Chemical Engineering Apparatus Design

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Chemical Engineering Apparatus Design
Introduction

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 Outlines:
 Introduction Mechanical design
 Codes and Standards
 Pressure vessel

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 Introduction Mechanical design
 Design is a creative activity
• It is one of the most rewarding and satisfying activities
undertaken by an engineer.
• Given problem
• Creativity
• Planning
• Optimum solution (the best solution for such problem at a
time)
• Communication

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 Cont.,
 What is Engineer?
 A person trained and skilled in the design, construction and
use of a system or machine.
 Needs to be well versed in language arts as well as math and
science.
 Designs have objectives and constraints and even a simple
process requires a trade off among such factors.

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 Cont.,
 Objectives that a design may strive to include:
a. Throughput rate
b. Product purity
 Design constraints:
1. Capital cost
2. Available space
3. Safety concerns
4. Environmental impact and projected effluents and emissions
5. Waste production

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 Cont’d..,
6. Operating and maintenance cost
 The other factors that designers may include are:
 Reliability
 Redundancy
 Flexibility
 Anticipated variability in feedstock and allowable variability
in product.

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Cont.,

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 Cont’d…
Design standards and codes of practice
 A large body of rules has been developed over the years to
ensure the safe and economical design, fabrication, and
testing of equipment, structures, and materials.
 Codification of these rules has been done by associations
organized for just such purposes, by professional societies,
trade groups, insurance underwriting companies, and
government agencies
 The need for standardization arose early in the evolution of the
modern engineering industry.

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 Cont’d…
 In engineering practice they cover:
1. Materials, properties and compositions.
2. Testing procedures for performance, compositions, quality.
3. Preferred sizes; for example, tubes, plates, sections.
4. Design methods, inspection, fabrication.
5. Codes of practice, for plant operation and safety.
 Modern engineering standards cover a much wider function
than the interchange of parts. But there is little difference:

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 Cont’d…
 CODE
 It should really be reserved for a code of practice covering
say:
 recommended design or operating procedure
 specific design/fabrication methodologies
 Standards provide design criteria for components
o It preferred sizes for pipe, compositions and dimensions
for fittings or valves

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 Cont’d…
Example:
 British Standards Institution (BSI)
 ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineering): in art
& science (pressure vessels and pipes)
 ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
 API (American Petroleum institute)
 NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
 The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA; safety)

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 Cont’d…
 Lists of codes and standards and copies of the most current
versions can be obtained from the national standards agencies
or by subscription from commercial websites such as I.H.S. (
www.ihs.com).
 Equipment manufacturers also work to standards to
produce standardized designs and size ranges for
commonly used items, such as, pumps, heat exchangers,
pipes, and pipe fittings.
 It is clearly more economic to produce a limited range of
standard sizes than to treat each order as a special job.

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 Cont’d…
 For the designer, the use of a standardized component size
allows for the easy integration of a piece of equipment into
the rest of the plant
 For example, if a standard range of centrifugal pumps is
specified, the pump dimensions will be known, and this
facilitates:
the design of the foundation plates
pipe connections
the selection of the drive motors: standard electric
motors would be used.

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 Cont’d…
 For an operating company, the standardization of
equipment designs and sizes increases interchangeability
and reduces the stock of spares that must be held in
maintenance stores
 Role of chemical engineer:
 specify the main dimensions of pressure vessel equipment

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 .

Pressure vessel

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 Introduction of Pressure vessel

 Pressure vessels are closed structures containing liquids or gases

under higher pressure.
• The responsible of chemical engineer is normally required to
specify the main dimensions of pressure vessel equipment.
• There is no strict definition of what constitutes a pressure vessel,
but it is generally accepted that any closed vessel over 150 mm
diameter subject to a pressure difference of more than 0.5 bar
should be regarded as a pressure vessel
• This definition applies to most process reactors, distillation
columns, separators (flashes and decanters), pressurized storage
vessels and heat exchangers

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 .
• Chemical engineers are usually not properly trained or qualified to carry out
detailed mechanical design of vessels.
• Most mechanical designs are completed by specialists in later phases of design.
• But the process design engineer needs to understand pressure vessel design in
order to generate good cost estimates

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• The chemical engineer will be responsible for developing and
specifying the basic design information for a particular vessel

• The basic data needed by the specialist designer will be:

1. Vessel function.
2. Operating and design temperature and pressure.
3. Materials of construction.
4. Vessel dimensions and orientation.
5. Type of vessel heads to be used.
6. Openings and connections required.
7. Specification of heating and cooling jackets or coils.
8. Type of agitator.
9. Specification of internal fittings. 19
 .
• Pressure vessels are used in a variety of industries such as:
• Petroleum refining
• Chemical
• Power
• Food & beverage
• Pharmaceutical

Classification of Pressure Vessels

• Pressure vessels are subdivided into two classes depending on the
ratio of the wall thickness to vessel diameter:
– thin-walled vessels - with a thickness to diameter ratio of less than 1:10
– thick-walled - above 1/10.

