CHEMICAL PROJECT ENGINEERING & ECONOMICS Introduction to Chemical Plant Design; Functions of Project Engineer.

Process selection and evaluation; Essential Flow Diagrams for understanding chemical processes - Block Flow Diagrams (BFD), Process Flow Diagrams (PFD), Piping and Instrumentation Diagram (PID). Plant Layout - Location of Chemical plant, raw materials and utilities. Project Costs - Capital Costs and Manufacturing Costs - their estimation. Engineering Economic Analyses - Return on Investments and the Time Value of Money, Simple and Compound Interest, Discrete and Continuous compounding, Inflation, Inflation-adjusted interest rates. Cash Flow Diagrams - Discrete and Cumulative. Annuities - their present and future worth, discount factors. Depreciation of Capital Investment - Type of depreciation. Taxation, Cash Flow and Profit. Profitability Analysis of Projects and Equipments - Discounted and non-discounted profitability criteria, Incremental Economic analysis, Evaluation of Process Equipment alternatives, Incremental Analysis for Retrofitting Facilities - Discounted and non-discounted methods. Methods of cost calculations of chemical process equipment. Optimum design of pipe line, lagging thickness, heat exchanger, distillation column, reactor, storage vessels, evaporators etc. Scale-up - Introduction; Principles and theory; Concept of similarity - different types of similarity. Scale equations for common chemical engineering systems - applications and limitations. Application of Scale-up techniques to the selection and specification of chemical process equipment solid-liquid separations, reactors, heat exchangers etc. Limitations of scale-up.

PLANT DESIGN

CONTENTS: Chemical Engineering Plant Design Sequence of Steps in Developing a Project Plant Location

Plant Layout
Storage of materials Materials Handling Utilities

The general term plant design includes all engineering aspects involved in the development of either a new, modified, or expanded industrial plant.
In this development, the chemical engineer will be making economic evaluations of new processes, designing individual pieces of equipment, or developing a plant layout. Because of these many design duties, the chemical engineer is many times referred to as a design engineer. On the other hand, a chemical engineer specializing in the economic aspects of the design is often referred to as a cost engineer. The term process engineering is used in connection with economic evaluation and general economic analyses of industrial processes, while process design refers to the actual design of the equipment and facilities necessary for carrying out the process. Similarly, the meaning of plant design is limited by some engineers to items related directly to the complete plant, such as plant layout, general service facilities, and plant location.

Time sequence
Process identification Laboratory scale process research Bench scale investigations Preliminary economic evaluation Process development Mass and energy balance Detailed process design Site selection Refined economic evaluation Design Fixed Detailed economic evaluation Engineering flow scheme Basic design Detailed construction plan Detail design Procurement Construction Startup

Project Steps

Generation of Possible Design concepts Chemical engineering projects can be divided into three types, depending on the novelty involved: Modifications, and additions, to existing plant; usually carried out by the plant design group. New production capacity to meet growing sales demand, and the sale of established processes by contractors. Repetition of existing designs, with only minor design changes. New processes, developed from laboratory research, through pilot plant, to a commercial process. Even here, most of the unit operations and process equipment will use established designs. Setting the Design Basis The most important step in starting a process design is translating the customer need into a design basis . It will normally include the production rate of the main product together with the information on constraints that will influence the design such as :1- The system of the unit to be used 2- The national the local or company design codes that must be followed 3- Details of raw materials that are available 4- Information on potential sites where the plant might be located 5- Information on the condition , availability and prices of utility services

Stage 1. Raw material storage Unless the raw materials (also called essential materials, or feed stocks) are supplied as intermediate products (intermediates) from a neighboring plant, some provision will have to be made to hold several days, or weeks, storage to smooth out fluctuations and interruptions in supply. Stage 2. Feed preparation Some purification, and preparation, of the raw materials will usually be necessary before they are sufficiently pure, or in the right form, to be fed to the reaction stage. Stage 3, Reactor The reaction stage is the heart of a chemical manufacturing process. In the reactor the raw materials are brought together under conditions that promote the production of the desired product; invariably, by-products and unwanted compounds (impurities) will also be formed. Stage 4. Product separation In this first stage after the reactor the products and by-products are separated from any unreacted material. If in sufficient quantity, the unreacted material will be recycled to the reactor. They may be returned directly to the reactor, or to the feed purification and preparation stage. The by-products may also be separated from the products at this stage. Stage 5. Purification Before sale, the main product will usually need purification to meet the product specification. If produced in economic quantities, the by-products may also be purified for sale.

