Introduction to chem. eng.

Chapter 4
 PROCESS DESIGN

CONTENTS:
• Products which will require the development of a
Chemical Processes
• Project Development Story
• Examples of two Process Design Projects
• Laboratory and Pilot Plant Data and Specifications
(Example)
• Qualitative Block-type Process Flow Sheet – Figure (1)
• Simplified Equipment Flow Diagram – Figure (2)
• Material Balance Flow Sheet – Figure (3)
• Energy Balance Flow Sheet – Figure (4)
• Equipment Symbols – Figure (5)
 Products which require the
development of a Chemical Processes 

• A request from a customer to supply a material

with properties not covered by any product in
the market.

• A new catalyst that can reduce manufacturing

cost for a chemical our competitor produces.

• The research team may have a new monomer

whose properties look promising for producing
a polymer for car bumpers.

• Management may want us to discover a process

where we can use up the surplus feedstock the
company is currently producing. 
 Project Development Story

‫قصـة حياه مشـروع‬

1. Board of Director’s Design Problem

‫مجلس إدارة الشركة يبحث عن بدائل لزيادة ربحية الشركة ودعم موقف الشركة‬
‫التنافسى‬
3. Identification of New Projects
- Project ideas
- Possible sources of finance
- Possible risks
3. Market Study
- Potential customer’s reaction
- Competition analysis
10.Planning and organizational Design
‫إعداد خطة المشروع بدءً من مرحلة التصميم – تحديد المسئوليات والمهام والتوقيتات والتكاليف المبدئية‬
 Project Development Story

‫تابـع قصـة حياه مشـروع‬

5. Preliminary Process Design:
- Generates and evaluate alternative process flow
diagram of the process
- Select the most promising process flow diagram
based on technical, economic and safety
considerations.

5. Layout and Three Dimensional Modeling:

- equipment selection
- equipment sizing
- conversion of the process flow diagram (PFD) into a
piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID)
- layout design
 ‫‪Project Development Story‬‬

‫تابـع قصـة حياه مشـروع‬

‫‪7. Construction:‬‬
‫بناء‪ ‬المصنع‪ ‬بمعرفة‪ ‬شركة‪ ‬أو‪ ‬شركات‪ ‬متخصصة‪ ‬فى‪ ‬العمال‪ ‬المدنية‪ ‬والكهربائية‪ ‬والميكانيكية‪ ‬وعزل‬
‫المعدات‪ ‬وتحديد‪ ‬المواسير‪ ‬وتمهيد‪ ‬الطرق‪ ‬وشبكات‪ ‬المياه‪ ‬والصرف‪ ‬الحصى‪ ‬والتليفونات‪ ‬والغاز‪...‬الخ‪.‬‬
‫إدارة‪ ‬المشروع‪ ‬وفقاً‪ ‬للصول‪ ‬المحددة‪:‬‬
‫• إدارة‪ ‬الجودة‪ ‬للتحقق‪ ‬من‪ ‬المواصفات‪ ‬الفنية‬
‫• إدارة‪ ‬التكلفة‪ ‬للتحقق‪ ‬من‪ ‬أن‪ ‬التنفيذ‪ ‬يتم‪ ‬وفقا‪ ‬للميزانية‪ ‬المقررة‬
‫• إدارة‪ ‬الزمن‪ ‬للتحقق‪ ‬من‪ ‬أن‪ ‬التنفيذ‪ ‬يسير‪ ‬وفقا‪ ‬للبرنامج‪ ‬الزمنى‪   ‬‬
‫‪8.Startup and commissioning:‬‬
‫‪Get the plant started‬‬

‫‪9.Plant Operation:‬‬
‫‪Get the product to the market‬‬
 ‫‪Project Development Story‬‬

‫تابـع قصـة حياه مشـروع‬

‫‪10. Debottlenecking:‬‬
‫‪Make changes to improve process performance‬‬

‫‪11. Decommissioning:‬‬

‫النتاج وتبدأ عملية معقدة لتفكيكه‪...‬‬

‫هذا العام أن يأخذ فى العتبار طريقة تفكيكه بعد خمسين عاما – من الن‪...‬‬
Example of Process Design Project 

The market analysis staff of Company X, a medium-

sized organic products company, has recommended
to its management group that there was some
chance to diversify their product line by developing
a pesticide. The research and development (R&D)
staff suggest that benzene hexachloride (BHC)
might be a good possibility. It can be sold in the so-
called crude form which contains 12 to 15 percent of
the active pesticide, γ isomer of BHC, or it can be
marketed as the concentrated product Lindane (99
percent γ isomer of BHC).
Example of Process Design Project Cont’d 

Market analysis showed that an annual production of

600 ton of crude BHC or up to 100 ton of Lindane
could be easily sold without undue competition.
Management would like to compare the economics
of crude BHC and Lindane production before making
the final decision to spend money in a
manufacturing plant. This requires process design
study followed by a preconstruction cost estimate
and profitability analysis.
A statement of the chemical process for the
production of crude benzene hexachloride is
specified by the research and development group as
follows:
Chemical Process Considerations:

• The production of benzene hexachloride is to involve the

reaction of gaseous chlorine with liquid benzene at the
refluxing temperature.
• The reaction is to be carried out on a continuous basis in
a glass-lined reactor fitted with a refluxing system;
conversion of the chlorine is expected to be 99 percent
and the reactor product should consist of about 33
percent benzene hexachloride dissolved in
chlorobenzenes and unreacted benzene.
• The crude product is to be continuously removed for
further processing.
• The accompanying 21.5 percent muriatic acid layer
should be decanted and further concentrated to the
salable 36 percent acid.
Chemical Process Considerations Cont’d:

