1
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROCESS DESIGN
INTRODUCTION
A successful chemical engineer needs:
Knowledge of fundamental science and engineering concepts.
Ability to apply knowledge to practical situations.
Recognition of economic, environmental, and ethical implications.
Chemical engineering design involves:
Use of engineering principles and theories.
Practical realization of limits imposed by environmental, safety, and health concerns.
Development from concept evaluation to profitable reality.
Plant design includes:
Economic evaluations.
Designing equipment.
Developing plant layout.
Teamwork among various groups of engineers is crucial.
GENERAL OVERALL DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Factors affecting profitability:
Environmental protection.
Safety and health needs.
Plant location, layout, operation, and control.
Utility requirements, structural design, storage, materials handling, and patent considerations.
PROCESS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
Inception of the Basic Idea
Originates from sales department, customer request, research program, or engineering
department.
Preliminary Research or Investigation Program
General survey of physical, chemical, and economic aspects.
Process Research Phase
Preliminary market surveys.
Laboratory-scale experiments.
Production of research samples.
Development Phase
Construction of pilot plant or commercial development plant.
Obtain design data and process information.
2
Complete market analysis.
Capital cost estimates and cost-and-profit analysis.
Management Decision
Decide on capital fund commitment.
Distinction between capitalized and expensed engineering.
Final Process Design Phase
Detailed design including controls, services, piping layouts, equipment specifications.
Complete construction design.
Final Stage
Procurement of equipment.
Construction and start-up of the plant.
Development of standard operating procedures.
TYPICAL DESIGN STEPS FOR CHEMICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
1. Recognize a societal or engineering need.
Make a market analysis if a new product will result.
2. Create potential solutions.
Make a literature survey and patent search.
Identify preliminary data required.
3. Undertake preliminary process synthesis.
Determine reactions, separations, and operating conditions.
Recognize environmental, safety, and health concerns.
4. Assess profitability.
If negative, reject process and create new alternatives.
5. Refine required design data.
Establish property data with appropriate software.
Verify experimentally key unknowns.
6. Prepare detailed engineering design.
Develop base case.
Prepare process flowsheet.
Integrate and optimize process.
Check process controllability.
Size equipment.
Estimate capital cost.
7. Reassess economic viability.
If negative, modify process or investigate alternatives.
8. Review for environmental, safety, and health effects.
9. Provide a written process design report.
10. Complete final engineering design.
Determine equipment layout and specifications.
Develop piping and instrumentation diagrams.
3
Prepare bids for equipment or process plant.
11. Procure equipment (if in-house).
12. Provide assistance in construction phase (if requested).
13. Assist with start-up and shakedown runs.
14. Initiate production.
FLOWSHEET DEVELOPMENT
Create solutions to meet identified needs.
Establish separate flowsheets for each solution.
Preliminary process synthesis:
Create flowsheets involving reaction, separation, temperature, and pressure change operations.
Select process equipment.
Retain only those flowsheets with favorable gross profit.
Develop base-case designs for promising alternatives.
Assess process controllability.
Use computer-aided process simulators for material and energy balances.
COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
1. Computers are essential for rapid calculations, large storage, and logical decisions.
2. Process simulators:
Generate databases.
Regress experimental data.
Prepare material and energy balances.
3. Spreadsheet software:
Useful for mass and energy balances, equipment sizing, cost estimating, and economic analysis.
COST ESTIMATION
Accurate cost estimations possible after final process design.
Predesign cost estimation necessary throughout early design stages.
Consider all possible factors:
Fixed costs, direct production costs, plant and administrative overhead, distribution costs.
Techniques for predesign cost estimations:
Labor and material indices, standard cost ratios, special multiplication factors.
PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS OF INVESTMENTS
Aim to maximize long-term profit.
Consider risks associated with process, product, sales forecast.
Use compound interest relationships to integrate time value of money.
Evaluate investments by compounding or discounting at a preselected interest rate.
