space time. The smaller the space time, the
smaller the reactor.

Table 1: Reactor Conversions and Selectivities

T (°°C) X selectivity
conversion to AA moles DO/moles gum
space time 10 min space time 10 min
310 0.130 6.43×107
320 0.184 4.97×106
330 0.245 9.18×105
340 0.314 2.38×105
350 0.375 7.08×104
360 0.444 2.29×104
370 0.513 8.55×103
380 0.559 3.38×103
390 0.597 1.43×103
400 0.635 5.58×102

It may be assumed that the conversion obeys the following function of space time, τ :

X = 1 − e − aτ (3)

and that the selectivity obeys the following function of space time

S = eb / τ (4)

Any space time is possible, and the corresponding selectivity and conversion can be obtained by
determining the parameters in Equations 3 and 4 from the data in Table 1.

Economic Analysis

When evaluating alternative cases, the following objective function should be used. It is the
equivalent annual operating cost (EAOC), and is defined as

EAOC = – (product value – feed cost – utility costs – cost of gum removal – capital cost annuity)
 6

A negative EAOC means there is a profit. It is desirable to minimize the EAOC; i.e., a large
negative EAOC is very desirable.

Other operating costs are utilities, such as steam, cooling water, natural gas, and electricity.

There is a cost associated with removing the gum, which can be ignored (and F-501 removed)
if the gum level is below 1 ppm (mass basis) in Stream 6. This cost is function is

cost of gum removal ($/kg DO leaving reactor) = 10 −3 [(ppm gum in Stream 6) − 1] (5)

If the cost of gum removal in Eq. (5) is less than zero, the cost is zero.

The capital cost annuity is an annual cost (like a car payment) associated with the one-time,
fixed cost of plant construction. A list of capital costs for all pieces of equipment will be
provided in early to mid March.

The capital cost annuity is defined as follows:

i (1 + i ) n
capital cost annuity = FCI
(1 + i ) n − 1

where FCI is the installed cost of all equipment; i is the interest rate, i = 0.15; and n is the plant
life for accounting purposes, n = 10.

Optimization

We will learn optimization methods in ChE 230. The objective function (EAOC) is defined
above. It is your responsibility to define appropriate decision variables. If there are too many
decision variables to do a reasonable optimization, it is your responsibility to determine, with
appropriate justification, which ones most significantly affect the objective function and focus on
only those decision variables.

Utility Costs

Low-Pressure Steam (618 kPa, saturated, cost or credit) $7.78/1000 kg

Medium-Pressure Steam (1135 kPa, saturated, cost or credit) $8.22/1000 kg

High-Pressure Steam (4237 kPa, saturated, cost or credit) $9.83/1000 kg

Natural Gas or Fuel Gas (446 kPa, 25°C)

cost $6.00/GJ
credit $5.00/GJ
 7

Electricity $0.06/kWh

Boiler Feed Water (at 549 kPa, 90°C) $2.45/1000 kg

(There is only a cost for boiler feed water if the steam produced enters process streams. If
it is made into steam and subsequently condensed, it can be made into steam again, so
there is no net cost for boiler feed water.)

Cooling Water $0.354/GJ

available at 516 kPa and 30°C
return pressure ≥ 308 kPa
return temperature should be no more than 15°C above the inlet temperature

Refrigerated Water $4.43/GJ

available at 516 kPa and 5°C
return pressure ≥ 308 kPa
return temperature is no higher than 15°C

Process Water $0.067/1000 kg

available at 300 kPa and 25°C

Waste Water Treatment $56/1000 m3

Data

The following data are provided. Data are scarce for these chemicals, so it should be
understood that not all of these data are exact, but they should be close enough to suffice in the
solution of this project. Therefore, these data are to be used only for this project and not for any
subsequent project.

Heat of Formation at 25°°C (units of kJ/mol – all in gas phase except gum, which is solid
phase)

acetic acid ACO DO Gum

-432.25 -824.99 -332.05 -314.56

Heat of Vaporization at normal boiling point (kJ/mol)

acetic acid ACO DO

23.70 64.3 47.61
 8

Vapor Phase Heat Capacity (Cp/R = a+bT+cT2+dT3+eT4 – T in Kelvin, units of Cp are

determined by value used for R)

acetic acid ACO DO

a 4.375 39.947 18.375
b×103 -2.37 -206.52 6.585
c×105 6.757 114.814 32.307
d×108 -8.764 155.548 -42.663
e×1011 3.478 67.534 16.59

Liquid Phase Heat Capacity (Cp/R ) (Solid Phase for Gum – units of Cp are determined
by value used for R)

acetic acid ACO DO Gum

123.10 501.45 438.48 662.5

Antione’s Equation Constants (log10P* (bar) = A – B/(T(°°C) + C))

acetic acid ACO DO

A 4.454456 4.15357 4.1379
B 1555.12 1830.51 1740.88
C 224.65 154.45 167.72

Properties of Dowtherm A™ - Heat Transfer Fluid

Temperature Use Range Liquid 16°C - 400°C

Gas 257°C - 400°C
Above 400°C Dowtherm A™ starts to decompose thermally.

Liquid Properties for 350-400°C

Thermal Conductivity 0.0943 W/m.K

Specific Heat Capacity 2630 J/kg K
Viscosity 1.4×10-4 kg/m s
Density 680 kg/m3
Vapor Pressure (400°C) 10.5 bar

Other Information

You should assume that a year equals 8000 hours. This is about 330 days, which allows for
periodic shut down and maintenance.
 9

Deliverables

Each group must deliver a word-processed report. It should be clear and concise. The format
is explained in a separate document. When presenting results for different cases, graphs are
superior to tables. The body of the report should be short, emphasizing only the results and
briefly summarizing computational strategies. The report appendix should contain details of
calculations that are easy to follow. Calculations that cannot be followed easily will lose credit.

