CHE 410 Fundamentals in Plant’s Equipment,

Instrumentation, Process and Safety (3)

Engr. Lina D. Dela Cruz

Chemical Engineering Department
Technological Institute of the Philippines
GENERAL FUNDAMENTALS
To carry out commercially the unit processes and
the unit operations in any chemical plant
presupposes factory-scale, equipment and
proper materials of construction should have
been selected by the designing chemical
engineer
MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION
In chemical factories the successful
consummation of chemical reactions, and the
maintenance of equipment depend not so much
upon the strength of the materials but on their
proper selection to resist corrosion and withstand
the effects of elevated temperatures and
pressures.
Thus corrosion is a constant and continuing
problem with the chemical engineer in industry.
In some cases corrosion cannot be prevented; it
can only be minimized.
Among such relatively new materials are the
following: rubber covered steel, resin-bonded
carbon, all to resist hydrochloric acid-stainless
steel to resist the action of aqueous nitric acid
even under pressure, and nickel or nickel-clad
steel to resist caustic solutions,hot or cold.
The following present a general outline of some of
the chief materials of construction and their
applications to the chemical industries:
Ferrous Materials.
1. Steel is still our main structural material. It is the
metal almost universally employed in the
construction of most buildings and in the
reinforcing of concrete. It is widely used in pipes,
tanks, reaction vessels, pumps, valves, and other
tools of the chemical process industries.
Steel
Its corrosion resistance is excellent, as, for example, in
the handling of cool, concentrated sulfuric acid 1 or of
mixed nitric and sulfuric acids containing not more than
25 per cent of water.
Steel is employed extensively, together with cast and
wrought iron, for handling dilute alkaline solutions or
the neutral organic liquids met in the petroleum and
coal-tar industries.
When the concentration of alkalies is high or the
temperature is raised is often some attack upon the
ferrous metals, in which case a more costly material
such as nickel, or even silver is substituted
Wrought Iron
2. Wrought iron has behind it a long history of
service in the chemical industries.
Presumably its inclusions of a chemically resistant
slag provide an increased measure of protection
against many corrosives.
Wrought iron pipe is often used in applications
where steel or cast iron proves unsatisfactory.
Cast Iron
3. Cast iron resists sulfuric acid and alkali a little
better than does steel. Also, when it does
corrode, this takes place much more slowly and
evenly.
Consequently, cast-iron pipe or vessels are
preferable when their enhanced weight and
greater brittleness do not prevent
Stainless Steel
4. The stainless steels consist essentially of iron,
chromium, and nickel, with minor but important
other constituents.
A typical formula is "18:8," containing 18 per cent
chromium and 8 per cent nickel.
Stainless steels, now among the most important of
the construction materials used by the chemical
engineer, can be fabricated and welded like other
steels, can be forged or east, and they resist
organic acids and nitric acid of all concentration
Nonferrous Metals and Alloys
1. Copper for many decades has been a stand-by
of the chemical engineer in multitudinous
applications.
It is relatively inexpensive and can be fabricated into
complicated shapes and possesses fair strength.
Its chemical resistance against ordinary
atmospheric moisture and oxygen is excellent as
there is formed an adherent protective coating
usually of copper oxide.
Copper
2. Copper resists alkali (except ammonia) better than
does steel. It resists organic acids except in high
concentrations.
It should not be used, however, where any mercury will
touch it because of the amalgams that are formed.
In the factory it is employed extensively as the material for
the construction of kettles, stills, heat exchangers,
tanks, and many reactors.
It should not be used in contact with ammonia or amines.
Copper alloys such as brass, bronze, are often superior in
corrosion resistance and possess better mechanical
properties than the pure metal.
3. Aluminum is applicable to specialized situations
where its lightness and relative ease of
fabrication are advantageous.
Chemically, it resists strong organic acids, nitric
acid, and nitrates providing halogens are absent.
