Material Balances

Ethylene Oxide Production

Ethylene oxide (EO) is used primarily as a chemical intermediate in making ethylene glycol and
certain plastics. It is a major commodity chemical that is manufactured throughout the world.

Ethylene oxide is produced by the catalytic oxidation of ethylene over a silver-containing

catalyst. A side reaction oxidizes ethylene to carbon dioxide and water.

C 2 H 4 + 0.5O2 → C 2 H 4 O ζ1

C 2 H 4 + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 2 H 2 O ζ2

where ζi is the extent of reaction of reaction i. The selectivity of these reactions is determined by
processing conditions. In the normal operating range for the catalyst (225 to 275°C), lower
single-pass conversion favors ethylene oxide production. A simplified process flow diagram for
an EO process is shown in Figure 1.

Process Description

Fresh ethylene (Stream 1) and air (Stream 2) are combined with a recycle stream containing
unreacted ethylene, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and traces of water vapor. The combined stream is
fed to a reactor, operating between 225 and 275°C. The system pressure is 10 atm. The ethylene
in the reactor feed (Stream 3) must be maintained between 5 to 10% for satisfactory catalyst
operation. The single pass conversion in the reactor may be adjusted between 20 and 95% to
optimize unit performance. All of the oxygen in the feed reacts. The reactor effluent (stream 4)
is cooled and sent to an absorber operating at 40°C. Essentially all of the ethylene oxide is
absorbed. Water is fed to the absorber in a 100:1 water:EO ratio. The water-EO mixture is
distilled to obtain pure ethylene oxide product. The gas stream leaving the absorber is recycled.
A portion of the recycle stream is purged so that excessive amounts of nitrogen and carbon
dioxide do not build up in the system. Figure 1 shows a sketch of the process.

Reaction Information

The selectivity for ethylene oxide production is a function of single-pass conversion over the
normal operating range. Selectivity data are provided in Table 1.

Operating Costs

Much of the expense in manufacturing ethylene oxide is associated with utility costs like
compressing gases to reaction pressure and evaporating liquids for separation in distillation
towers. These costs cannot be estimated well in a first chemical engineering course. Therefore,
utility costs may be ignored this semester. The difference between product price and feedstock
cost should be called revenue. It should not be called profit, since operating and other expenses
have not been included.

ethylene cost = $ 0.55 /kg

ethylene oxide price = $ 0.98 /kg

Table 1: Reaction Selectivity Data

% Conversion ζ1 / ζ2
20 6.0
30 5.9
40 5.8
50 5.6
60 5.2
70 4.4
80 3.6
85 2.4
90 1.2
95 0.0

Problem

You, the engineering team, are to optimize the operation of the EO process in order to produce
50,000 metric-tons/yr (50,000,000 kg/yr) to meet a contract with another company. Your goal is
to minimize operating costs and maximize revenue. You are constrained by the selectivity of the
reaction and by the operating requirement that reactor feed contain 5-to-10 % ethylene. The feed
constraint can be met by adjusting the flow of the purge stream.

You may not use CAD software, but are encouraged to use spreadsheet calculations. You may
write your own program if you prefer. If you write a program, any programming language is
acceptable. Whether you use a spreadsheet or program, you must turn in hand calculations for
one case to demonstrate that the program or spreadsheet is written correctly.

Group Formation

A design group is to consist of two members. You are encouraged to make groups by yourselves.
When you have formed a group, please turn in the names of group members to Dr. Kugler. He
will combine groups to make 3- or 4-person design teams. A list of design teams will be
provided on November 12.

Reports

Each team will be expected to prepare a written report recommending the best operating
procedures for the EO process. This report is due at 3:00 PM, Wednesday, December 5. The
report should follow the department’s design-report guidelines. Data should be in the form of
graphs and tables since this serves to both condense results and make them easily

2
understandable. The appendix should include your spreadsheet or computer program and a hand
calculation of a representative case.