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 Pressure Vessel Specifications
• The process engineer will usually specify the following parameters
based on process requirements:
– Vessel size and shape (volume, L and D)
– Vessel orientation and elevation
– Maximum and minimum design pressure
– Maximum and minimum design temperature
– Number of nozzles needed (& location)
– Vessel internals
– Support
– Material of construction
– Corrosion allowance

• There is often a lot of dialogue with the mechanical engineer to set the
final specifications

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 Types of Pressure vessel
• There are three main types of pressure vessels in general
• Horizontal Pressure Vessels
• Vertical Pressure Vessels
• Spherical Pressure vessels

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• Different pressure vessels are constructed

vertical drum VERTICAL TOWER

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 PRESSURE VESSEL CODES AND STANDARDS

• In all the major industrialized countries, the design and fabrication of thin-
walled pressure vessels is covered by national standards and codes of practice

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• In most countries, it is a legal requirement that pressure vessels
must be designed, constructed ,and tested in accordance with part
or all of the design code.
• The primary purpose of the design codes are:
 To establish rules of safety relating to the pressure integrity of
vessels
 To provide guidance on:
o Design
o materials of construction
o Fabrication
o Inspection
o testing.

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ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code

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• Division 1: Contains general rules and is most commonly followed, particularly
for low pressure vessels.

• Division 2: Contains alternative rules that are more restrictive on materials,

design temperatures, design details, fabrication methods, and inspection, but
allow higher design stresses and hence thinner vessel walls.

• Division 2 rules are usually chosen for large, high-pressure vessels where the
savings in metal cost and fabrication complexity offsets the higher engineering
and construction costs

• Division 3: Contains alternative rules intended for vessels with design

pressures greater than 10,000 psig.

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 Reactor vessel
• The following Figure shows a typical reactor vessel with a
cylindrical shell.
• The process fluid undergoes a chemical reaction inside a reactor.
• This reaction is normally facilitated by the presence of a catalyst
which is held in one or more catalyst beds.

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Reactor vessel

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• Thin wall pressure vessels (TWPV) are widely used in industry for storage and
transportation of liquids and gases when configured as tanks.

• Cylindrical and spherical pressure vessels are the most frequently used
pressure vessels

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o In general, the following are the main components of pressure
Vessels
– Shell
– Head
– Nozzle
– Support

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 1. Shell
 It is the primary component that contains the pressure.

 Pressure vessel shells in the form of different plates are welded together to
form a structure that has a common rotational axis.

 Shells are either cylindrical, spherical or conical in shape.

 Horizontal drums have cylindrical shells and are constructed in a wide range of
diameter and length.

 The shell sections of a tall tower may be constructed of different materials,

thickness and diameters due to process and phase change of process fluid.

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 Vessel Orientation

• Usually vertical
– Easier to distribute fluids across a smaller cross section
– Smaller plot space

• Reasons for using horizontal vessels

– To promote phase separation
• Increased cross section = lower vertical velocity = less
entrainment
• Decanters, settling tanks, separators, flash vessels
– To allow internals to be pulled for cleaning
• Heat exchangers

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 2. Head (closure)
 All the pressure vessels must be closed at the ends by heads (or
another shell section).
 Heads are typically curved rather than flat.
 The reason is that curved configurations are:
o Stronger
o Allow the heads to be thinner
o Lighter Than flat heads
o Less expensive
 Heads can also be used inside a vessel and are known as intermediate
heads.
o These intermediate heads are separate sections of the pressure vessels
to permit different design conditions.

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 2. Head (closure)
 The principal types heads and closures are:
 Flat plates and formed flat heads
Hemispherical heads
Ellipsoidal heads
Torispherical heads

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 Flat-end closures
 Flat plates are used as covers for manways, and as the channel covers of heat
exchangers
 Commonly used flat ends

Welded plate
Flanged plate Welded plate

Bolted cover Bolted cover

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 Domed ends
• Hemispherical, ellipsoidal and torispherical heads are collectively referred to as
domed heads.
• Hemispherical
 strongest shape, capable of resisting twice the
pressure of torispherical of the same thickness
 Good for high pressures
 Higher internal volume
 Most expensive to form & join to shell
 Half the thickness of the shell

• Ellipsoidal
 Cheaper than hemispherical and less internal
volume
 Depth is half diameter
 Same thickness as shell
 Above 15 bar an ellipsoidal head will usually prove
to be the most economical closure

• Torispherical (dished)
 Part torus, part sphere
 Similar to elliptical, but cheaper to fabricate
 Commonly used for operating pressures up to15
bar 52
 3. Nozzle
• A nozzle is a cylindrical component that penetrates into the shell or
head of pressure vessel.

