INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE – PROCESS DESIGN

Personal Interview
1. Tell me about yourself with your family background and educational background in detail.
2. Why do select “Chemical Engineering” as your career field.
3. Why do you want to stop your education and go for a job instead of going for further education
like M.Tech and PhD?
4. What is the reason behind doing post graduate diploma in “process design engineering”? How
do you find it’s useful in comparison with Degree Syllabus?
5. Why do you select “Altitude” only for Process design engineering course?
6. What is the role of “Process design Engineer “in the industry?
7. How you differentiate “plant operation engineer” and “Process Design engineer”?
8. What is your strong area or subject in chemical engineering?
9. Could you tell us about your strong points and week points?
10. Why do you find yourself suitable for this position?
11. Why do you want to join our company only?
12. Where you want to see yourself 5 years down the line?
13. Brief information about interviewing company and present market scenario.
14. How do you find yourself for working long hours and under pressure scenario?
15. How soon you can join if selected.
16. What is your salary expectation?
17. Explain your previous company experience in detail.
18. Specific reason behind the change of job.

Technical Interview

General (Basics of chemical Engineering)

1. What is mean by Batch process and continuous process?
2. What is oil and gas? What is mean by hydrocarbons and chemicals.
3. What is absolute pressure and gauge pressure?
4. How chemical, petrochemicals and polymer engineering are different.
5. What is open system and closed system?
6. What is the difference between automated plant and manual plant?
7. What is difference between mass flow rate and volumetric flow rate? What’s it application.
8. Why steam fowrates are always mentioned in kg/hr. only.
9. What is NTP and STP condition? How it is useful.
10. How to calculate density of gas and density of liquid. How it is important..
11. What is mean by pressurized system and vacuum system?
12. What is normal boiling point and true boiling point?
13. What is difference between pressure and head?
14. What is mean by saturation?
15. What is diff between mass and weight (kg v/s kgf)?
16. What is diff between acceleration and gravity?
17. What is black body temperature
18. What is Nre, Npr and Nnu?
19. Can burnoulli equation for the gases
20. What is diff between plug flow,CSTR reactor
21. Law of Thermodynamics?
22. What is steam out condition and how it’s important?
23. What is ideal gas law? How it’s important.
24. What is heat and material balance? Why it’s required.
25. What is compressibility factor and how it’s important.
26. What is difference between partial pressure and vapor pressure?
27. What is the difference between Coolant and Refrigerant?
28. What is operating pressure, operating temperature, design pressure and design temperature?
Why it’s important in equipment’s or line design.
29. What is flash point and boiling point.
30. What is saturated superheated and sub cooled condition.
31. What is mean by Enthalpy?
32. What is mean by Dry bulb, wet bulb and dew point temperature and its application?
33. What is humidity and relative humidity.
34. What is driving force for Fluid flow, heat transfer and mass transfer?
35. What is difference between heat duty and heat capacity.
36. What are conduction, convection and radiation? Provide the difference.
37. What is difference between evaporation and vaporization?
38. What is mean by sensible heat and latent heat?
39. What is compressible fluid and incompressible fluid?
40. What is critical pressure and critical temperature?
41. What is mean by liquid, vapor and gas?
42. What is impact of increasing temperature on vapor and liquid?
43. Why gas and steam transfer are done in under pressure lines?
44. What is by humidity and relative humidity?
45. What is mean by colorless, odorless, flammable, Hazardous, combustible, toxic, non-toxic, LFL
and HFL, threshold limit?
46. What is drying? What is limitation for drying?
47. What is by calorific value of fuel?
48. What difference between Blending and mixing.
49. What is difference between Flue gas and fuel gas?
50. What is the difference between Design and Rating of any equipment?
51. What is difference between corrosion and erosion?
52. What are different type of flow measurement instrument and their application?
 53. What is “Tons of refrigeration”.
54. What is difference between preheater, heater and vaporizer
55. What is cooling, Chilling ,Refrigerant and cryogenic condition

EPC
1. What is EPC?
2. What is role of “Process Design Engineer” in EPC project?
3. What is role of Licensor, PMC and Detail Engineering Contactor?
4. What is mean by FEED and Detail Engineering?
5. Why Detail Engineering Required.
6. Why Detail engineering required team efforts from other department..

PFD
1. What is PFD.How it is different from P&ID.
2. What is mean by stream number in PFD.? What will happen if stream number misplaced.
3. How you decide the stream number requirement.
4. What are the input required to prepare PFD
5. What is the application of PFD?.
6. Why PFD is required. Why it is prepared before P&ID.
7. What’s difference between PFD, BFD and overall diagram?
8. What are short specifications shown in PFD.?