Report Authors

Although work on a group report can never be divided equally, only those members making
substantial contributions to the final report should be listed as authors.

3
 R-701 T-701 T-702
ethylene oxide ethylene oxide ethylene oxide
reactor absorber column

process water
purge gas

ethylene ethylene oxide

air T-702
R-701 T-701

wastewater

Figure 1: Ethylene Oxide Process

 Energy Balances and Numerical Methods
Spring 2002

Design Project

Production of Ethylene Oxide

Process Description

Figure 1 is a preliminary process flow diagram (PFD) for the ethylene oxide production
process. The raw material is ethylene, which may be assumed to be pure. Air is compressed in
C-701 and mixed with the feed. The mixed feed is heated, vaporized, and superheated in a heat
exchanger (E-701); and is then sent to the reactor (R-701) in which ethylene oxide (EO) is
formed. The reactions that occur are shown later. The reactor effluent is cooled and partially
condensed in a heat exchanger (E-702), and it is then sent to the separation section. In T-701,
water is used to absorb the EO from the reactor effluent stream. The water and EO are then sent
to a distillation column, T-702, where “pure” EO is produced in the top stream (distillate), with
water in the bottom stream (bottoms). In T-701, the vapor stream leaving the top contains
ethylene for recycle. However, nitrogen must be purged. The desired EO production rate is
100,000 tonne/y.

Process Details

Feed Streams

Stream 1: ethylene, from pipeline at 35 bar and 25°C, may be assumed pure

Stream 2: dried air, assumed to be 79 mol % nitrogen, 21 mol % oxygen, 1 atm, 25°C
excess air needed so that ethylene is ≤ 3 vol % (to be below flammability limit
for safety purposes)

or use “pure” oxygen (99 wt % with 1 wt % nitrogen), 1 atm, 25°C

no concentration restriction because all concentrations within flammability
limit (hence, there are safety issues, though it is done in industry)
oxygen to ethylene ratio same as when using air

Stream 9: pure water at 25°C, available at needed pressure

Effluent Streams

Stream 12: purge stream – may be burned as fuel gas – credit may be taken for LHV at
$2.50/GJ

Stream 14: EO product, required 100,000 tonne/y, may be assumed pure

 C-701 E-701 R-701 E-702 T-701 T-702 E-703 E-703
air reactor EO reactor EO EO condenser reboiler
compressor pre-heater reactor cooler absorber column

13

fuel
9 gas
process water 10 12
6

E-701
hps

5
1 3 T-701
ethylene R-701 E-703
cw
cw
4 14
T-702 ethylene
2
oxide
air
C-701 11
7 8

cw
E-704
E-702
hps

15

waste
water

Figure 1: Process Flow Diagram for Ethylene Oxide Production

2
 3

Stream 15: waste water stream, may be assumed pure in material balance calculations, is
not pure, so there is a cost for its treatment

Equipment

Compressor (C-701)

The compressor increases the pressure of the feed air to the reactor pressure. The work
for a compressor may be calculated as

 P 
0.286

Ws = 4.5 RTin  out  − 1 (1)
 Pin  

where the work is in kJ/kmol and the temperature is in Kelvin.

Heat Exchanger (E-701):

This unit heats, vaporizes, and superheats the feed to 240°C at the reactor pressure. The
source of energy for heating must be above 240°C.

Reactor (R-701):

The following reactions are known to occur:

C 2 H 4 + 0.5O2 → C 2 H 4 O ζ1
(2)
ethylene EO

C 2 H 4 + 3O2 → 2CO2 + 2 H 2 O
(3)
ethylene

C 2 H 4 O+ 2.5O2 → 2CO2 + 2 H 2 O ζ2
(4)
EO

where ζi is the extent of reaction i.

For this semester, it may be assumed that the second reaction, Equation (3), does not
occur to any appreciable extent.

