Chemical Processes

What is Engineering?
 Chemists Vs Chemical Engineers
Chemists Chemical Engineers

 Design reaction pathways  Design a process to scale

to produce a chemical from the chemist’s process to
raw materials mass produce the
product
 Work in the laboratory
setting to produce material  Work in a chemical plant
on gram to kilogram scale to produce material in ton
and beyond range
 Skills to be Developed
Chemist
 Analysing and interpretation
of Chemistry data.
 Handling of lab equipments
and basic techniques.
 Finding new pathways for
existing reactions or
processes.
Chemical Engineer
 Organizational Skills.
 Understanding of
commercial applications and
economics of the product.
 Project managements and
leadership qualities.
 Contribution of Chemical Engineering

Toothpaste Dyes Hydrogen

Gasoline Shampoo

Fertilizer Chemicals are all around Food

additives
Decaffeinated Cosmetics
Coffee Soap
Paint Sugar Polymers
Pharmaceuticals
 Chemical Engineering:
A Diversified Field
 Chemicals
 Petrochemicals
 Biochemical Enginnering
 Energy
 Environment
 Advanced Materials
 Bio-Medical
 Food Processing
Subjects We have Learned so
far……..
 Fundamentals of Chemistry:
 Organic, Inorganic and Physical chemistry.
 Stoichiometry:
 Process Calculations.
 Thermodynamics:
 Equilibrium conditions and Feasibility of process
 Heat Transfer:
 Modes of heat transfer and
Heat Transfer Equipment
Subjects We have Learned so
far……..
 Fluid Flow Operations
 Fluid statics
 Naviors’ Stokes Equation
 Mass Transfer:
 Modes of Mass transfer
 Diffusion
 Interphase mass transfer
 Absorption
 Distillation
 Extraction
 Unit Operations and Unit Processes
 Every industrial chemical process is based on

Unit Operations (physical treatment) and

Unit Processes (chemical treatment)

to produce economically desired product from specific raw

material.

 The raw materials are treated through physical steps to make it

suitable for chemical reaction.

 So, knowledge of unit operations like ‘Mixing and agitation of

liquid’ and’ heat flow’ is very much necessary.
 Unit Operations and Unit Processes
 The subject Unit Operations is based on fundamental laws,
physicochemical principles.

 Unit Operations gives idea about

 science related to specific physical operation;

 different equipments- and its design,

 material of construction and operation; and

 calculation of various physical parameters

(mass flow, heat flow, mass balance, power and force etc.).

Examples of Unit Operations are listed in Table 1.

Unit Operations
Unit Operations
Unit Processes
 Chemical Process

 Chemical processes usually have three interrelated elementary

processes

 Transfer of reactants to the reaction zone

 Chemical reactions involving various unit processes

 Separation of the products from the reaction zone using

various unit operations
 Chemical Process
 After preparing raw materials by physical treatment, these
undergo chemical conversion in a reactor.

 To perform chemical conversion basic knowledge of

stoichiometry, reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, chemical
equilibrium, energy balance and mass balance is necessary.

 Many alternatives may be proposed to design a reactor for a

chemical process.

 One design may have low reactor cost, but the final materials
leaving the unit need higher treatment cost while separating and
purifying the desired product.
 Chemical Process
 Therefore, the economics of the overall process also play a
vital role in selecting a suitable alternative design.

 Each chemical process consists of series of assembly that are

organized systematically to achieve the goal.

 The physical and chemical steps in a process are set with the
help of combined knowledge and experience of engineers,
technologists and cost experts to produce a product.

 The individual operations have some common phenomena

and are based on the same scientific principles e.g. Heat
transfer is the common phenomenon in evaporation, drying
and crystallization.
 Chemical Process

 A process designer designs a chemical process considering;

 efficiency of process and equipments

 Safety with respect to the process, raw chemicals, finished

products and long term effect on environment.

 financial viability of the products as demanded by the

purchaser.
 Examples
Following are some examples of physical processes:

(a) Sugar Manufacture:

Sugar cane crushing → sugar extraction → thickening of syrup →

evaporation of water → sugar crystallization → filtration →drying
→screening →packing.

(b) Pharmaceutical Manufacture:

Formulation of chemicals, mixing, granulation → drying of

granules→ screening → pressing tablet → packaging.
Examples Continued…..

(c) Salt Manufacture:

Brine transportation → evaporation → crystallization
→drying → screening → conveying → packaging.
 Development of Process

 General flow chart exhibiting product formation is called Block

Flow Diagram (BFD). (Fig. 1)

 The figure shows the sequence of basic components generally

used in a typical chemical process in which each block
represents a stage in the overall process for producing a
product from the raw materials.