The project is due April 28, 2003, at 3:00 p.m. There will be oral presentations of project
results on that day. If all presentations cannot be completed on that day, there will be additional
presentations on April 30, 2003, at 3:00 p.m. There will be a project review on Thursday, May 1,
2003 (ChE 202 class). In addition, everyone must attend the senior design presentation at 2:30
p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, 2003. Furthermore, attendance is required of all students during their
classmates’ presentations (this means in the room, not in the hall or the computer room). Failure
to attend any of the above-required sessions will result in a decrease in one letter grade (per
occurrence) from your project grade in both ChE 202 and ChE 230.

Anyone not participating in this project will automatically receive an F for ChE 202 and ChE
230, regardless of other grades earned in these classes.

Groups

You will work on this project in groups of 3 or 4. More details of group formation and peer
evaluation will be discussed in class.

Revisions

As with any open-ended problem; i.e., a problem with no single correct answer, the problem
statement above is deliberately vague. The possibility exists that as you work on this problem,
your questions will require revisions and/or clarifications. You should be aware that these
revisions/clarifications may be forthcoming.
MEMORANDUM

TO: Sophomores in ChE 201 and ChE 230

FROM: R. K. Gupta
C. D. Stinespring

DATE: May 5, 2003

SUBJECT: Equipment Costs for Design Project

The equipment costs for the drying oil plant are given below. Each cost is for an individual
piece of equipment, including installation.

Equipment Installed Cost

in thousands of $

Reactor 400
Distillation Columns, each (including 200
peripheral heat exchangers)
Other Heat Exchangers shown on 250
process flow diagram
Additional heat exchangers, each 50
Other equipment not shown on 75
process flow diagram (such as
pumps)

Fired Heater installed cost in dollars:

11× 10 x
where
x = 2.5 + 0.8 log10 Q
where Q is the heat duty in kW
 Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, and Thermodynamics
Fall 2003

Design Project

Production of Drying Oil

Introduction
Drying oils are additives to paints and varnishes to aid in the drying process when these
products are applied to surfaces. A facility is to be designed to manufacture 25,000 metric
tons/yr of drying oil (DO) from acetylated castor oil (ACO). Both of these compounds are
mixtures. However, for simulation purposes, acetylated castor oil is modeled as palmitic
(hexadecanoic) acid (C15H31COOH) and drying oil is modeled as 1-tetradecene (C14H28). In an
undesired side reaction, a gum can be formed, which is modeled as 1-octacosene (C28H56). The
reactions that take place (at the reactor temperature and pressure) are given below in Equations
(1) and (2).

C15 H 31COOH (l ) →

k1
CH 3COOH ( g ) + C14 H 28 (l )
(1)
ACO acetic acid DO

k
2C14 H 28 (l ) →
2 C H (l )
28 56 (2)
DO gum

Process Description
The process flow diagram is shown in Figure 1. ACO is fed from a holding tank, V-501,
where fresh feed, Stream 1, has been mixed with recycled ACO, Stream 14. The combined
ACO, Stream 2, is pumped to reaction pressure of 300 kPa and then heated to reaction
temperature in a fired heater, H-501. The reaction does not require a catalyst since it is initiated
at high temperatures. Typical reaction temperatures are in the range of 300 to 380°C. At
temperatures higher than 380°C, some of the trace components in the drying oil degrade and give
rise to an undesirable color change in the product. The reactor, R-501, is simply a vessel with
inert packing to promote radial mixing. At the temperatures used here, the reaction may be
assumed to go to equilibrium. The simulation of the reactor in the flowsheet should be done
using Chemcad and selecting the SRK enthalpy option with the Gibbs reactor in adiabatic mode.
The reaction effluent, Stream 5, contains vapor that must be separated in V-502, and sent to the
Separation Equipment Block. The liquid leaving V-502 is quenched in E-501.
 E-501
2
 The rate of gum formation is a strong function of the maximum temperature in the reactor
and correlations using past operating data have shown that the fraction of drying oil that is
converted to gum is given by the following equation:

(T − 300)
Fraction of DO converted to Gum = 0.04 (3)
(380 − 300)

where T is the maximum (inlet) temperature in the reactor in degrees Centigrade.

Any gum that has been formed is removed by filtration in one of two packed beds, V-503A/B,
containing a proprietary sorbent. These filtration vessels can only process liquid feeds at
temperatures below 180°C and thus Stream 7, leaving E-501, must be a liquid at this
temperature. The gum adheres preferentially to the sorbent while the other products pass through
unchanged. There are two filtration vessels, V-503 A/B, one of which is used to filter the
reaction products while the other one is emptied of the gum, which is subsequently sent for waste
disposal. This allows a continuous flow of material, Stream 9, into the separation equipment. It
should be noted that the gum contains some trace amounts of carcinogens and is to be treated as
a hazardous waste.

The separation unit, which is shown as a single block in Figure 1, is comprised of many pieces of
equipment. The net effect of this block is to separate the acetic acid and drying oil from the
unreacted ACO, Stream 13, which is recycled back to the mixing vessel, V-501, at the front end
of the process. The temperatures of acetic acid (Stream 11), DO (Stream 12), and recycled ACO
(Stream 13) leaving the separation equipment block are, 120, 250, and 300°C, respectively.
Streams 11 and 12 are cooled (in exchangers not shown in Figure 1) prior to being sent to
storage. The purities of the three streams are 99.8 mol% acetic acid (remainder is DO), 99 mol%
DO (remainder is equal mole amounts of acetic acid and ACO), and 99.8 mol% ACO (remainder
is DO). In order to complete an energy balance for the separation unit, you should assume that
both the heating load and cooling load for the separation unit are equal to four (4) times the net
energy difference between the inlets, Streams 8 and 9, and the outlets, Streams 11 – 13. The
cooling load is supplied using cooling water and the heating load is supplied with natural gas.

