INTRODUCTION

Transport Phenomena
and Unit Operations III
1
Introduction
What are unit operations?
In chemical engineering and related fields, a unit
operation is a basic step in a process (like a piece of
component in LEGO). A chemical plant is just an
assembly of many unit operations. Examples include
pumps, heat exchangers, distillation towers, and
many others.
What are transport phenomena?
Transport phenomena are just a way that chemical
engineers group the knowledge about momentum,
heat and mass transfer. Transport phenomena
provide the physical principles for understanding
and improving various unit operations.
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Characteristics of transport phenomena
Thermodynamics
Concerns initial and final states (not the process)
1st law of thermodynamics energy conservation
2nd law transport direction of momentum, energy or mass
Transport phenomena
Momentum transfer (Fluid mechanics) rate of momentum
transport
Momentum in transit due to velocity gradient
Heat transfer rate of thermal energy transport
Energy in transit due to temperature gradient
Mass transfer rate of mass transport
Mass in transit due to concentration gradient


3
Characteristics of unit operations
Physical processes, usually involves no chemical or
biochemical reactions.
Most chemical industry processing includes a
combination of unit operations.
The individual operations in different chemical
industry processing have common techniques and
are based on the same scientific principles. Therefore,
the equipments are universal.
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Examples of units of unit operations
Momentum
transfer
Heat transfer
Mass transfer
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Chemical Industrial
processing, complicated and
different
Chemical or
biochemical
reactions
Physical
processes
divided into a series of
steps, called Unit
Operations. Examples
include pumping,
evaporation and
extraction.
Transport
Phenomena,
including
momentum, heat
and mass
transport
Physical
principles
Operation
Methods
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Thermodynamics Mass and energy balance
Example: Production of milk powder
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Example: Production of milk powder
milk clarification (centrifugal
separation) standardization
heating vaporization spray
drying Milk powder
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Example: Production of milk powder
Milk in
Milk out
Sediment
particles
Clarification---to remove
particles from milk
Heating---to sterilize
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Example: Production of milk powder
Falling-film evaporator Spray dryer---to get milk powder
10
Another example: Circulation of blood
Pulmonary circulation
and systemic circulation
Can you find organs that
act as pumps, valves and
pipes in this system?
Can you tell where heat
transfer and mass
transfer happen?
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Process flowsheet: production of fatty
acid and soap
Process flowsheet: Butane isomerization
Units:

- Heaters/heat exchangers
- Pumps
- Distillation units
- Reactors
-
Actions:

- Heat exchange
- Material transport
- Separation
- Mixing
-
Comparison of two processes
What have we learned?
In unit operations I:
Momentum transfer
(Fluid mechanics)

In unit operations II:
Heat transfer
Mass transfer


And the analogy among them

So, what is in Unit operations III?
Fluid flow processes
- fluid transport
- solids fluidization
- mixing

Heat transfer processes
- heating/cooling
- evaporation/condensation

Mass transfer processes
- centrifugation
- absorption
- distillation
- extraction
- adsorption
- drying
Thermodynamic processes
- liquefaction
- refrigeration

Mechanical processes
- crushing
- sieving
- solid transportation

Unit Operations: Classification
Unit operations III is mainly about
separation processes
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What are separation processes?
Separation processes are defined as those operations
which transform a mixture of substances into two or
more products which differ from each other in
composition.

separated
mixed
Examples of separation processes
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1. Separation of blood.
2.Purification of drugs.
3.Purification of Au, Ag, Ti.
4.Refining of crude oil.
5.DNA testing.
6.Purification of organic material.
7.Purification of water.
8.Separation of water and waste product of metabolism
from blood Kidney
Why separation processes important?
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Need for pure material in engineering applications.
Preparation of raw materials into their component.
Need for pure material for materials processing.
Need to remove toxins or inactive components from
solution (drugs, waste)
Need for ultra-pure samples for testing.
Need for analysis of the components of mixture (DNA
testing)
50 to 90 percent of capital investment in chemical
plant is for separation equipment.

Separation mechanisms
Driving force
Size: Membrane (filtration, micro-filtration,
ultra-filtration/nano, reverse osmosis)
Phase change: Distillation, crystallization
Chemical affinity: Absorption (vs. stripping),
extraction, Adsorption (ion exchange,
chromatography)
Others: Electric field(electrophoresis,
electrolysis), Magnetic field,
Gravity/centrifugation (density)
The cost of separation
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The mixing of chemicals to form a mixture is a
spontaneous, natural process that is accompanied
by an increase in entropy or randomness (S)
The inverse process (the separation of the mixture
into its constituent chemical species) is not
spontaneous process, it requires an expenditure of
energy.