Stage 6. Product storage Some inventory of finished product must be held to match production with sales. Provision for product packaging and transport will also be needed, depending on the nature of the product. Liquids will normally be dispatched in drums and in bulk tankers (road, rail and sea), solids in sacks, cartons or bales. The stock held will depend on the nature of the product and the market.

Ancillary processes In addition to the main process stages shown in Figure 1.3, provision will have to be made for the supply of the services (utilities) needed; such as, process water, cooling water, compressed air, steam. Facilities will also be needed for maintenance, fire fighting, offices and other accommodation, and laboratories Continuous and batch processes Continuous processes are designed to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, throughout the year. Some down time will be allowed for maintenance and, for some processes, catalyst regeneration. The plant attainment; that is, the percentage of the available hours in a year that the plant operates, will usually be 90 to 95% hours operated. Continuous processes will usually be more economical for large scale production. Batch processes are designed to operate intermittently. Some, or all, the process units being frequently shut down and started up. Batch processes are used where some flexibility is wanted in production rate or product specification. Choice of continuous versus batch production The choice between batch or continuous operation will not be clear cut, but the following rules can be used as a guide: Continuous 1. Production rate greater than 5 x 106 kg/h 2. Single product 3. No severe fouling 4. Good catalyst life 5. Proven processes design 6. Established market Batch 1. Production rate less than 5 x 106 kg/h 2. A range of products or product specifications 3. Severe fouling 4. Short catalyst life 5. New product 6. Uncertain design

Process engineering is the procedure whereby a means for producing a given substance is created or modified. To understand what is involved one must be familiar with chemical plants. Chemical plants are a series of operations that take raw materials and convert them into desired products, saleable by-products, and unwanted wastes. To perform these changes some or all of the following steps are needed: 1. Feed storage: Incoming materials are placed in storage prior to use. 2. Feed preparation: The raw materials are physically changed and purified. 3. Reaction: The raw materials are brought together under controlled conditions so that the desired products are formed. 4. Product purification: The desired products are separated from each other and from the other substances present. 5. Product packaging: The products are packaged and stored prior to storage and shipment. 6. Recycle, recovery, and storage: Undesirable substances are separated from the reusable materials, which are then stored. 7. Pollution control : The waste is prepared for disposal.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES The process engineer is the person who constructs the process flow sheet. He decides what constitutes each of the seven steps listed and how they are to be interconnected. He is in charge of the process, and must understand how all the pieces fit together. The process engineers task is to find the best way to produce a given quality product safely-best, at least in part, being synonymous with most economical. The engineer assumes that the people, through their purchasing power in the market place, select what they deem best. He may devise a method of reducing pollution, but if it causes the price of the product to increase, it generally will not be installed unless required by the government. Other corporations and the public will not pay the increased price if they can get an equivalent product for less. This is true even if they would benefit directly from the reduced pollution. The engineer and his societies in the past have seldom crusaded for changes that would improve the environment and benefit the general public. The typical engineer just sat back and said, If thats what they want, let them have it. Engineers have typically abrogated their social responsibilities. Until the past few years, whenever the engineer spoke of ethics he meant loyalty to company. Now some are speaking about what is good for mankind. This trend could add a new dimension to process engineering.

Between 1938 and 1958, the chemical and petrochemical industry could do nothing wrong. These were years of rapid expansion when the demand quickly exceeded the supply. The philosophy of the era was to build a plant that the engineer was sure would run at the design capacity. If it ran at 20,30, or even 50% over the nominal capacity this was a feather in the superintendents cap. There were proud boasts of a plant running at 180% of capacity. Anybody who could produce this was obviously in line for a vice-presidency. He was a managers manager. These were the years when whatever could be made could be sold at a profit. The United States was involved in a world war followed by a postwar business boom and the Korean War. Then came 1958. The Korean War had been over for five years. The United States was in the midst of a major recession.. The chemical industry that previously could do no wrong found that all of a sudden its profits were declining rapidly. A couple of major chemical concerns responded by firing 10% of salaried employees. This was the end of an era. Many plants were being run below design capacity because of a lack of sales. These companies realized that the excess capacity built into their plants was a liability rather than an asset. First, the larger the equipment the more expensive it is. This means the plant initially cost more than should have been spent. Second, a properly designed plant runs most efficiently at the design capacity.