• They are used for:

• Attach piping for flow into or out of the vessel.
• Attach instrument connection (level gauges, pressure gauges).
• Provide access to the vessel interior at MANWAY.
• Provide for direct attachment of other equipment items (e.g.
heat exchangers).
• Manway: A hole or duct by which a human being may access a utility
area for maintenance purposes.

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• Vessel needs nozzles for
– Feeds, Products
– Hot &/or cold utilities
– Manways, bursting disks, relief valves
– Instruments
• Pressure, Level, Thermowells
• Sample points
• More nozzles = more cost
• Nozzles are usually on side of vessel,
away from weld lines, usually
perpendicular to shell
• Nozzles may or may not be flanged (as
shown) depending on joint type
• The number & location of nozzles are
usually specified by the process engineer

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 4. Vessel Support
 Support is used to bear all the load of pressure vessel, earthquake
and wind loads.
 The method used to support a vessel will depend on:
o size
o Shape
o weight of the vessel
o the design temperature and pressure
o the vessel location and arrangement
o the internal and external fittings and attachments
 There are different types of supports which are used depending upon
the size and orientation of the pressure vessel.
 It is considered to be the non-pressurized part of the vessel.
 Supports must allow for thermal expansion in operation

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 Cont…
 Smaller vessels are usually supported on beams – a support ring or
brackets are welded to the vessel
 Tall vertical vessels are often supported using a skirt rather than
legs.
 Horizontal vessels are usually mounted on two saddle supports
 Brackets, or lugs, are used for all types of vessel.
 The supports must be designed to carry the weight of the vessel and
contents, and any superimposed loads, such as wind loads.
 Supports will impose localized loads on the vessel wall, and the
design must be checked to ensure that the resulting stress
concentrations are below the maximum allowable design stress.
 Supports should be designed to allow easy access to the vessel and
fittings for inspection and maintenance

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 Types of supports
1. saddle support
 Horizontal drums are typically supported at two locations by saddle support.

2. Skirt Support
 Tall vertical cylindrical pressure vessels are typically supported by skirts.
 A support skirt is a cylindrical shell section that is welded either to the lower
portion of the vessel shell or to the bottom head (for cylindrical vessels).

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 Cont…
3. Leg Support

 Small vertical drums are typically supported on legs that are welded to the
lower portion of the shell.

 The max. ratio of support leg length to drum diameter is typically 2 : 1

 Support legs are also used for Spherical pressurized storage vessels.

 Cross bracing between the legs is used to absorb wind or earth quake loads.

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 Cont…

4. Lug Support

 The lugs are typically bolted to

horizontal structural members in
order to provide stability against
overturning loads.
 Vertical pressure vessels may also
be supported by lugs.
 The use of lugs is typically limited
to pressure vessels of small and
medium diameter (1 to 10 ft)
 Also moderate height to diameter
ratios in the range of 2:1 to 5:1

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 Thin wall pressure vessels

 Thin wall refers to a vessel having an inner-diameter-to-wall-thickness ratio of “10”

??????

 When the vessel wall is thin, the stress distribution throughout its thickness will
not vary significantly, and so we will assume that it is uniform or constant.

 Combined stresses are present in pressure vessels under internal pressure.

 Consider a cylinder, with capped ends, subjected to an internal pressure, p, which

may be due to a fluid or gas enclosed within the cylinder

Long thin cylindrical shell with closed ends under

internal pressure 60
.

 The hydrostatic pressure causes

stresses in three dimensions.
1. Longitudinal stress (axial) σL
2. circumferential stresses (hoop
stress) σh

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• The internal pressure acting on the long sides of the cylinder gives rise to a
circumferential stress in the wall of the cylinder.

• if the ends of the cylinder are closed, the pressure acting on these ends is
transmitted to the walls of the cylinder, thus producing a longitudinal stress in
the walls.

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Therefore
Stresses in cylindrical vessel

Stresses in spherical vessel

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 General Design considerations for pressure vessel

1. Design pressure:
 A vessel must be designed to withstand the maximum pressure to
which it is likely to be subjected in operation.

• For vessels under internal pressure, the design pressure is

normally taken as the pressure at which the relief device is set.