P&ID
1. What is P&ID.? Why it is called so.
2. What are the inputs required to prepare the PID.
3. Describe in detail the application of PID.
4. How do you find PID as a “Bible “of Detail Engineering?
5. What does the line numbering specifies. What is philosophy for change line numbering?
6. Why legend PID’s are required.
7. What are different type of valves and fittings? Also tell us their application.
8. What are NRV and its application?
9. What is strainer? What are different type of strainer and their applications?
10. What is standard mesh size in general application?
11. What’s difference between “Free draining” and “No Pocket”? How it affect piping department
work.
12. What are the pipe spec and its application?
13. Can you draw simple PID indicating vessel, pump and discharge line with FT and control valve
going to battery limit.
 14. What is mean by Short specification? Why it’s required. What are general things provided for
vessel/Tank / pump/ heat exchanger?
15. Why indicating “two phase flow” and “Slope” are indicated in PID. How it affects piping
department.
16. What is mean by OPC and its application?
17. What are all different staged of PID. Why different stages are required.
18. What is the difference between reducer and expander? It’s provided where and why?
19. What is mean by process control? How PID help to understand process control.

Line sizing
1. Why line sizing is required.
2. What’s mean by pipe schedule and its application?
3. What are all input required for line sizing.
4. How liquid line sizing and gas line sizing are different.
5. What is the procedure for line sizing?
6. What is the difference between static loss and dynamic loss?
7. What is mean by equivalent length and its application
8. What’s difference between spectacle blind and spacer?
9. What is the difference between bend and elbow?
10. What is the difference between pipe and tube?
11. What is a pressure and velocity limitation criterion for liquid, vapor and steam lines?
12. How line sizing help to minimize cost of project.
13. Logical and conceptual question
-What will happen if 100 m horizontal run line (4”) carrying 50 m3/hr of water (2 Barg, 60 DegC)
routing change to 60 m straight and then 40 m in upward direction.
-What will happen if same line size is used liquid and gas service.
-What will happen if line is oversized and vice versa.
-What will happen if numbers of bends are increased in line routing?

Line List
1. What are all components to be included in line list?
2. Why line list is required. Describe application of each component in line list.
3. Why density and phase are required in line list.
4. Why identification of high press and high temp lines are important.
5. What is use of RhoV2 in line list?
6. What is mean by Hydrotest and flushing? How you decides hydrotest and flushing medium.
 7. What you will do if you find design pressure or temperature are outside max
pressure/temperature condition of pipe spec.
8. What is importance of consistency between line list, PID, equipment and instrument datasheet?

Pump
1. Why pumps are required.
2. What are different type of pumps and its selection criteria?
3. What are inputs required for pump sizing.
4. What is NPSHa and NPSHr. Why it’s calculated. How its relate to vapor pressure
5. What are all actions required to check to meet NPSH requirement?
6. How to do pump sizing.
7. Why control valves are required in pump system loop.
8. Difference between Diff. pressure and Diff head and their application.
9. Explain pump performance characteristics in detail.
10. What is mean by Head gain and head loss.
11. What is mean by acceleration head in reciprocating pump?
12. Difference between pumps in parallel and pumps in series.
13. Describe Pump Min circulation flow in detail. When to use RO and control valve in MCF.
14. What is a use of suction specific speed?
15. What is the application of the pump sizing?
16. How to calculate pump hydraulic power and Mechanical power required.
17. What will happen if present running pump changed with high capacity motor?
18. What is impact of change in density on pump?
19. What is shutoff head and why it’s calculated.
20. Define affinity laws.
21. What is auto start pump? How to do suction and discharge calculations?
22. What is difference between Reciprocating pump and rotary pump?

Logical and conceptual question

1. What will happen if running centrifugal pump changes by reciprocating pump for same
application or vice versa?
2. What will happen if I changed present running pump with high capacity pump.
3. What will happen if pump suction vessel elevation is reduced or suction pipe length are
increased?
4. What will happen if discharge or suction equipment’s location change in plot plan.
5. What will happen if replace the motor of running pump with higher or lower capacity motor?
6. What will happen if running pump and spare pump of different capacity are used?
7. What will happen if I change pumping liquid e.g. methanol pump used for water service.
8. What will happen if pump run in reverse direction.
9. How pump will behave if some of blades of impellers are damaged.
10. What is impact on if suction strainer is wrongly sized or completely blocked?
Control valve
1. What is control valve Cv. How to calculate it.
2. What is the difference between control valve and on/off valve?
3. Min/Nor/Max flow case where pressure drop is more and less.
4. Define inherent and installed characteristics of Control valve.
5. What is flashing and cavitation in Control valve?
6. What is mean by control valve shutoff?
7. What is mean by TSO?. How it’s achieved.
8. Smaller pressure drop result in larger control valve. True or false. Explain.
9. What are different types of control valve?
10. What is Joule Thomson effect? How it is applicable for control valve.
11. What is choked flow in control valve?

12. Logical and conceptual question

- What will happen present control valve change with larger or lower size control valve?
- What will happen if control valve size is higher than line size?
-What will happen if Globe control valve change with ball or Butterfly control valve?
-What will if there is increase in pressure at the downstream and vice versa?
- What will happen if pneumatic actuator is changed to Electronic actuator?
- What will happen if control type change from “Fail open” to “Fail Closed”.
-What will happen if control valve is stuck at 20- 30 % opening?

