Lecture-7

CH4317 Project Engineering

Process Design & Development

Dr. Mahendra Chinthala

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
NIT Rourkela
General Design considerations
Emphasis will be on
Health and safety Hazards
Loss prevention
Environmental Protection
Plant operation and control
Patent considerations
Plant location
Plant layout
PATENT CONSIDERATIONS
 A patent is essentially a contract between an inventor and the
public.
 In consideration of full disclosure of the invention to the public,
the patentee is given exclusive rights to control the use and
practice of the invention.
 A patent gives to the holder the power to prevent others from
using or practicing the invention for a period of 17 years from the
date of granting.
 In contrast, trade secrets and certain types of confidential
disclosures can receive protection under common-law rights only
as long as the secret information is not public knowledge.
PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAMS

These diagrams were generally identified as

Qualitative
Quantitative, or
Combined-detail

 A qualitative flow diagram indicates the flow of material, unit operations

involved, equipment necessary, and special information on operating
temperatures and pressures.
 A quantitative flow diagram shows the quantities of materials required for
 the process operation.
 Preliminary flow diagrams were made during the early stages of the design
project.
 As the design moved toward completion, detailed information on flow
quantities and equipment specifications became available, and combined
detail flow diagrams were prepared.
Qualitative Flow Diagram
Quantitative Flow Diagram
Process Flow sheet Synthesis

Batch vs Continuous

1.Reactions and its conditions

2.Desired Production rate
3.Desired product purity
4.Product Vs Purity
5.Reaction Kinetics (Phases also), Catalyst activation
6.Processing Constraints
7.Plant and site data
8.Physical Properties of all components
9.Safety, toxicity, environment impact of the process
10.Cost data of product and by-products
1. Reactions and its conditions

 Chemistry of the reaction

 Operating condition
 Side reactions like by-products of the reactions should be known.
 Yield of the reactions-Conditions for maximum yield
Yield:  is a measure of the quantity of moles of a product
formed in relation to the reactant consumed

Ex: R is the desired product and S is the byproduct in this

reaction.
 Max. Yield of R

Optimum R

 Optimum or economic yield condition may not be the

maximum yield condition.
 Trade off: Large amount of unconverted A should be separated
from R and S and recycled back to the reactor
 recycled
(1-x) mol Toluene
(unreacted)
Toluene Sx mol
x mol Benzene

Toluene
(reacted)
Diphenyl
(1-S)x/2 mol
(1-S) =Loss in selectivity
 Feasibility of the reaction

Ehtylene oxide + water  Mono ethylene glycol or Diehtylene glycol

K= Equilibrium constant
Extent of reaction
Catalyst Deactivation

 Catalyst deactivation rate needs to known for designing a

catalytic reactor
 Lack of knowledge of catalyst deactivation is an uncertainty in
design.
2. Production rate:

Optimum production rate for any product need to be

determined.
Product is entirely new or several similar products are
already in the market.
Share in the market.
Life of the product.

Economy of scale: As the production rate increased, unit

production price reduces.
Largest ever plant need to be considered for a new product.
Size of the equipment: limits the volume of operation.
Market condition: The demand for the product can alternate in
the market.
Continuous market survey is needed to decide the optimum
production rate.
Product Purity

Fixed by market consideration

Production of a range of product with different purity.
As the purity of product increases, the operating cost increases,
and so does the cost of production.
Raw material; very pure reactants are used by chemist. For large
scale production, high purity material is not available.
Asses the level of impurity
Is the impurity involved in side reactions or not.
Processing Constraints:
 Safety, thermal sensitivity of the material.
 For explosive reactions, the conc. Should be kept below.
 Thermally sensitive material may likely to polymerize.

Batch Vs Continuous

Continuous process : 24 h day- 7 day week

8000 h/year or 330 days
Plant capacity > 1 x 107 lb/year
Batch: the equipment is started/shut down very frequently
Plant capacity < 1 x 106 lb/year
For multiple products in the plant.
For seasonal products
Steps leading to process flow sheet

Selection of process units

Sequence and inter connection
Process alternatives
List dominant design variables
Optimum operating conditions
List best few process alternatives
Thank
you