Specific Objectives of this Project

The main objective of this project is to optimize the drying oil production process. In order
to do this, you will need to establish the flows and temperatures of all streams (Streams 1 –14) in
Figure 1. You should use the Chemcad process simulator to do this task using the SRK
thermodynamics package. The objective function that you should optimize (minimize) is the
equivalent annual operating cost, EAOC, which is given below:

EAOC ($/ yr) = { ∑Installed Cost of Equipment ($)}{A/ P,i, n} + Utility Costs($/yr) (4)
+ Raw Material Costs ($/yr) + Waste Disposal Costs ($/yr) − Product Revenue($/yr)

3
where, i is the interest rate (8% per year), n is the life of the project (assume 10 years), and the
amortization factor is given by:
i (1 + i )n
( A / P, i, n ) =
(1 + i )n − 1

It should be noted that since we want to make a profit, it is desirable to have the most negative
EAOC possible. Equipment, utility, raw materials, and product costs are given in the appendix.

Once flows and temperatures are set, you should complete the mini-projects that relate to
ChE 310, and 311. The thermodynamics project should be completed at the base conditions
described in the following section.

Thermodynamics (ChE 320) Mini-Project

You are to evaluate various calculation methods for the flash calculation in V-502. You should
assume equilibrium conversion from the reactor for inlet conditions of 600 K and 300kPa and
using the SRK k-value model as the base case. You should compare the results for liquid and
vapor-phase concentrations, at these same conditions, using the Peng-Robinson, UNIFAC, and
ideal vapor pressure k-value models for the flash by using the CHEMCAD software. You should
make the same calculations using the VLMU software provided with your textbook, and by
hand, assuming ideal solutions. Your report should compare and discuss these results.

Fluid Flow (ChE310) Mini-Project

You are required to find the optimum pipe sizes and make the pressure drop calculations for
the major process lines that include all piping, pipe fittings, heat exchangers, fired heaters,
reactors, and separators in the loop comprising of Streams 2 through 9.

• For any heat exchanger for which a detailed design is not performed (see the Heat
Transfer section), a pressure drop of 3 psi should be used, for the process-side. For any
heat exchanger for which a detailed design is required, the pressure drop must be
calculated from the information in the detailed design.
• For each piece of equipment in the loop (heat exchangers, fired heaters, reactor,
exchanger, and filters), isolation gate valves and a bypass line should be provided to
allow for use in the event of unscheduled maintenance. The sketch below illustrates this
arrangement.

Equipment

Gate valves
(normally open)
Globe valve
(normally closed )
Gate valve (3/4” - drain line) normally closed

4
 • Each piece of equipment will be separated by at least 10 ft and you should estimate the
amount of piping required to allow for maintenance. You should draw a rough equipment
layout and determine the pipe lengths needed for each part of the piping loop based on
this sketch.
• The height of liquid in V-501 may be assumed to be 3m. You should assume that the L/D
= 3.0 and that when full the vessel could hold the equivalent of 30 minutes of liquid feed.
The pressure in the feed vessel should be set at 101 kPa.
• The pressure drop for the fired heater should be based on liquid velocity of 2 m/s in 1”-
18 BWG diameter tubes. The tubes have an equivalent length of 100 ft.
• The reactor should be sized such that the L/D = 10.0 and the exit velocity of 2 m/s. This
is a vertical vessel with the feed from the top. The pressure drop across the reactor is
estimated as 20 kPa at the design conditions.
• The flash vessel (V-502) should be sized such that the L/D = 3.0 and the diameter is
calculated so that the upward vapor velocity is 1 m/s.
• The pressure drop through the filter, V-503, should be based on a maximum superficial
velocity of 0.5 m/s with the filter packed with ¼” diameter spheres, a minimum residence
time of 10 seconds, and L/D ratio of 4:1. You should use the standard equations for
packed bed flow.
• The piping between the Gum Filters, V-503A/B, Stream 9, and the Separation Equipment
block, should consist of 50 ft of straight pipe, 6 - 90° standard elbows, a gate valve, an
orifice meter with a full scale reading of 100 inches of water pressure drop (the design
flow should be 70% of full scale), the orifice meter should have two isolation gate valves
and a bypass (similar to the arrangement for equipment shown in the sketch above). The
inlet pressure to the separation equipment is regulated by a control valve and must be at
125 kPa. You should assume that the entrance to the separation block is at an elevation of
5m above ground level.
• For equipment with one feed and two product lines, do not include bypass lines just place
a gate valve on each line.

The optimization of the piping arrangement should be done by calculating an EAOC for the
piping loop. This must take into account the pumping costs and the capital costs of the pump,
piping, and pipe fittings. The EAOC, defined in Equation (4), using relevant costs for the piping,
pump, etc, should be used as the objective function.

It is also desired that the piping and pumping system be designed so that the process flows
may be scaled-up from the base case design. You should assume that the pump you purchase (P-
301 A/B) has a maximum pressure 110% of the design pressure and that the maximum volume
that can be pumped is 40% greater than the design. The dimensionless form of this pump curve
is given below:
7.1265
P  V& 
= 1.1 − 0.1   (5)
&
Pdesign Vdesign 

5
where Pdesign is the pressure rise across the pump at the design volumetric flowrate of Vdesign., and
V& is the volumetric flowrate at any pressure rise, P, across the pump.