 The design of the process involves selection, arrangement of

the stages and the selection of specification and design of the
equipment required to perform the stages.
 Development of Process

 A block flow diagram (BFD) is a drawing of a chemical

processes used to simplify and understand the basic structure
of a system.
 A BFD is the simplest form of the flow diagrams used in
industry.
 Blocks in a BFD can represent anything from a single piece of
equipment to an entire plant. For a complex process, block
flow diagrams can be used to break up a complicated system
into more reasonable principle stages/sectors.
Development of Process

Figure 1: Block Diagram

Block Flow Diagram

Figure 2: Benzene production

 Development of Process

 A process flow diagram (PFD) is a diagram commonly used in

chemical engineering to indicate the general flow of plant
processes and equipment.

 The PFD displays the relationship between major equipment of a

plant facility and does not show minor details such as piping
details and designations.

 Another commonly used term for a PFD is a flowsheet.

 A Process Flow Diagram (PFD)

Typically, process flow diagrams of a single unit process will include

the following:
 Process piping

 Major equipment items

 Control valves and other major valves

 Connections with other systems

 Major bypass and recirculation streams

 Operational data (temperature, pressure, mass flow rate,

density, etc.), often by stream references to a mass balance.

 Process stream names

 A Process Flow Diagram (PFD)

Process flow diagrams generally do not include:

 Pipe classes or piping line numbers

 Process control instrumentation (sensors and final elements)

 Minor bypass lines

 Isolation and shutoff valves

 Maintenance vents and drains

 Relief and safety valves

 Flanges
 A typical
Process Flow Diagram (PFD)
A process flow diagram (PFD)
 Conventions for the construction of
Block flow diagram (BFD)

 Operations and Equipments are represented by

blocks.
 Materials flow are represented by straight line
with arrow directing the flow.
 Lines are either horizontal or vertical.
 Flow goes from left to right.
 If lines cross, horizontal line will be continuous
and vertical line will be broken.
 Conventions for the construction of
Block flow diagram (BFD)

 Light streams (gases) will be near to the top of the

BFD, than heavy streams (solids, liquid).

 Critical information unique to the process is

supplied (e.g. Chemical Reaction).

 A simplified material balance should be provide.

 Development of Process
Along with knowledge of unit processes and unit
operation following information is very important
for the development of a process and its
commercialization.
 Basic Chemical data: Yield, Conversion, Kinetics
of the reaction.
 Material Energy balances, raw material changes
per ton of product.
 Batch and Continuous process flow diagram.
 Design and operational data, pilot plant data.
 Development of Process

Continued…
 Material of Construction.
 Chemical process control and Instrumentation.
 Process Economics:
 Comparison of processes, material and energy costs,
labor cost.
 Overall cost of unit production.
 Market evaluation:
 Purity and uniformity of products for further processing.
 Development of Process
Chemical Process Plant
 Plant location.
 Environment, Health, Safety and Hazard.
 Construction, Erection and Commissioning.
 Management for productivity and creativity.
 Training of plant personals and motivations at all
levels.
 Research, development and patents.
 Process Intensification.
 Development of Process
Beyond Traditional Chemical Engineering
To
 Improve productivity,
 Make process cost effective,
 Improve overall economy and safety,
 Make process efficient and environmentally
sustainable
Process Intensification
has become very important.
 Engineering aspects of Plant Design
 Economic evaluation of process.

 Design of individual equipment.

 Development of plant layout.

 Coordination of the overall process.

 Erection, procurement and commissioning of plant.

 Stages in Plant Design
A plant–design project is completed through a series of
stages:
 Inception
 Preliminary evaluation of economics and market
 Development of data necessary for final design
 Final economic evaluation
 Detailed engineering design
 Procurement
 Erection
 Startup and trial runs
 Production
 Skills Required
Above brief outline suggests that the plant design project
requires variety of skills such as:
 Research

 market analysis

 design of individual pieces of equipment

 cost estimation

 computational skills.
 Feasibility Survey
Following is a list of items that should be considered in
making a feasibility survey:
 Raw materials
 Thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions involved
 Estimation of production costs and total investment
 Profits
 Materials of constructions
 Safety considerations
 Markets
 Competition
 Properties of products
 Sales and sales service
 Shipping restrictions and containers
 Plant location
 Patent situation and legal restrictions
 General Design Considerations
The development of a complete plant design requires consideration of many different
subjects:
Plant locations :
Following factors should be considered in choosing a plant site:
1. Raw materials
2. Markets
3. Energy availability
4. Climate
5. Transportation
6. Water supply
7. Waste disposal
8. Labor supply
9. Taxation and legal restrictions
10. Site characteristics
11. Flood and fire protection
12. Community factors
 Plant Layout
 It is the physical arrangement of equipment and facilities

within a Plant.

 Scale drawings, complete with elevation indications can be

used to determine the best location for equipment and

facilities.

 Optimizing the Layout of a Plant can improve productivity,

safety and quality of Products.