• This will normally be 5 to 10 per cent above the normal working

pressure, to avoid false or fake operation during minor process
upsets.

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2. Design temperature
• The strength of metals decreases with increasing temperature so the
maximum allowable design stress will depend on the material
temperature.
• The design temperature at which the design stress is evaluated
should be taken as the maximum working temperature of the
material, with due allowance for any uncertainty involved in
predicting vessel wall temperatures.

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3. Materials
• Selection of a suitable material must take into account the suitability
of the material for fabrication (particularly welding) as well as the
compatibility of the material with the process environment.
• The pressure vessel design codes and standards include lists of
acceptable materials; in accordance with the appropriate material
standards.

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 Material properties

o The process designer will be responsible for recommending

materials that will be suitable for the process conditions and
must also consider the requirements of the mechanical design
engineer
o The most economical material that satisfies both process and
mechanical requirements should be selected; this will be the
material that gives the lowest cost over the working life of the
plant.
o The most important characteristics to be considered when
selecting a material of construction are:

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1. Mechanical properties
a. Strength- tensile strength-basic strength of a material
b. Stiffness - ability to resist bending and buckling
c. Toughness - is a measure of the material's resistance to crack
propagation
d. Hardness - is an indication of a material's ability to resist wear
e. Creep resistance - is the gradual extension of a material under a
steady tensile stress, over a prolonged period of time.
2. The effect of high and low temperatures on mechanical properties-
• The tensile strength and elastic modulus of metals decrease with
increasing temperature.
• If equipment is being designed to operate at high temperatures,
materials that retain their strength must be selected

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 .

3. Corrosion resistance
• Classified into the following categories:
1. General wastage of material- uniform corrosion.
2. Galvanic corrosion - dissimilar metals in contact.
3. Pitting- localised attack.
4. Intergranular corrosion.
5. Stress corrosion.
6. Erosion corrosion.
7. Corrosion fatigue.
8. High temperature oxidation.
9. Hydrogen embrittlement.

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 Uniform corrosion:
• This term describes the more or less uniform wastage of material by
corrosion, with no pitting or other forms of local attack.

• The life of the material in service can be predicted from

experimentally determined corrosion rates

• Corrosion rates are usually expressed as a penetration rate in inches

per year (ipy).

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• In corrosion testing, the corrosion rate is measured by the reduction in
weight of a specimen of known area over a fixed period of time.

Where w = mass lose in time t, lb

t = time , years
A = surface area,
ρ = density of material,
• As most of the published data on corrosion rates are in imperial units.
• In SI units 1 ipy = 25 mm per year
 An acceptable rate of attack will depend on:
 the cost of the material
 the duty
 particularly as regards to safety
 the economic life of the plant
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 Acceptable corrosion rates

 The corrosion rate will be dependent on the temperature and

concentration of the corrosive fluid.
 An increase in temperature usually results in an increased rate of
corrosion.

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 Selection material For Corrosion Resistance
 In order to select the correct material of construction, the process
environment to which the material will be exposed must be clearly
defined.
 Additional to the main corrosive chemicals present, the following
factors must be considered:

 The resistance of some commonly used materials to a range of

chemicals is shown in Appendix C Volume -6 (Colson )

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 Factors affecting selection of an engineering material

Corrosion
Appearance resistance Strength

Materials
Selection

Fabricability Availability

Cost
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 .

o Commonly used materials of construction for chemical plant

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 1. Plastic Materials of construction for chemical plant
o Plastics are being increasingly used as corrosion-resistant materials
for chemical plant construction.
o The two broad classes of plastics:
1. Thermoplastic materials: which soften with increasing temperature
for example, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene.
2. Thermosetting materials: which have a rigid, cross-linked structure
for example, the polyester and epoxy resins.
Table. Mechanical properties and relative cost of polymers

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 2. Ceramic Materials (Silicates)
o Ceramics are compounds of metallic and non-metallic elements.
o They include the following materials used for chemical plant:
• Glass, the borosilicate glasses (hard glass).
• Stoneware.
• Acid-resistant bricks and tiles.
• Refractory materials.
• Cements and concrete.

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 3.Metals and their alloys
• The following is a list of a few materials used in various corrosive
services:
o Stainless steels
o Nickel & nickel alloys
o Reactive & refractory metals such as tantalum, titanium,
zirconium, & their alloys
o Copper/copper alloys (brasses, bronzes)
o Aluminum
o Lead
o Chromium
o Silver
o Tantalum
o Zirconium - nuclear industry because of their low neutron
absorption cross-section and resistance to hot water at high
pressures
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 Iron and Steel
• Low carbon steel (mild steel) is the most commonly used
engineering material.
• cheap and available in a wide range of standard forms and
sizes,
• can be easily worked and welded.
• It has good tensile strength and ductility.
• The carbon steels and iron are not resistant to corrosion,.
• They are suitable for use with most organic solvents, except
chlorinated solvents, but traces of corrosion products may cause
discoloration.