Calculations for the optimum pipe size and maximum scale-up should be included in an
appendix for this mini-project.

Heat Transfer (ChE 311) Mini-Project

You should perform a detailed design of the exchanger E-501 (after the reactor). You should
assume that either cooling water or boiler feed water may be used to cool the stream and these
are available at the conditions specified in the appendix of this problem statement. For this heat
exchanger design, you should report the following information:

• Materials of construction
• Diameter of shell
• Number of tube and shell passes
• Number of tubes per pass
• Tube pitch and arrangement (triangular/square/..)
• Number of shell-side baffles and their arrangement (spacing and type)
• Diameter, thickness, and length of tubes
• Calculation of both shell- and tube-side film heat transfer coefficients.
• Calculation of overall heat transfer coefficient
• Heat transfer area of the exchanger
• Shell-side and tube-side pressure drops (note that the process-side pressure drop is used
for the fluids mini-project)
• Estimated cost of exchanger

A detailed sketch of the exchanger should be included along with a set of comprehensive
calculations in an appendix to the mini-project.

You should bear in mind that there could be some gum formation on the heat transfer
surfaces in this exchanger. Thus your design should account for the effects of gum formation in
the short-term (at start-up) and during the long-term operation of the exchanger. In addition, the
exchanger may need to be taken out of service periodically for cleaning. Remember to design
the unit so that easy cleaning is possible.

Deliverables
Written Reports

Each group must deliver a report written using a word processor. Three identical copies
should be submitted, one for each instructor. The written project reports are due by 1:00 p.m.
Friday, November 21, 2003. Late projects will receive a minimum of a one letter grade
deduction.

6
 The report should be clear and concise. For the correct formatting information, refer to the
document entitled Written Design Reports. The report must contain a labeled process flow
diagram (PFD) and a stream table, each in the appropriate format. The PFDs from CHEMCAD
are generally unsuitable unless you modify them significantly. Figure 1 should be used as a
template for your PFD. When presenting results for different cases, graphs are superior to tables.
For the optimal case, the report appendix should contain details of calculations that are easy to
follow. There should be separate appendices for each “mini-project.” These may be hand
written if done neatly, alternatively, excel spreadsheets may be included, but these must be well
documented so that the reader can interpret the results. Calculations that cannot be easily
followed and that are not explained will lose credit.

Since this project involves “mini-designs,” it is suggested that the report be organized as
follows. There should be a general abstract and introduction. Then, there should be a results
section followed by a discussion section for each “mini-design.” General conclusion and
recommendation sections should follow. At a minimum, there should be one appendix for each
of the “mini-designs.” With this organization, there is no need for a separate section of the
report for each class, as suggested in the document entitled Written Design Reports.

In order to evaluate each group members writing skills, the results and discussion sections for
each mini-design should be written by a different group member. The authorship of each of
these mini-reports should be clearly specified in the report. For groups with four members, the
member not authoring a mini-report should author the safety analysis report, which is described
below. The remainder of the report, namely the general abstract, general introduction, general
conclusions, and general recommendations sections should be a group effort. For the group with
5 members, the 5th group member must write an executive summary for the report. This
executive summary should be between 3 and 5 pages long and should clearly summarize the
major findings of the report. The executive summary is a standalone document and after reading
it, the reader should have a clear picture of the accomplishments of the group’s work. No
executive summary is required for the groups with four members.

Although the individual written portions of the reports must be authored by a single group
member, it is the intent of the instructors that group members should help each other in writing
different sections. To this end, we recommend that you seek input, such as proofreading and
critiques, from other members of you group.

Safety Analysis Report

When designing a chemical process, it is important to know the properties of the chemicals
being consumed and produced in the process. The reactivity and toxicity of the reactants and
products will not only affect the design but will also affect the procedures that might be
implemented during an unscheduled event such as an emergency shutdown. The purpose of the
Safety Analysis Report is to make management aware of risks to personnel due to the
flammability and toxicity of all chemicals consumed or produced in the process. As a minimum,
the MSDS (material and safety data sheets) for all these chemicals should be provided in an
appendix, and a brief description of the major concerns for each chemical should be given. Also

7
briefly discuss possible safety hazards for each piece of equipment in your process. Finally, a
feature of your process design that addresses one of these concerns should be explained.

Oral Reports

Each group will give an oral report in which the results of this project will be presented in a
concise manner. The oral report should be between 15-20 minutes, and each group member
must speak. Each group member should speak only once. A 5-10 minute question-and-answer
session will follow, and all members must participate. Refer to the document entitled Oral
Reports for instructions. The oral presentations will be Tuesday December 2, 2002, from 11:00
a.m. to 2:00 pm. Attendance is required of all students during their classmates’ presentations
(this means in the room, not in the hall or the computer room). Failure to attend any of the
above-required sessions will result in a decrease of one-letter grade (per occurrence) from
your project grade in ChE 310, ChE 311, and ChE 320.

Anyone not participating in this project will automatically receive an F for

ChE 310, ChE 311, and ChE 320, regardless of other grades earned in these
classes.

Groups
You will do this project in a group of four or five. You have already selected a partner, and
groups of two have been paired up by the instructors. Since there are 25 students doing the
project, there will be 5 groups of 4, and 1 group of 5.

Revisions
As with any open-ended problem (i.e., a problem with no single correct answer), the problem
statement above is deliberately vague. The possibility exists that, as you work on this problem,
your questions will require revisions and/or clarifications of the problem statement. You should
be aware that these revisions/clarifications may be forthcoming.