 Un-necessary efforts of materials handling can be avoided

when the Plant Layout is optimized.

yout
Plant Layout
 The Nature of Process Synthesis And Analysis
The Design Process:
 The broad array of design decisions that confront chemical
engineers and steps involved in developing a product or
process design.
 Be knowledgeable about the kinds of design decisions that
challenge product and process design teams.
 Have an appreciation of the key steps in carrying out a product
and /or process design.
 Be aware of the many kinds of environmental issues and
safety considerations that are prevalent in the design of new
chemical product and processes.
 Appreciate the importance of maintaining high ethical
principles in product and process design.
 Understand that chemical engineering use a blend of hand
calculations, spread sheets, mathematical computer packages
and process simulations to design products and processes.
 If a process appears to be profitable then we must consider other factors
including safety environmental constraints controllability etc.
 We approach the synthesis and analysis problem by establishing a hierarchy of
design decisions.
 With this approach large and complex problems are decomposed into a
number of smaller problems that are much simpler to handle.
 By focusing on the decisions that must be made at each level in the hierarchy
we can identify the existing technologies that could be used to solve the
problem Moreover by listing the alternative solutions we can propose for each
decision, we can systematically generate a list of process alternatives
 In some cases it is possible to use design guidelines (rules of thumb or
heuristics) to make some decisions about the structure of the flow sheet and
or to set the values of some of the design variables.
 Moreover by listing the alternative solutions proposed for each decision, we
can systematically generate a list of process alternatives
 In some cases it is possible to use design guidelines (rules of thumb or
heuristics) to make some decisions about the structure of the flow sheet and
or to set the values of some of the design variables.
 SUCCESS RATES

 Chances of Commercialization of new project

 at research stage – 1 to 3 %
 at development stage – 10 to 25 %
 at pilot plant stage – 40 to 60 %

 Success rates for process modifications are higher.

 Evaluation is one of the most significant components of
any design methodology.
 Pilot Plant
 A pilot plant is a small industrial system, which is operated

to generate information about the behavior of the system

for use in design of larger facilities.

 Pilot plant is a relative term in the sense that plants are

typically smaller than full-scale production plants, but are

built in a range of sizes.
 Pilot Plant
 Some pilot plants are built in laboratories using stock lab

equipment, while others require substantial engineering efforts,

cost millions of dollars, and are custom-assembled and fabricated
from process equipment, instrumentation and piping.

 They can also be used to train personnel for a full-scale plant.

 Some people use the terms pilot plant and demonstration plant

interchangeably, but usually a pilot plant is smaller in scale than a

demonstration plant.
 Creative Aspects of Process Design
 The purpose of engineering is to create new material

wealth.

 This goal in chemical engineering is achieved via the

chemical (Biological Transformation) and / or separation of

materials.

 Process and plant design is the creative activity whereby

we generate ideas and then translate them into equipment

and processes for producing new material.
 Creative Aspects of Process Design

In any particular company, we might try to generate new

ideas:
 To produce a purchased raw material
 To convert a waste by product to a valuable product
 To create a completely new material (Synthetic Fibres,
Food, Bioprocessing)
 To find a new way of producing an existing product (New
catalyst, Bioprocesses)
 To exploit a new technology (Genetic Engg, Expert
System)
 To exploit a new material of construction (High Temp,
High pressure, specialty polymers)
 DESIGN OPPORTUNITES :
The scope of chemical products is extremely broad. they can
be roughly classified as:
 Basic chemical products
 Industrial products
 Consumer products

 Basic Chemical Products:

Basic Chemical
Natural Manufacturing Products Ex:
Resources ethylene,
Process acetone,
pharmaceuticals
, etc
 Industrial Products:

Industrial
Basic Products ex:
Chemical Manufacturing Films, Fibres,
Products Process paper, creams
and pastes

 Consumer Products:

Basic
Transparencies,
Chemical
cosmetics, fuel
Products Manufacturing cell, detergents
and
Industrial Process etc
Products
 Synthesis and Analysis:

 Design problems are under defined.

 To supply missing information, we must make assumptions
about
 Types of process unites used
 Interconnection of process unites
 Required T,P, and Flow rates
 Above steps are the synthesis activities
 Design problems are open ended.
 THE COURSE
 Conceptual design of a limited class of chemical processes
 The goal of a conceptual design is to find the best process
flow sheet and estimate the optimum design conditions
 Many process alternatives could be considered
 Experience indicates that less than 1% of ideas for new design
ever becomes commercialized
 There are many possibilities to consider with only a small
chance of success
 Use shortcut calculations to screen the alternatives
 Heuristics of Process Synthesis
 We must be certain that we are in the neighborhood of the
optimum design conditions for each alternative
 We use cost studies as an initial screening to eliminate ideas
for designs that are unprofitable.
 Heat Exchanger Network