Based on the catalyst and reaction kinetics, the reactor must operate between 25-35 bar.
The reactor operates isothermally at 240°C. Since the reaction is exothermic, a medium
is needed to remove the heat generated, and that medium must always be at a lower
temperature than that of the reactor.
 4

Table 1 shows the selectivity data for the reactions as a function of conversion. The
conversion in the reactor should be one decision variable.

Table 1: Reaction Selectivity Data

% Conversion ζ1 / ζ2
20 6.0
30 5.9
40 5.8
50 5.6
60 5.2
70 4.4
80 3.6
85 2.4
90 1.2
95 0.0

Heat Exchanger (E-702):

This unit cools and partially condenses the reactor effluent to 45°C.

Absorber (T-701):

In this absorber, water is used to remove the ethylene oxide from the other components in
the gas phase. For this semester’s project only, you may assume that all of the ethylene
oxide is removed, that no water is lost to the gas phase, and that no gases other than
ethylene oxide are removed from the gas phase. The molar ratio of water to ethylene
oxide content of Stream 8 is 100/1.

Distillation Column (T-702):

This distillation column separates EO from water. For this semester only, the separation
may be assumed to be perfect, i.e., pure EO is produced in the distillate. The temperature
of the distillate is the temperature at which EO condenses at the column pressure of 10
bar. The valve before the distillation column reduces the pressure from 30 bar to 10 bar.

Heat Exchanger (E-703):

In this heat exchanger, the contents of the top of T-702 (pure EO) are condensed from
saturated vapor to saturated liquid at the column pressure at a rate three times the flow of
Stream 14. One-third of the condensate becomes Stream 14 and the remainder is returned
to the column. There is a cost for the amount of cooling medium needed to remove the
necessary energy. The cooling medium must always be at a lower temperature than the
stream being condensed.
 5

Heat Exchanger (E-704):

In this heat exchanger, you may assume that the stream being vaporized has the same
flowrate as Stream 15. 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 water 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 valves can be added as
needed at no cost. Flow occurs from higher pressure to lower pressure. Pumps increase
the pressure of liquid streams, and compressors increase the pressure of gas streams.

Additional Information:

If you make steam from boiler feed water anywhere in the process, you may take credit
for the value of all steam produced minus the cost of boiler feed water. A pump will also
be needed to raise the pressure of boiler feed water to that of the steam produced.
 6

Utility Costs

Low-Pressure Steam (618 kPa, saturated, cost or credit) $6.62/1000 kg

Medium-Pressure Steam (1135 kPa, saturated, cost or credit) $7.31/1000 kg

High-Pressure Steam (4237 kPa, saturated, cost or credit) $8.65/1000 kg

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

cost $3.00/GJ
credit $2.50/GJ

Electricity $0.05/kWh

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

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

Cooling Water $0.16/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 $20/GJ

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

Process Water $0.04/1000 kg

available at 300 kPa and 25°C

Waste Water Treatment $50/1000 m3

 7

Data

Use data from in Felder and Rousseau1 or from any handbook2. The following data are not
readily available in these references.

Liquid Heat Capacity

for EO: 144,710 - 758.87T + 2.8261T 2 – 0.003064T 3 J/kmol K T (K)

Vapor Heat Capacity

2 2
 1608.4 / T   737.3 / T 
for EO: 33,460 + 121,160   + 82,410  J/kmol K T (K)
 sinh(1608.4 / T )   cosh(737.3 / T ) 
Normal Heat of Vaporization
for EO: 30,348 J/mol

Heat of Formation
for EO: -1194.7 kJ/kg

Vapor Pressure
for EO: lnP*(Pa) = 91.949 – 5293.4/T – 11.682 lnT + 0.014913T T(K)

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 – 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.

The costs for EO and ethylene (highest purity) can be found in the Chemical Market
Reporter, which is in the Evansdale Library. The cost for “pure” oxygen is $0.20/100 std ft3
(60°F, 1 atm).

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

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
 8

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.