8
 Appendix

Equipment Cost and Design Data

9
Raw Materials
ACO – $0.59/kg

Product
Acetic acid – $0.99/kg

DO – $1.19/kg

Waste Disposal Cost

Gum – $1.00/kg to dispose of gum as a hazardous waste

Utility Costs
Low-Pressure Steam (618 kPa saturated) * $6.62/1000 kg

Medium-Pressure Steam (1135 kPa saturated) * $7.31/1000 kg

High-Pressure Steam (4237 kPa saturated) * $8.65/1000 kg

Natural Gas (446 kPa, 25°C) $3.00/GJ

Fuel Gas (not available for this project) $2.75/GJ

Electricity $0.06/kW h

Boiler Feed Water (at 549 kPa, 90°C) $2.54/1000 kg

Cooling Water $0.35/GJ

available at inlet conditions of 516 kPa and 30°C
return pressure ≥ 308 kPa
return temperature <45°C

Deionized Water $1.00/1000 kg

available at 5 bar and 30°C

Wastewater Treatment $50/1000 m3

*you may assume that credit will be given for any and all steam produced in your process. When
accounting for this credit, use the cost of the natural gas saved in any steam generating
exchanger, do not use the value of the cost of the steam shown in the table above.

10
Equipment Costs (Purchased)

Note that not all this information is required to do this project

Piping straight pipe $/m = 5.0 (nominal pipe diameter, in)(1+sch #/20)0.25
sch = schedule number for pipe
use the same sch number same for fittings and valves
fittings (except valves) $/fitting = 50.0 (nominal pipe diameter, in)(1+sch #/20)0.25

Valves for gate (isolation) valves $100 (nominal pipe diameter, in)0.8 (1+sch #/20)0.25
for globe valves $300 (nominal pipe diameter, in)0.8 (1+sch #/20)0.25
for control valve use $1000 (nominal pipe diameter, in)0.8(1+sch #/20)0.25

Pumps $630 (power, kW)0.4

Heat Exchangers $1030 (area, m2)0.6

add 50% additional for boilers or evaporators

Compressors $770 (power, kW)0.96 + $400 (power, kW)0.6

assume 70% efficiency

Turbine $2.18×105 (power output, MW)0.6

assume 65% efficiency

Fired Heater $635 (duty, kW)0.8

assume 80% thermal efficiency

Vessels $[1.67(0.959 + 0.041P - 8.3×10-6P2)]×10z

z = (3.17 + 0.2D + 0.5 log10L + 0.21 log10L2)
D = diameter, m 0.3 m < D < 4.0 m
L = height, m 3 < L/D < 20
P = absolute pressure, bar

Reactor assume cost to be 10 times that of a vessel

Tanks $1000V0.6
V = volume, m3

11
Equipment Cost Factors
Pressure Factors
Pressure < 10 atm, 0.0 does not apply to turbines, compressors, vessels,
(absolute) 10 - 20 atm, 0.6 packing, trays, or catalyst, since their cost
20 - 40 atm, 3.0 equations include pressure effects
40 - 50 atm, 5.0
50 - 100 atm, 10

Material Factors
Carbon Steel 0.0
Stainless Steel 4.0

Total Installed Cost = Purchased Cost (4 + material factor + pressure factor)

Heat Exchangers
For heat exchangers that do not have to be designed in detail, use the following
approximations for heat transfer coefficients to allow you to determine the heat transfer area and
heat exchanger cost.

situation h (W/m2 °C)

condensing steam 6,000

condensing organic 1,000

boiling water 7,500

boiling organic 1,000

flowing liquid (hc/oils) 1,000

cooling water 3,000
flowing gas 60

12
Other Information
You should assume that a year equals 8000 hours. This is about 330 days, which allows for
periodic shutdown and maintenance.

Unless specifically stated in class, the information in this document is valid for this project
only. Any information in the sophomore projects not specifically stated in this document is not
valid for this project.

Equipment Design and other Equipment Issues

You have not yet covered the theory to design some of the equipment for this project. The
following information, along with the list of assumptions given in the fluids mini-project, are
provided to help you design this equipment.

Storage Tanks: you should not consider the cost of (offsite) storage facilities for this project

Separation Equipment: the fixed capital investment (installed cost) for the separation
equipment should not be considered in the current project.

Feed Pumps: the feed pumps must be capable of delivering the liquid feed to the reactor at
the desired pressure and then the liquid must be delivered to the separation section of the
plant at a pressure of 125 kPa and at a height of 5m above ground level.

Heat Exchanger: the heat exchanger after the flash vessel should be designed as per the
instructions in the heat transfer mini-project.

13
 Design Project
Reaction Engineering and Separations

Drying Oil Production

Drying oils are additives to paints and varnishes to aid in the drying process when these
products are applied to surfaces. It has been determined that the market for drying oil in
Southeast Asia is expanding. Therefore, we are planning to construct a new facility to increase
capacity in that region. Specifically, you are to design a new facility that produces 25,000
tonne/y of 99 wt % drying oil. The by-product acetic acid may be sold at a purity of 99.5 wt %.
The facility is to manufacture drying oil (DO) from acetylated castor oil (ACO). Both of these
compounds are mixtures. However, for simulation purposes, acetylated castor oil is modeled as
palmitic (hexadecanoic) acid (C15H31COOH) and drying oil is modeled as 1-tetradecene
(C14H28). In an undesired side reaction, a gum can be formed, which is modeled as 1-octacosene
(C28H56).