Corrosion resistance of aluminum is due to the
formation of an adherent film or hydrated
aluminum oxide; the removal of this film by
halogen acids or alkalies exposes the metal to
what may be rapid corrosion.
4. Nickel is widely employed 'for its excellent
resistance to alkalies including ammonia.
In the manufacture of iron-free caustic soda, nickel or
nickel-clad steel is chosen for tanks, evaporator
tubes, evaporator bodies, and even for tank cars.
Nickel and its alloys also possess very superior
mechanical properties.
Most widely used of these is Monel metal which is a
natural alloy of nickel (67 per cent) and copper (30
percent). Monel is especially important in the food
industries.
Inorganic Materials Other Than Metals.
1. Glass, long the main material used in chemical
laboratories, is rapidly moving out into industrial
processing.
Glass is used in three forms in the plant: (1) in bulk, in
fairly large pieces of equipment, such as pipe, towers, and
pumps; (2) as a coating, over cast iron and steel, as in
tanks, reactors, and pipe; and
(3) as fibers, in insulation, fabrics, tower packing, and
plastic laminates.
The biggest plant use is in piping. It has the advantage of
transparency, corrosion resistance, and ease of cleaning.
The resistance of glass to almost everything except
hydrofluoric acid, strong alkalies, and mechanical
stress is very satisfactory. Special precautions should
be observed for operations involving higher
temperatures (around 200°C.) because of thermal
shock. Tempered glass and high-silica glass are less
vulnerable to this.
Silica equipment in a great variety of shapes has long
been available and is used for particular applications
where bad thermal shock is encountered. Silica is also
hard and greatly resists erosion. It is, however,
attacked by alkalies, is easily broken, and is expensive.
Ceramic materials, such as chemical stoneware and
porcelain, are available for vessels, pipes, and valves
of medium capacity and have been employed where
acid conditions prevail. Even large tanks are made
out of ceramic bricks or tile held together by acid-
resisting cements.
PROCESS INSTRUMENTATION
At one time labor was plentiful and chemical operations were
carried out on a small scale in individual batches. The
skilled chemical engineer now finds that very many of his
manufacturing projects, particularly those operated on a
large scale, proceed much more economically as
continuous processes rather than as small-batch
operations.
These continuous processes have been and can be controlled
by the workman, but they give much more uniform results
if, after the best conditions are ascertained, these
conditions are maintained throughout by the use of
modern instruments for automatic control.
The chemical engineer should not choose instruments
simply to record temperatures or pressures but as
reliable tools to control and maintain desired
operating conditions.
In these large-scale continuous operations, the function
of the workman and the supervising chemical engineer
is largely to maintain the plant in its proper running
order. Under this maintenance, instruments playa very
important part.
When chemical. manufacturing is on a small scale or
when it is not adaptable to continuous procedures, the
batch sequence should be used.
This requires more supervision on the part of the
workman and the chemical engineer because usually
the conditions of procedure differ from the start
through to the finish.
Even with this changing picture, instruments give a
record which can be compared from batch to batch and
which leads frequently to the choice of superior
operating conditions.
Instrumentation' for the indicating, recording, and control
of process variables is an almost universal outstanding
characteristic of modern chemical manufacture. In many
chemical plants the instrument expense amounts to 20 per
cent of the total cost of the plant.
Instrumentation has been forced to this position of eminence
by the increase of continuous procedures, by the increase
in the cost of labor and supervision, by the decrease in the
cost of capital, by the increase in the scale of chemical
procedures, and by' the standardization of chemical
procedures under unit operations and unit processes.
Instruments are available that furnish a wide variety of
data and controls, such as the following:
1. Instantaneous data from mercury thermometers for
temperature, ordinary scales for weighing, and
pressure gages for pressure.
2. Continuous records from special instruments for
recording temperature, pressure, weight, viscosity,
flow of fluids, percentage of carbon dioxide, and many
other physical and chemical data.
3. Automation or automatic control of different variables
through special instruments for maintaining a desired
pressure or temperature or pH or flow of material.