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 report written using a word processor. The report should be clear
and concise. The format is explained in a separate document (Written Design Reports). Any
report not containing a labeled PFD and a stream table will be considered unacceptable. The
stream table must include temperature, pressure, phase, total mass flowrate, total molar flowrate,
and component molar flowrates. When presenting results for different cases, graphs are
generally superior to tables. The report appendix should contain details of calculations for the
optimal case. These calculations may be (neatly) hand-written. Calculations that can not be
followed easily will lose credit. (If you are in doubt as to the meaning of this statement, ask the
instructor.) Refer to the document entitled Written Design Reports for more information.

Each group will give an oral report in which the results of this project are presented in a
concise manner. The oral report should be no more than 15 minutes, and each group member
must speak. A 5-10 minute question-and-answer session will follow. Instructions for
presentation of oral reports will be provided in a separate document entitled Oral Reports.
However, the best way to learn how to present an oral report, other than actually presenting one,
is to make time to see some of the oral reports presented by the juniors the week before you are
to present your report. The presentations will most likely be on Wednesday, April 24, 2002,
between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. You will be kept informed of the scheduling of these
presentations.

As mentioned in the cover memo, the written project report is due on Monday, April 29,
2002, at 3:00 p.m. The oral reports will be Monday, April 29, 2002 and Wednesday, May 1,
2002 (ChE 230 classes). There will be a project review on Thursday, May 2, 2002 (ChE 202
class). In addition, everyone must attend the senior design presentation at 2:30 pm on Tuesday,
April 30, 2002. 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.
 9

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

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. Felder, R. M. and R. W. Rousseau, Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes (3rd ed.),

Wiley, New York, 2000.

2. Perry, R. H. and D. Green, eds., Perry’s Chemical Engineering Handbook (7th ed.), McGraw-
Hill, New York, 1997.
MEMORANDUM

TO: Sophomores in ChE 202 and ChE 230

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

DATE: May 7, 2002

SUBJECT: Equipment Costs for Design Project

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

Equipment Installed Cost

in millions of $

Reactor 10
Distillation Columns, each 2.5
(including peripheral heat
exchangers)
Absorber 5
Compressor 0.24×(flow, kmol/h)0.6
Heat Exchangers, all, including 13
ones not shown on process
flow diagram

For the compressor, flow is the total molar flowrate through the compressor

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

Design Project

Production of Ethylene Oxide

Ethylene oxide is a chemical used to make ethylene glycol (the primary ingredient in
antifreeze). It is also used to make poly(ethylene oxide), and both the low molecular weight and
high molecular weight polymers have many applications including as detergent additives.
Because ethylene oxide is so reactive, it has many other uses as a reactant.

This project addresses the design of a new facility to produce 50,000 metric tons/yr of
chemical grade ethylene oxide.

Process Description
The process concept diagram is shown in Figure 1. Ethylene feed, Stream 1, (via pipeline
from a neighboring plant) is mixed with recycled ethylene, Stream 9, and then heated. This
stream is mixed with compressed, dried (drying step not shown), and heated air, Stream 2, and
then fed to the reactor as Stream 3. The reactions that take place are given below and consist of
the catalytic oxidation of ethylene to produce ethylene oxide. In addition to the desired reaction,
combustion reactions for both ethylene and ethylene oxide occur, and these are undesirable.

C 2 H 4 + 0.5 O2 → C 2 H 4 O (desired) (1)

ethylene ethylene oxide

C 2 H 4 + 3 O2 → 2CO2 + 2 H 2O (undesired) (2)

ethylene

C 2 H 4 O + 2.5 O2 → 2CO2 + 2 H 2 O (undesired) (3)

ethylene oxide

The reaction is exothermic, and takes place at a temperature of 270°C and a pressure of 26
bar (these are conditions at the inlet of the Reactor). You may assume that the reaction occurs
isothermally at this temperature, and that the heat of reaction (exothermic) is removed by boiling
boiler feed water in the reactor shell to produce high-pressure steam. Conversion in the reactor
is kept low to enhance selectivity for the desired product. The optimum single-pass conversion
of ethylene has been determined to be 35%. The molar ratio of oxygen to ethylene at the reactor
ethylene should be 6:1. Side reactions are relatively low due to the choice of the reactor
operating conditions. For the reactor conditions given above, the amounts of ethylene consumed
in reactions (2) and (3) are 1% and 0.5% of that consumed by the first reaction, respectively.