Constraints
There are two constraints to this new design that are different from operations at our plants in
the United States. First of all, the only use for steam is within the drying oil process; there is no
credit available for any steam produced in excess of this amount. Secondly, the technical
services division has determined that the temperature of any stream containing ACO or DO
downstream of the filter must be maintained below 300°C to avoid fouling due to excessive gum
formation.

Reaction Kinetics

The reactions and reaction kinetics are as follows:

C15 H 31COOH (l ) →

k1
CH 3COOH ( g ) + C14 H 28 (l )
(1)
ACO acetic acid DO

2C14 H 28 (l ) →
k2
C 28 H 56 ( s )
(2)
DO gum

where

− r1 = k1C ACO (3)

− r2 = k 2 C DO
2
(4)

and
 2

k1 = 5.538 × 1013 exp(−44,500 / RT ) (5)

k 2 = 1.55 × 10 26 exp(−88,000 / RT ) (6)

The units of reaction rate, ri, are kmol/m3s, and the activation energy is in cal/mol (which is
equivalent to kcal/kmol).

Specific Assignments
ChE 312

Determine the number of distillation columns required, their locations, their sequence, and
enough information for each column to determine their costs. The distillation column that
purifies the drying oil should be designed in detail. A detailed design of a tray tower includes
number of trays, tray spacing, diameter, reflux ratio, active area, weir height, top and bottom
pressure specifications, and design of auxiliary equipment (heat exchangers, pump, reflux drum,
if present). A detailed design of a packed tower includes height, packing size and type, and the
same other specifications as in a tray tower. For all columns in this project, you may assume that
HETP = 0.6 m. For the distillation column, the better economical choice between a packed and
tray tower should be determined. For either a packed or a tray distillation column, the optimum
reflux ratio should be determined.

Note that a tower consists of a vessel with internals (trays or packing). The constraints on a
vessel are typically a height-to-diameter ratio less than 20. However, it is possible to extend this
ratio to 30 as long as the tower is less than about 3 ft (1 m) in diameter. For larger-diameter
towers, stresses caused by wind limit the actual height. Extra supports are needed for a height-
to-diameter ratio above 20, even for smaller diameter columns. Therefore, there is a capital cost
“penalty” of an additional 25% (only on the vessel) up to a ratio of 25, and a “penalty” of an
additional 100% up to a ratio of 30.

You must choose the operating pressures for each column subject to constraints of operating
temperature and available utilities. If Dowtherm A is to be used in the reboiler, it should be
remembered that its maximum operating temperature is 400°C. If vacuum columns are needed,
pressure drop becomes a significant concern. As an alternative to tray towers, packed towers
with a low-pressure-drop structured packing may be used. The packing factor as defined in
Wankat1, p. 424, is that for Koch Flexipac #2. Assume the HETP for the structured packing to
be 0.6 m (see the definition of HETP in Wankat1, p. 418, and the relationship between HETP and
HOG in Equation 19.36 in Wankat1.), and that the pressure drop is 0.2 kPa/m (0.245 inch
water/ft).

The gum filter should be simulated as a perfect separator. The capital cost of the vessel and
filter is given by:

0.6
 Mass Flow of Reactor Effluent(kg/h ) 
Filter Cost = $150,000  
 10,700 
 3

The material flowing through the filter must be liquid. The operating cost is shown below.

ChE 325

Three reactor types may be considered for use in this design. They are an adiabatic reactor,
an “isothermal” reactor, and a reactor with heat exchange. An “isothermal” reactor is defined
here as one with a specified outlet temperature, not necessarily the inlet temperature, and some
form of heat exchange is needed to add or remove the heat of reaction to maintain constant
temperature. Chemcad will model the entire reactor as “isothermal” at that temperature. It must
be understood that this situation is not physically realistic. In a reactor with heat exchange, the
temperature along the length of the packed-bed reactor is not constant. The temperature can be
controlled by varying the temperature and flowrate of the heat-transfer fluid, heat-transfer area,
and the catalyst/inert ratio. One suggestion for the heat-transfer fluid is Dowtherm™ A;
however, you may make another choice, such as molten salt. If a heat-transfer fluid is used, it is
circulated in a closed loop through the reactor where its temperature is increased (if the reaction
is endothermic) or decreased (if the reaction is exothermic. Then, heat is added (removed) from
the fluid in a heat exchanger (or fired heater, if needed). The heat-transfer fluid is then pumped
back to the reactor. Properties of Dowtherm A™ are in Appendix 3.

For your best case, you should include a discussion of the temperature, pressure, and
concentration profiles obtained from Chemcad.

General

The entire drying oil process should be optimized using decision variables of your choosing.
Decision variables should be chosen as the design variables most strongly affecting the objective
function. There are topological optimization and parametric optimization. In topological
optimization, which is usually done first, the best process configuration is chosen. Parametric
optimization involves varying operating variables and should be done after topological
optimization is complete. Some examples of parameters that can be used as decision variables
are reactor temperature, pressure, and conversion; absorber temperature and pressure; and
distillation column reflux ratio.

Economic Analysis

When evaluating alternative cases, the equivalent annual operating cost (EAOC) objective
function should be used. The EAOC is defined as

EAOC = -(product value - feed cost – utility costs – waste treatment cost - capital cost annuity)

A negative EAOC means there is a profit. It is desirable to minimize the EAOC; i.e., a large
negative EAOC is very desirable.
 4

The capital cost annuity is an annual cost (like a car payment) associated with the one-time,
fixed cost of plant construction.

The capital cost annuity is defined as follows:

i (1 + i ) n
capital cost annuity = FCI
(1 + i ) n − 1

where FCI is the installed cost of all equipment; i is the interest rate (take i = 0.15) and n is the
plant life for accounting purposes (take n = 10).