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 Stainless Steel
• The stainless steels are the most frequently used corrosion-resistant
materials in the chemical industry.

• To impart corrosion resistance, the chromium content must be

above 12%, and the higher the chromium content, the more resistant
the alloy to corrosion in oxidizing conditions.

• Nickel is added to improve the corrosion resistance in non-oxidizing

environments.

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84
 Monel
o Is the classic nickel-copper alloy with the metals in the ratio 2:1,

o is probably, after the stainless steels, the most commonly used alloy for
chemical plants.

o It is easily worked and has good mechanical properties up to 500 0C.

o It is more expensive than stainless steel .

o has good resistance to dilute mineral acids and where the stainless steels
would be unsuitable.

o It may be used for equipment handling alkalis, organic acids and salts, and sea
water.

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 Material Costs

• An indication of the cost of some commonly used metals is given in

below Table
• The actual cost of metals and alloys will fluctuate quite widely,
depending on movements in the world metal exchanges.
• £1 : pound sterling

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• The quantity of a material used will depend on the material density
and strength (design stress) and these must be taken into account
when comparing material costs

• If the corrosion rate is uniform, then the optimum material can be

selected by calculating the annual costs for the possible candidate
materials.

• The annual cost will depend on the predicted life, calculated from
the corrosion rate, and the purchased cost of the equipment.
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 Cont’d..
• The actual cost of metals and alloys will fluctuate quite widely,
depending on movements in the world metal exchanges.
• Current metals prices can be found at
• www.steelonthenet.com ---- free site with monthly carbon
steel prices
• www.steelbb.com --------steel business briefing—
subscription site with weekly carbon steel and stainless
steel prices
• www.steelweek.com -----subscription site with weekly
international prices
• www.metalprices.com/freesite/metals ===great alloy
calculator—3-month-old prices are free; current prices
subscription only

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 4. Maximum Allowable Stress (Nominal Design Strength):

• For design purposes it is necessary to decide a value for the maximum

allowable stress (nominal design strength) that can be accepted in the material
of construction.
• This is determined by applying a suitable safety factor to the maximum stress
• The safety factor allows for any uncertainty in the design methods, the loading,
the quality of the materials.

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cont’d…

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 5. Welded joint efficiency, and construction categories

• The strength of a welded joint will depend on the type of joint and the quality
of the welding.

• The soundness of welds is checked by visual inspection and by non-destructive

testing (radiography)

• The possible lower strength of a welded joint compared with the virgin plate is
usually allowed for in design by multiplying the allowable design stress for the
material by a “welded joint factor” J or E.

• Taking the factor as 1.0 implies that the joint is equally as strong as the virgin
plate;

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 6. Corrosion allowance

• The “corrosion allowance” is the additional thickness of metal added to allow

for material lost by corrosion and erosion, or scaling

• For carbon and low-alloy steels, where severe corrosion is not expected, a
minimum allowance of 2.0 mm should be used; where more severe conditions
are anticipated this should be increased to 4.0 mm.

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 7. Design loads
• A structure must be designed to resist gross plastic deformation and collapse under
all the conditions of loading.
• They can be classified as major loads, that must always be considered in vessel
design, and subsidiary loads.
 Major loads
– Design pressure: including any significant static head of liquid.
– Maximum weight of the vessel and contents, under operating conditions.
– Maximum weight of the vessel and contents under the hydraulic test
conditions.
– Wind loads.
– Earthquake (seismic) loads.
 Subsidiary loads
– Local stresses caused by supports, internal structures and connecting pipes.
– Shock loads caused by water hammer, or by surging of the vessel contents.

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 Cont’d…
– Bending moments caused by eccentricity of the centre of the working pressure
– Stresses due to temperature differences and differences in the coefficient
expansion of materials.
– Loads caused by fluctuations in temperature and pressure.
• A vessel will not be subject to all these loads simultaneously.
• The designer must determine what combination of possible loads gives the worst
situation, and design for that loading condition.

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 8. Minimum practical wall thickness

• There will be a minimum wall thickness required to ensure that any vessel is
sufficiently rigid to withstand its own weight, and any incidental loads.

• As a general guide the wall thickness of any vessel should not be less than the
values given below; the values include a corrosion allowance of 2 mm:

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