1
 Fuel Gas
Recycled Ethylene
9 8
R-701

hps

E-702

hps
Ethylene

1 3 E-703
cw
Ethylene Oxide
Separations
4 Equipment 5

C-701A-... E-701
bfw
hps Waste Water
Air
2 7

Water
6
Figure 1: Process Concept Diagram for Ethylene Oxide Production Facility 2
 The process stream leaving the reactor (called the “reactor effluent”) is cooled, and this
stream, Stream 4, is sent to the separations unit where ethylene oxide is separated to the desired
99.5 wt% purity and sent to storage, Stream 5. In order to separate the product ethylene oxide
from the unreacted ethylene and air, water, Stream 6, is used to absorb the ethylene oxide prior to
purification by distillation. The ratio of required water feed to ethylene oxide product is 100:1 by
mole. You should assume that the water enters the process at 25°C and that it all leaves the
separation section as a saturated liquid at 10.5 bar, Stream 7. The total heating requirements for
the separations section are equal to twice that required to heat the water stream from 25°C, to a
saturated liquid at 10.5 bar. Condensing high-pressure steam satisfies the heating requirements.
Likewise, the cooling requirements of the separation section are satisfied using cooling water and
the cooling duty is equal to (and opposite) to the heating duty.

The unreacted ethylene, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen are recycled back to the front
end of the process, Stream 9, with a portion of this gas being purged as a fuel gas or waste
stream, Stream 8.

Specific Objectives of this Project

The main objective of this project is to optimize the feed section of the ethylene oxide
process. In order to do this, you will need to establish the flows and temperatures of all streams
(Streams 1 –9) in Figure 1. You should use the Chemcad process simulator to do this task using
the SRK thermodynamics package.

Once flows and temperatures are set, you should complete each of the following mini-
projects that relate ChE 310, 311, and 320.

Thermodynamics (ChE 320) Mini-Project

In Figure 1, only one air compressor is shown. Since the reactor operates at 26 bar pressure,
several stages of compression, with inter-cooling, may be necessary. The purpose of this mini-
project is to find the optimum compressor arrangement for the design air flowrate. The
efficiency of each compression stage may be assumed to be 75%. The costs for heat exchangers,
compressors, and utilities are all given in the Appendix to this problem statement. For the sake
of this mini-project, you may assume that the pressure drops for all inter cooling heat exchangers
are 3 psi, and the pressure drops between equipment are 1 psi. The pressure drop through the
steam heater, E-701, may be assumed to be 3 psi and the pressure drop from E-701 to R-701 may
be assumed to be 5 psi. As described in the Fluids section, a drier/filter must be placed upstream
of the first compressor and the pressure drop across it may be assumed to be 3 psi.

The above optimization should be done using Chemcad using the SRK enthalpy option. The
cost of compressors, inter-cooling heat exchangers, cooling water, and electrical utilities should
be included in the optimization. Since capital costs ($) and operating costs ($/yr) have different
units, the capital costs must be amortized before they can be added to the operating costs. The

3
appropriate objective function to optimize is the equivalent annual operating cost (EAOC) that is
defined below:

EAOC ($ / yr ) = {∑ Installed Cost of Equipment ($)}{ A / P, i, n} + Utility Costs ($ / yr ) (4)

Where {A/P, i, n} = i(1+i)n/[(1+i)n-1], i is the annual interest rate, and n is the number of years
for the analysis. For your calculations, you should use i = 7% per year (i = 0.07) and n = 10
years. Note that only the costs associated with the feed air handling system should be used in
Equation (4).