The values of the raw material and products are as follows:

ACO – $0.59/kg

Acetic acid – $0.99/kg

DO – $1.19/kg

Gum – has no value, operating cost for the filter and disposal cost for the gum are:

cost of gum filtration and disposal (units of $/kg DO leaving reactor)

= 10 −3 [(ppm gum leaving reactor) − 1]

Report Format

This report should conform to the Department guidelines. It should be bound in a folder that
is not oversized relative to the number of pages in the report. Figures and tables should be
included as appropriate. An appendix should be attached that includes sample calculations.
These calculations should be easy to follow.

The written report is a very important part of the assignment. Poorly written and/or
organized written reports may require re-writing. Be sure to follow the format outlined in the
guidelines for written reports. Failure to follow the prescribed format may be grounds for a re-
write.

The following information, at a minimum, must appear in the main body of the final report:

1. a computer-generated PFD (not a Chemcad PFD) for the recommended optimum case,

2. a stream table containing the usual items,

3. a list of new equipment for the process, costs, plus equipment specifications (presented
with a reasonable number of significant figures),
 5

4. a summary table of all utilities used,

5. a clear summary of alternatives considered and a discussion, supported with figures, of

why the chosen alternative is superior,

6. a clear economic analysis which justifies the recommended case

7. a discussion section pertinent to each class plus a general discussion section for
optimization of the entire process

8. a Chemcad report only for your optimized case (in the Appendix). This must contain the
equipment connectivity, thermodynamics, and overall material balance cover pages;
stream flows; equipment summaries; tower profiles; and tray (packing) design
specifications (if you use Chemcad to design the trays (packing)). It should not contain
stream properties. Missing Chemcad output will not be requested; credit will be deducted
as if the information is missing.

Other Information

Unless specifically stated in class, the information in this document is valid for this project
only. Any information in the sophomore projects not specifically stated in this document is not
valid for this project.

Deliverables

Each group must deliver a report (two identical copies, one for each professor) written using
a word processor. The report should be clear and concise. The format is explained in the
document Written Design Reports. Any report not containing a labeled PFD and a stream table,
each in the appropriate format, will be considered unacceptable. PFDs from Chemcad are
generally unsuitable unless you modify them significantly. When presenting results for different
cases, graphs are superior to tables. For the optimal case, the report appendix should contain
details of calculations that are easy to follow. There should be separate appendices for each
class, ChE 312 and ChE 325, each containing calculations appropriate for the respective class.
These may be handwritten if done so neatly. Calculations that cannot be easily followed will
lose credit.

Each group will give an oral report in which the results of this project will be presented in a
concise manner. The oral report should be between 15-20 minutes, and each group member
must speak once. Reports exceeding this time limit will be stopped. A 5-10 minute question-
and-answer session will follow. Instructions for presentation of oral reports are provided in a
separate document entitled Oral Reports. The oral presentations will be Wednesday, April 21,
2004, starting at 11:00 a.m. and running until approximately 3:00 p.m. Attendance is required of
all students during their classmates’ presentations (this means in the room, not in the hall or the
computer room). Failure to attend any of the above-required sessions will result in a decrease of
one letter grade (per occurrence) from your project grade in ChE 312 and ChE 325.
 6

The written project report is due by 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, April 21, 2004. Late projects
will receive a minimum deduction of one letter grade.

In order to evaluate each team members writing skills, the results and discussion sections for
each specific assignment should be written by a different team member. The authorship of each
of these specific assignments should be clearly specified in the report. If a team has four
members, the member not authoring a specific assignment should author the cover
memorandum, abstract, introduction, and conclusion.

Revisions

As with any open-ended problem (i.e., a problem with no single correct answer), the problem
statement above is deliberately vague. The possibility exists that, as you work on this problem,
your questions will require revisions and/or clarifications of the problem statement. You should
be aware that these revisions/clarifications may be forthcoming.

References
1. Wankat, P., Equilibrium Staged Separation Processes, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,
NJ, 1988.
 7

Appendix 1
Chemcad Hints
In order to simulate this process, it is necessary for you to add gum as a compound to the
Chemcad databank. This has already been done in room 453. However, if you save the job to a
zip disk or floppy disk, it will not contain the new component. You must export the file rather
than just saving or copying it for it to contain the new component information. Therefore, it may
be beneficial for you to add this component to the databank on your home computer.

The procedure is as follows:

1. From the Thermophysical menu, click on databank and new component.

2. In the dialog box that is shown, enter a name for the compound (we used gum), the
molecular weight (392) and the boiling point (431.6°C). Click on group contribution
- Joback. This will use a group contribution method to estimate properties. Then,
click OK.

3. In the next dialog box, you must put in the correct groups. There is 1 –CH3 group, 25
>CH2 groups, 1 =CH2 group, and 1 =CH– group. Then, click OK.

4. It will ask you if you want to save this component. Click yes. It will probably assign
it as component number 8001.

5. If you want to check information or add more information, you can now go to
Thermophysical, databank, view-edit. Then, type in the new component number.
When the next menu list comes up, one thing you can do, for example, is add the
chemical formula for gum or add the correct chemical name under synonyms.
However, these are not necessary to run simulations using this new compound.

6. Be sure that the new compound, gum, is in your component list for the current job.

It is suggested that you simulate the process without recycle before completing the recycle
loop. To avoid problems with rigorous tower simulations that are difficult to converge, one
strategy is to include shortcut columns in the simulation that has a recycle loop. Then, simulate
the towers rigorously outside of the recycle loop. This can be accomplished by copying the feed
streams to the shortcut columns to the feed streams to the rigorous towers. However, it must be
understood that if you change the process simulation with recycle, the contents of the shortcut
column feed streams are not automatically copied to the feed streams of the rigorous tower. You
must do this manually each time, and then you must rerun the simulation on the rigorous towers
after having copied the streams.