Vessel/ Tank Sizing

1. What is the difference between vessel and tank?
2. What are residence time, Surge time and hold up time.
3. When to use vertical vessel or horizontal vessel.
4. How to do separator sizing.
5. How to reduce L/D for same separation.
6. What is mean by terminal settling velocity?
7. What are different loading factor for different applications.
8. What will happen if vessel oversize or undersize.
9. Why to calculate design pressure and design temperature.
10. What is the difference between “Working Volume and working capacity “and “Total Volume or
total capacity”.
11. What are different type of tanks
12. How to decide tank design pressure.
 13. What is in breathing and out breathing calculation in tank sizing?

Heat Exchanger
1. What are different TEMA types of heat exchanger?
2. What is all different type of heat exchanger? Provide comparison in brief.
3. What is parallel flow and counter current flow?
4. How to decide the shell side, tube side allocation of fluid.
5. What is range and approach?
6. What is mean by temperature cross? How to avoid temperature cross.
7. What is mean by Heat transfer area? How it is calculated.
8. What are nusselt number, Reynolds number and prandtl number? How it is useful in heat
exchanger design.
9. What is 10/13 rule for heat exchanger?
10. How to reduce shell side pressure drop in shell and tube heat exchanger.
11. Which heat type heat exchanger is preferred for same HTA of 20 m2.
12. What is LMTD? Why it’s calculated.
13. How to calculate LMTD for 1,2 pass heat exchanger and cross flow heat exchanger.
14. What are all different components of Heat exchanger?
15. What is the application of plate type heat exchanger?
16. What is mean by heat duty? How it’s calculated.
17. What is the application of Air cooler and its limitation?
18. What is mean by 1, 1 heat exchanger, 1, 4 heat exchanger, 2, 4 heat exchanger?
19. What is mean individual and overall heat transfer coefficient?
20. What is fouling factor. What is value for water?
21. What is overdesign? What is mean by margin on heat duty and margin on flowrate.
22. Logical and conceptual question
-What will happen if shell and tube heat exchanger is changed to plate type heat exchanger with
same heat transfer area (e.g. 10 m2) or vice versa.
-What will happen if shell side and tube side connections are interchanged?
-What will happen flow or temperature is changed on shell side or tube side fluid.
-What will happen if only shell side fluid is changed by keeping flow rate and temperature same.
-What will happen if same of the tubes are blocked due to leakage problem?
- What will happen if tube leak in heat exchanger.

Distillation Column
1. Why distillation is included in mass transfer and not in heat transfer.
2. What is mean by distillation, fractionation, scrubbing and stripping?
3. Why simple distillation is called as differential distillation.
 4. What is difference between azeotropic distillation and extractive distillation?
5. What is the difference between tray column and packed column?
6. What is different type of trays? Provide comparison.
7. What are the factors affecting column diameter.
8. What is a service factor?
9. What is flooding in column? Different type of flooding in column.
10. How to calculate numbers of plate in column.
11. What is flow path length?
12. What is mean by total reflux and min.reflux ratio?
13. What is tray spacing?
14. What is HETP in packed column?
15. How to decide column operating pressure.
16. What is difference between reboiler and condenser? How to minimize pressure drop in column.

Safety valve and Flare

1. What is purpose of safety valve?
2. How do you overpressure scenario analysis i.e. how you decide safety valve is required or not.
3. How safety valve and rupture disc are difference.
4. What is difference between safety valve, relief valve and Safety relief valve?
5. What is set pressure, overpressure and accumulation?
6. What is set pressure and overpressure criteria fire and non-fire case.
7. What is set pressure criteria for single and multiple safety valves for fire case and non-fire case?
8. What is relieving pressure and relieving temperature.
9. What is staggering of safety valves?
10. What is difference between operating pressure, design pressure and maximum allowable
pressure?
11. What is back pressure, superimposed back pressure and Built up back pressure.
12. What is constant back pressure and variable back pressure?
13. What are different types of safety valves?
14. What are the various relief scenario considered for safety valve sizing.
15. What is mean by actual relieving rate and rated relieving rate?
16. How do you select size of safety valve with various applicable relieving scenarios?
17. What are criteria of height from grade for fire case?
18. How to calculate Relieving load for various fire scenario.
19. What are different orifice sizes?
20. What is purpose of flare?
21. What is mean Mach number?
22. What is a Mach number criterion for main header and tail pipe?
23. Why fuel gas or nitrogen purging are provided in flare header.
 24. What is a PSV inlet and outlet line sizing criterion?
25. How to calculate latent heat of vaporization in fire scenario.

Datasheet
1. What are the things to be specified in Following datasheets and why
- Vessel Datasheet
- Pump Datasheet
- Heat exchanger Datasheet
- Tank datasheet
- Column datasheet
- Control valve datasheet
- Instrument datasheet

Simulation study
1. What is software used for process simulation?
2. How simulation is useful in comparison with hand calculations or excel calculations.
3. What is mean by thermodynamic model or package? How to decide type of package for
particular application.
4. What is mean by steady state and dynamic simulation.
5. What are the steps involve to do simulations for following equipment
- Heat exchanger
- Distillation column
- Control valve
- Refrigeration cycle.

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