Once the optimum compressor configuration has been obtained, you should investigate the
effect of using a different thermodynamics packages on the power requirement and capital cost
of the compressor arrangement. Specifically, you should use the Peng-Robinson and Latent Heat
enthalpy options and compare the results with those obtained from the SRK method.

Fluid Flow (ChE310) Mini-Project

You are required to find the optimum pipe sizes and make the pressure drop calculations for
the air handling system that includes all piping, pipe fittings, the air filter, and all heat
exchangers between the air filter and the reactor inlet. Specifically, you should assume the
following:

• The air feed should be taken from the environment (14.7 psi and 20°C) and compressed
via a series of compressors (see the section on Thermodynamics).
• Before compression, the air must flow through a drier/filter to remove any residual
moisture and particulates. The drier/filter is standard equipment, and the vendors
recommend that at the design flow a pressure drop of 3 psi be used.
• The air should pass through the shell side of any heat exchanger used to heat or cool it.
• 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 air-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 feed air line (compressors, heat exchangers,
drier/filter), 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 Globe valve

(normally open) (normally closed )

4
 • Each piece of equipment will be separated by at least 10 ft of piping to allow for
maintenance.
• The piping between the last piece of equipment before the reactor (E-701) and the reactor
itself, 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 50% 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), and a
tee (used as an elbow with the other leg used as the inlet point for the ethylene feed).
• The choice of where to add the ethylene stream is left up to you.

The optimization of the piping arrangement should be done using the results of the optimum
compressor arrangement, described above, as the starting point. Note that when doing this
optimization, the compressor loads may have to be varied from the “optimum” found in the
Thermodynamics section. This is because piping pressure drops were assumed in the previous
optimization while they are calculated in this optimization. The optimization for this mini-
project should take into account the cost of the compressors, the cost of the intercoolers, the cost
of pipe and fittings, the cost of cooling water, and the cost of electricity. Again the EAOC,
defined in Equation (4), should be used as the objective function. The equipment that should be
considered in this optimization includes the cost of the compressors, heat exchangers, and piping,
and the cooling water and electrical utility costs. Note that after this optimization, you may have
slightly different values for compressor loads that you found in the Thermodynamics mini-
project. It is unnecessary to iterate and “reoptimize” the compressor configuration in the
Thermodynamics section.

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

Heat Transfer (ChE 311) Mini-Project

You should perform a detailed design of the first inter-cooler heat exchanger (after the first
compressor). You should assume that cooling water is available at the conditions specified in the
appendix of this problem statement. For this heat exchanger design, you should report the
following information:

• 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, pitch, type)
• Diameter, thickness, and length of tubes
• Calculation of both shell- and tube-side film heat transfer coefficients.
• Calculation of overall heat transfer coefficient (you may assume that there is no fouling
on either side of the exchanger).

5
 • Heat transfer area of the exchanger
• Shell-side and tube-side pressure drops (note that the shell-side pressure drop is used for
the fluids mini-project)

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

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 22, 2002. Late projects will receive a minimum of a one letter grade
deduction.

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 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.

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

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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.
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 3, 2002 from 11:00
am 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 three or four. You have already selected a partner, and
groups of two have been paired up by the instructors. Since there are 18 students doing the
project, there will be 5 groups. There will be 3 groups of 4 and 2 groups of 3.

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.

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 Appendix

Equipment Cost and Design Data

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Raw Materials
Ethylene see Chemical Market Reporter

Product
Ethylene Oxide see Chemical Market Reporter

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 $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 516 kPa and 30°C
return pressure ≥ 308 kPa
return temperature is no more than 15°C and no less than 5°C above the inlet temperature

Deionized Water $1.00/1000 kg

available at 5 bar and 30°C

Wastewater Treatment $50/1000 m3

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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 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 to be $1 million

Tanks $1000V0.6
V = volume, m3

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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 6000

condensing organic 1000

boiling water 7500

boiling organic 1000

flowing liquid 600

flowing gas 60

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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.

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