Do not forget that this is a two-phase reaction, and this option must be selected in one the
first screen for the kinetic reactor.
 8

Appendix 2
Economic Data
Equipment Costs (Purchased)

Note: The numbers following the attribute are the minimum and maximum values for that
attribute. For a piece of equipment with a lower attribute value, use the minimum attribute value
to compute the cost. For a piece of equipment with a larger attribute value, extrapolation is
possible, but inaccurate. To err on the side of caution, you should use the price for multiple,
identical smaller pieces of equipment.

Pumps log10 (purchased cost ) = 3.4 + 0.05 log10 W + 0.15[log10 W ]2

W = power (kW, 1, 300)
assume 80% efficiency

Heat Exchangers log10 (purchased cost ) = 4.6 − 0.3 log10 A + 0.8[log10 A]2
A = heat exchange area (m2, 10, 1000)

Compressors log10 (purchased cost ) = 2.3 + 1.4 log10 W − 0.1[log10 W ]2

W = power (kW, 450, 3000)
assume 70% efficiency

Compressor Drive log10 (purchased cost ) = 2.5 + 1.4 log10 W − 0.18[log10 W ]2

W = power (kW, 75, 2600)

Turbine log10 (purchased cost ) = 2.5 + 1.45 log10 W − 0.17[log10 W ]2

W = power (kW, 100, 4000)
assume 65% efficiency

Fired Heater log10 (purchased cost ) = 3.0 + 0.66 log10 Q + 0.02[log10 Q ]2

Q = duty (kW, 3000, 100,000)
assume 80% thermal efficiency
assume can be designed to use any organic compound as a fuel

Vertical Vessel log10 (purchased cost ) = 3.5 + 0.45 log10 V + 0.11[log10 V ]2

V = volume of vessel (m3, 0.3, 520)

Horizontal Vessel log10 (purchased cost ) = 3.5 + 0.38 log10 V + 0.09[log10 V ]2

V = volume of vessel (m3, 0.1, 628)

Catalyst $2.25/kg
 9

Packed Tower Cost as vessel plus cost of packing

Packing log10 (purchased cost ) = 3 + 0.97 log10 V + 0.0055[log10 V ]2

V = packing volume (m3, 0.03, 628)

Tray Tower Cost as vessel plus cost of trays

Trays log10 (purchased cost ) = 3.3 + 0.46 log10 A + 0.37[log10 A]2

A = tray area (m2, 0.07, 12.3)

Storage Tank log10 (purchased cost ) = 5.0 − 0.5 log10 V + 0.16[log10 V ]2

V = volume (m3, 90, 30,000)

Reactors For this project, the reactor is considered to be a vessel.

It may be assumed that pipes and valves are included in the equipment cost factors. Location
of key valves should be specified on the PFD.

Utility Costs

Low Pressure Steam (618 kPa saturated) $7.78/1000 kg

Medium Pressure Steam (1135 kPa saturated) $8.22/1000 kg

High Pressure Steam (4237 kPa saturated) $9.83/1000 kg

Natural Gas (446 kPa, 25°C) $6.00/GJ

Fuel Gas Credit $5.00/GJ

Electricity $0.06/kWh

Boiler Feed Water (at 549 kPa, 90°C) $2.45/1000 kg

Cooling Water $0.354/GJ

available at 516 kPa and 30°C
return pressure ≥ 308 kPa
return temperature is no more than 15°C above the inlet temperature

Refrigerated Water $4.43/GJ

available at 516 kPa and 10°C
return pressure ≥ 308 kPa
return temperature is no higher than 20°C
 10

Deionized Water $1.00/1000 kg

available at 5 bar and 30°C

Waste Treatment of Off-Gas incinerated - take fuel credit

Refrigeration $7.89/GJ

Wastewater Treatment $56/1000 m3

Any fuel gas purge may be assumed to be burned elsewhere in the plant at a credit of
$2.50/GJ. Steam produced cannot be returned to the steam supply system for the appropriate
credit. Steam produced in excess of that required in this process is purged with no credit.

Equipment Cost Factors

Total Installed Cost = Purchased Cost (4 + material factor (MF) + pressure factor (PF))

Pressure < 10 atm, PF = 0.0
(absolute) 10 - 20 atm, PF = 0.6
20 - 40 atm, PF = 3.0
40 - 50 atm, PR = 5.0
50 - 100 atm, PF = 10
does not apply to turbines, compressors, vessels,
packing, trays, or catalyst, since their cost
equations include pressure effects

Carbon Steel MF = 0.0

Stainless Steel MF = 4.0
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Appendix 3
Other Design Data

Heat Exchangers

For heat exchangers, use the following approximations for heat-transfer coefficients to allow
you to determine the heat transfer area:

situation h (W/m2°C)

condensing steam 6000

condensing organic 1000

boiling water 7500

boiling organic 1000

flowing liquid 600

flowing gas 60

Physical Properties of Dowtherm™ A

temperature use range (in liquid phase) 60°F – 750°F

vapor pressure at 750°F 137.8 psig
thermal conductivity (avg. over use range) 0.07 BTU/hr ft°F
heat capacity (avg. over use range) 0.5 BTU/lb°F
viscosity (at max. and min. temp. use range) 0.14 cp, 6.0 cp
density (avg. over use range) 54 lb/ft3