For instance, a pump will be chosen so that when it is operating at the design capacity it produces the desired flow rate and pressure at the lowest cost per pound of throughput. When it is operating at other rates the cost per pound increases. Thus, the cost of running a plant is at a minimum at the design capacity. An oversize plant could of course be run at design capacity until the product storage was full and then shut down until nearly all the product has been shipped to customers. However, the problems involved in starting up a plant usually rule this out as a practical solution. This tightening-up trend will not be stopped, and more and more the process engineers will be expected to design a plant for the estimated cost that will safely produce the desired product at the chosen rate.

Chemical engineering design of new chemical plants and the expansion or revision of existing ones require the use of engineering principles and theories combined with a practical realization of the limits imposed by industrial conditions. Development of a new plant or process from concept evaluation to profitable reality is often an enormously complex problem. A plant-design project moves to completion through a series of stages such as is shown in the following: 1. Inception 2. Preliminary evaluation of economics and market 3. Development of data necessary for final design 4. Final economic evaluation 5. Detailed engineering design 6. Procurement 7. Erection 8. Startup and trial runs 9. Production

PROCESS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT The development of a process design involves many different steps. The first, of course, must be the inception of the basic idea.

This idea may originate in the sales department, as a result of a customer request, or to meet a competing product.
It may occur spontaneously to someone who is acquainted with the aims and needs of a particular company, or it may be the result of an orderly research program or an offshoot of such a program. The operating division of the company may develop a new or modified chemical, generally as an intermediate in the final product. The engineering department of the company may originate a new process or modify an existing process to create new products. In all these possibilities, if the initial analysis indicates that the idea may have possibilities of developing into a worthwhile project, a preliminary research or investigation program is initiated. Here, a general survey of the possibilities for a successful process is made considering the physical and chemical operations involved as well as the economic aspects. Next comes the process-research phase including preliminary market surveys, laboratory-scale experiments, and production of research samples of the final product. When the potentialities of the process are fairly well established, the project is ready for the development phase. At this point, a pilot plant or a commercial development plant may be constructed. A pilot plant is a small-scale replica of the full-scale final plant, while a commercial-development plant is usually made from odd pieces of equipment which are already available and is not meant to duplicate the exact setup to be used in the full-scale plant.

Design data and other process information are obtained during the development stage. This information is used as the basis for carrying out the additional phases of the design project. A complete market analysis is made, and samples of the final product are sent to prospective customers to determine if the product is satisfactory and if there is a reasonable sales potential. Capital-cost estimates for the proposed plant are made. Probable returns on the required investment are determined, and a complete cost-and-profit analysis of the process is developed. Before the final process design starts, company management normally becomes involved to decide if significant capital funds will be committed to the project. It is at this point that the engineers preliminary design work along with the oral and written reports which are presented become particularly important because they will provide the primary basis on which management will decide if further funds should be provided for the project. If the economic picture is still satisfactory, the final process-design phase is ready to begin. All the design details are worked out in this phase including controls, services; piping layouts, firm price quotations, specifications and designs for individual pieces of equipment, and all the other design information necessary for the construction of the final plant. A complete construction design is then made with elevation drawings, plant-layout arrangements, and other information required for the actual construction of the plant. The final stage consists of procurement of the equipment, construction of the plant, startup of the plant, overall improvements in the operation, and development of standard operating procedures to give the best possible results.

Feasibility Survey Before any detailed work is done on the design, the technical and economic factors of the proposed process should be examined. The various reactions and physical processes involved must be considered, along with the existing and potential market conditions for the particular product. A preliminary survey of this type gives an indication of the probable success of the project and also shows what additional information is necessary to make a complete evaluation. Following is a list of items that should be considered in making a feasibility survey: 1. Raw materials (availability, quantity, quality, cost) 2. Thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions involved (equilibrium, yields, rates, optimum conditions) 3. Facilities and equipment available at present 4. Facilities and equipment which must be purchased 5. Estimation of production costs and total investment 6. Profits (probable and optimum, per pound of product and per year, return on investment) 7. Materials of construction 8. Safety considerations

