ChE 405: Process Design I
General Design Considerations
Dr. Syeda Sultana Razia
Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering, BUET
Chemical Engineering Design
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General Design Considerations
• Health and safety
• Loss prevention
• Environmental protection
• Other factors
Knowledge/understanding of latest national/state
regulations involving health, safety and
environment is critical
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Health and Safety Hazards
• Hazard potential of chemicals
• Sources of exposure
• Exposure evaluation
• Control of exposure
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Hazard Potential of Chemicals
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What Amount Causes Harm ?
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Measures of Toxicity
• Toxicity is measured as clinical “endpoints”
which include
– Mortality (death)
– Teratogenicity (ability to cause birth defects)
– Carcinogenicity (ability to cause cancer)
– Mutagenicity (ability to cause heritable change in the
DNA)
• At this time we will discuss two measures of
mortality – the LD50 and the LC50
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Measures of Toxicity
• The Median Lethal Dose LD50
– The amount (dose) of a chemical which produces
death in 50% of a population of test animals to which
it is administered by any of a variety of methods.
Normally expressed as milligrams of substance per
kilogram of animal body weight (mg/kg)
• The Median Lethal Concentration LC50
– The concentration of a chemical in an environment
(generally air or water) which produces death in 50%
of an exposed population of test animals in a
specified time frame. Normally expressed as
milligrams of substance per liter of air or water (or as
ppm) mg/L
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Lethal Doses
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Measures of Toxicity
• PEL: Permissible Exposure Limit
• TLV: Threshold Limit Value
• Database of physical and chemical properties
– TOXLINE and TOXNET
• Data publisher
– OSHA, AIHA, NIOSH, HSE
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Entry of Toxicants to Biological
Organisms
• Ingestion: through mouth into stomach
• Inhalation: through mouth or nose into the lungs
• Injection: through cut into the skin
• Dermal: absorption through skin membrane
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Toxic Blood Level Concentrations
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Sources of Exposure
• Dust, particles: from cutting, grinding and solid
handling
• Liquid spills
• Gas/vapor from leaks from pumps, valves ; and
venting
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Exposure Evaluation
• Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS)
• Air analysis methods
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Air Analysis Methods
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Pollutant Standard value‡ Standard type
Carbon monoxide
8-h average 9ppm (10 mg/m3) Primary
1-h average 35 ppm (40 mg/m3) Primary
Nitrogen dioxide
Annual arithmetic mean 0.053 ppm (100μg/m3) Primary and secondary
Ozone
1-h average 0.12 ppm (235 μg/m3) Primary and secondary
Lead
Quarterly average 1.5 μg/m3 Primary and secondary
Sulfur dioxide
Annual arithmetic mean 0.03 ppm (80 μg/m3) Primary
24-h average 0.14 ppm (365 μg/m3) Primary
3-h average 0.50 ppm (1300 μg/m3) Secondary
Particulates (<10 μm)
Annual arithmetic mean 50 μg/m3 Primary and secondary
24-h average 150 μg/m3 Primary and secondary
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Control of Exposure
• Three general principles of reducing exposure of
workers to occupational hazards
– Source control: prevent release of toxic contaminants
to the air i.e. Containment and Change of
process/operation to eliminate or reduce exposure
– Transmission control: capturing or blocking the
contaminates from reaching the workers i.e.
Ventilation
– Personal protection: preventing contact with toxic
contaminant i.e. PPE
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Control of Exposure
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Fire and Explosion Hazards
• Fire triangle : Fuel, Oxidizer, ignition source, Combustion
must be self sustaining
• LFL (Lower flammable limit) Minimum concentration of
fuel in air required for ignition at ambient temperature
• UFL (Upper flammable limit): concentration above which
ignition will not occur
• LOI ( limiting oxygen index)
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Fire and Explosion Hazards
• Flammability limits of mixtures from le Chatelier’s
principle
• LFL and UFL of mixtures from concentration
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Fire and Explosion Hazards
• Elevated pressures, temperatures
• Auto ignition temperature: the temperature at which
ignition occurs without any spark (minimum amount of
energy is required)
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Classification of Fires
CLASS A: ordinary solids
CLASS B: liquids or gases
CLASS C: A/B in presence of live electric circuits
CLASS D: consume metals
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Fire Protection
• Active: water spray foam, dry chemicals
• Passive: insulating, fire proofing
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Explosion
• Sudden and catastrophic release of energy causing
pressure wave
– Detonation: chemical reaction propagates at supersonic
speed (confined and a high intensity source)
– Deflagration: combustion propagates like normal burning;
subsonic velocity
• Causes: Physical reaction, chemical reaction, nuclear
reaction
• Energy release: TNT equivalent – 4.52 MJ/kg
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Explosion Related to Chemical
Industry
• BLEVE:
BLEVE: boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion
(sudden depressurization, rapid vaporization with
explosive force)
• UVCE:
UVCE: Unconfined vapor cloud explosion, large cloud of
gas and explosion occurs with ignition
• Dust explosion : dispersed in air, small particle size,
suspended over sufficient amount of time and ignited
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Equipment should be designed:
To meet specifications and codes
American Standards Association
American Petroleum Institute (API)
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
Factory Mutual Laboratories (FML)
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
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Design and Construction of pressure
vessels and storage tanks:
• API
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
The vessel should be tested at 1.5 to 2 or more times
the design pressure
Adequate venting is necessary
Advisable to provide protection by both spring-
spring-loaded
valves and rupture disks
Eliminate all unnecessary ignition sources – flames,
sparks, or heated material
Alarms, fire-
fire-fighting equipment, sprinkler
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