CHEMICAL CONTROL
Chemical control has a threefold function in factory'
procedures:
(1) analysis of incoming raw materials, (2) analysis of
reaction products during manufacturing, i.e., so-called
"process control," and (3) analysis of the outgoing
finished products.
The chemical manufacturer should not' only know the
character of the raw materials he is buying but should
often set up strict quality specifications to assure the
minimum or complete absence of certain undesirable
impurities.
Over 90 per cent of the raw materials of the chemical
process industries are probably purchased on the
basis of chemical analysis.
Process control, the second of our functions, is an
essential part of practically all manufacturing
operations involving chemical change.
Otherwise the reactions may occasionally get out of
hand, with resulting losses of time and materials. To
avoid this, many "in-process tests" should be made at
various steps during th~ progress of manufacturing.
This does not mean that an extensive laboratory should
be provided in connection with ev~ry unit process or
operation.
Frequently the plant chemist in the control laboratory
can devise fairly simple tests
to indicate the progress of a given reaction, and these are
sufficiently simple and reliable so that the nonchemical
workman can be taught to carry them out. If chemical
changes are at all complicated, check samples should
be drawn and submitted 'to the control laboratory for a
more careful analysis than is possible by the workman
in the factory.
·Finally, to ensure that the customer ,gets material
which meets his specifications and which does not
vary beyond predetermined limits, a rather complete
analysis should be made of the finished product. Most
customers, if their purchases represent any
considerable sum of money, maintain a laboratory for
checking the purity of what they purchase.
In case of any dispute between the seller and the
purchaser, this is usually settled by referee analysis on
the part of some well-recognized and accepted public
analyst.
There is no use spending time and money in the careful
making of an analysis unless the sampling! has been
adequate.
Too often the drawing of the sample is left to an
untrained person, and a highly skilled chemist will
spend hours upon the analysis of the sample brought to
him.
As much thought, care, and supervision should be
placed upon the taking of a truly representative
sample as are expended upon the chemical analysis.
CONTAINERS
The most economical containers are the refillable bulk ones
such as tank ears, boxcars, gondola cars, barges, or even tank
steamers.
Under this class might even come pipe lines for the
transportation of petroleum products, acid, or brine, and many
other liquid chemicals. Coal is shipped in bulk containers and
stored in bins in houses or in stock piles in factories.
Tank cars and boxcars or barges make many trips between seller
and purchaser and afford a very low-cost container.
The railroad car is low in its original capital cost as well as in
its handling expense.
Many chemicals are shipped in smaller containers which may be either
of the returnable or of the one-trip variety. Among the returnable
containers are:

1. Metal drums, 55 and 100 gal., for acids, oil, solvents, and many
liquids.
2. Steel cylinders, for compressed gas such as hydrogen and oxygen and
for iquids such as ammonia and carbon dioxide.
3. Wooden barrels, bJ gal., for very many liquids and solids.
4. Wooden kegs, 1 to 10 gal.. for very many liquids and solids.
5. Glass carboys, 12 gal., for acids and other liquids.
6. Glass-stoppered acid bottles, usually about 1 g:LI. or smaller.
7. Cotton bags for cement.
Among the nonreturnable or one-trip containers may be listed the
following:
1. Thin steel drums, for caustic soda, asphalt, and tar.
2. Fiber drums, for solid chemicals.
3. Fiber! cans, for small amounts of solid chemicals.
4. Cotton bags, for soda ash, salt, and many bulk chemicals.
5. Light wooden barrels, for solid chemicals.
6. Light wooden boxes and crates, mostly for protecting other containers.
7. Paper sacks, lined or multiwalled, for even hydroscopic chemicals.
8. Tinned or other thin metal cans, for liquids or solids.
9. Small glass bottles of various sizes, for very many solid and liquid
chemicals.
The choice of a suitable container is often one for a
specialist.
Many containers are lined with paper, which mayor may
not be waterproofed. or with a plastic.