9. Markets (present and future supply and demand, present uses, new uses, present buying habits, price range for products and by-products, character, location, and number of possible customers)

10. Competition (overall production statistics, comparison of various manufacturing processes, product specifications of competitors) 11. Properties of products (chemical and physical properties, specifications, impurities, effects of storage) 12. Sales and sales service (method of selling and distributing, advertising required, technical services required) 13. Shipping restrictions and containers 14. Plant location 15. Patent situation and legal restrictions

Equipment specifications are generally summarized in the form of tables and included with the final design report. These tables usually include the following: 1. Columns (distillation). In addition to the number of plates and operating conditions it is also necessary to specify the column diameter, materials of construction, plate layout, etc. 2. Vessels. In addition to size, which is often dictated by the holdup time desired, materials of construction and any packing or baffling should be specified. 3. Reactors. Catalyst type and size, bed diameter and thickness, heat-interchange facilities, cycle and regeneration arrangements, materials of construction, etc., must be specified. 4. Heat exchangers and furnaces. Manufacturers are usually supplied with the duty, corrected log meantemperature difference, percent vaporized, pressure drop desired, and materials of construction. 5. Pumps and compressors. Specify type, power requirement, pressure difference, gravities, viscosities, and working pressures. 6. Instruments. Designate the function and any particular requirement. 7. Special equipment. Specifications for mechanical separators, mixers, driers etc.

COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT PROCESSES In a course of a design project it is necessary to determine the most suitable process for obtaining a desired product. Several different manufacturing methods may be available for making the same material, and various processes must be compared in order to select the one best suited to the existing conditions. The comparison can be accomplished through the development of complete designs. In many cases, however, all but one or two of the possible processes can be eliminated by a weighted comparison of the essential variable items, and detailed design calculations for each process may not be required. The following items should be considered in a comparison of this type: 1. Technical factors a. Process flexibility b. Continuous operation c. Special controls involved d. Commercial yields e. Technical difficulties involved f. Energy requirements g. Special auxiliaries required h. Possibility of future developments i. Health and safety hazards involved 2. Raw materials a. Present and future availability b. Processing required c. Storage requirements d. Materials handling problems

3. Waste products and by-products a. Amount produced b. Value c. Potential markets and uses d. Manner of discard e. Environmental aspects 4. Equipment a. Availability b. Materials of construction c. Initial costs d. Maintenance and installation costs e. Replacement requirements f. Special designs 5. Plant location a. Amount of land required b. Transportation facilities c. Proximity to markets and raw-material sources d. Availability of service and power facilities e. Availability of labor f. Climate g. Legal restrictions and taxes

6. Costs a. Raw materials b. Energy c. Depreciation d. Other fixed charges e. Processing and overhead f. Special labor requirements g. Real estate h. Patent rights i. Environmental controls 7. Time factor a. Project completion deadline b. Process development required c. Market timeliness d. Value of money 8. Process considerations a. Technology availability b. Raw materials common with other processes c. Consistency of product within company d. General company objectives

Storage Adequate storage facilities for raw materials, intermediate products, final products, recycle materials, offgrade materials, and fuels are essential to the operation of a process plant. A supply of raw materials permits operation of the process plant regardless of temporary procurement or delivery difficulties. Storage of intermediate products may be necessary during plant shutdown for emergency repairs while storage of final products makes it possible to supply the customer even during a plant difficulty or unforeseen shutdown. An additional need for adequate storage is often encountered when it is necessary to meet seasonal demands from steady production. Bulk storage of liquids is generally handled by closed spherical or cylindrical tanks to prevent the escape of volatiles and minimize contamination. Liquids with vapor pressures above atmospheric must be stored in vapor-tight tanks capable of withstanding internal pressure. If flammable liquids are stored in vented tanks, flame arresters must be installed in all openings except connections made below the liquid level.

Gases are stored at atmospheric pressure in wet- or dry-seal gas holders.

The wet-gas holder maintains a liquid seal of water or oil between the top movable inside tank and the stationary outside tank. In the dry-seal holder the seal between the two tanks is made by means of a flexible rubber or plastic curtain. Solid products and raw materials are either stored in weather-tight tanks with sloping floors or in outdoor bins and mounds. Solid products are often packed directly in bags, sacks, or drums.