• The concentration is to be accomplished in a tripping

column which produces a bottoms of 20 percent HCl
solution.
• Since this bottoms product is not salable as such and
since the HCl cannot be stripped farther without the use
of excessively high pressures, it is to be recycled into the
chlorinator for reconcentration.
• The organic layer is to be neutralized with 1 percent
NaOH solution and then concentrated to 56 percent BHC
by evaporation of some of the volatile ingredients in a
flash still.
• The overhead from this still is largely benzene and
monchlor benzene which are separated by fractionational
distillation.
• The benzene is recycled and the monochlor benzene is to
be sold as a by-product.
Chemical Process Considerations Cont’d:

• A large fraction of the benzene hexachloride is to be

crystallized out in a double-pipe “chiller” and the crystals
removed by means of a continuous centrifuge.
• The filtrate is to be recycled to a flash still for
reconcentration.
• The crystalline BHC product is to be dried in a rotary
vacuum dryer equipped with a solvent recovery system.
• The recovered solvents from various operations are to be
combined and fractionated.
• The overhead distillate consisting primarily of benzene is
to be reused in the process whereas the chlorobenzol
solvents in the bottoms are to be stored for sale as crude
monochlorobenzene.
 Laboratory and Pilot Plant Data and
Specifications (Example) 

1.  Raw materials specifications:
 Benzol, purified grade, considered as 99.5% benzene,
0.5% toluene
 Chlorine considered to be 100% pure
 Water catalyst, demineralized process water
 Sodium hydroxide, flake, 98% NaOH

2.  Chlorinator conditions:
 Reaction temperature: 70°C
 Chorine conversion: 99%
 Laboratory and Pilot Plant Data and
Specifications (Example) Cont’d 

3. Characteristics of organic product layer from chlorinator: 
Composition Weight%
Benzene 58.85
Water 0.31
Monochlorobenzene 7.08
Benzene Hexachloride
Alpha 23.44
Beta 2.04
Gamma 4.22
Delta and cogeners 3.55
Heptachlorocyclohexane 0.26
Trichlorobenzene 0.15
Hydrogen chloride 0.10
Total 100.00

Specific gravity at 70ºC: 1.034

 Qualitative Block-type
Process Flow Sheet 

The next step for the design engineering group is to

translate the written description of the chemical
process into a working pattern. It is important to
explain that this working pattern can be developed in
a number of ways. Each industry, each company, and
each individual designer has a somewhat different
approach to process design, particularly when it
comes to pictorial representation of the design data.
We can present only a few of the possible ways of
working out a process design.
 Qualitative Block-type
Process Flow Sheet Cont’d 
The main points that a student should realize are that the
design should be:

(1) technically sound,

(2) on a reasonable basis, and
(3) clearly pictured.

An examination of this process description for

manufacturing benzene hexachloride and the supporting
data shows that the principal chemical reaction is that of
chlorine addition. Absence of actinic rays And
substitution catalysts
C6H6Cl6
C6H6(l) + 3Cl2(g) Presence of H2O, 70ºC
Benzene hexachloride or
Benzene Chlorine
cyclohexane, 1,2,-3,4,5,6-
hexachlorine
 Qualitative Block-type
Process Flow Sheet Cont’d 

The working pattern for this process is put down on

paper by drawing rectangular boxes and inserting
the types of physical and/or chemical operations
that take place, together with a description of the
streams entering and leaving the box. The result is
a qualitative block-type process flow sheet or flow
diagram. Figure (1) illustrates this principle. The
process engineer now has better idea of the over-
all process and obtains an insight as to further data
he might require.
 Qualitative Block-type
Process Flow Sheet Cont’d 

Figure (2) is a simplified equipment flow diagram

of the same process. This was coded by letter for
each key operation, for example, B for chlorination,
D for acid concentration, etc. All the equipment
conveniently associated with the key operation was
numbered, for example, B-1, B-2, etc. A study of
this diagram will be helpful in following this
particular plan of execution.
The equipment pictured may not represent the final
choice as subsequent material and energy balances
could reveal that a certain type of equipment was
not technically feasible to carry out the desired
process step.
From research to practice
:Research project

residues and night soil, M. Sc. student

thesis work, Hisham Sheref,1985
From research to practice
:The Practice

turn-key sorting and composting plants

to manage and operate MSW recycling

and disposal facilities
More details about the transfer of
…research to practice
Research main objective: to design a
system for the safe disposal of human
waste and domestic solid waste

The basic idea was to combine the organic

fraction of the MSW which is high in
carbon with the night soil high in nitrogen
.to produce useful product
water courses as the ultimate disposal site of
human waste and municipal solid waste
 research experimental set up
Pilot scale experiments •
Mixtures of agricultural residues and night •
soil collected from household vaults in the
village of Shosha, Mynia, upper Egypt
Aerobic decomposition •
:Operating variables •
time –
aeration rate –
C/N ratio –
 Rate factors
:Moisture content .1

:Time .4

determining the compost product

quality
 Cont’d rate factors
:Temperature .3

pathogen destruction
:Particle size .4

particles vs higher rate of decomposition

 Cont’d rate factors

:Aeration .5

of aerobic microorganisms

depends on: stage of process, temp, degree

of mixing, composition, particle size and
moisture content

down the mass, too little will result in low

. oxygen content
Cont’d rate factors

:Nutrients .6

:pH control .7

will bring pH to 4.5 level

 research project main activities

Temperature •
monitoring
Pathogens •
destruction rate
Mass and energy •
balance
Product quality •
assessment
Process design •
Economic analysis •
 First business opportunity
Establishment of a limited liability •
company, 1994
Acquisition of 14,000 sq meters in the •
industrial estate in Mynia, 20 km from a
major sugar factory
Detailed process and plant design of the •
first large scale production facility of
agriculture residue based compost in
Egypt
Cont’d Mynia composting plant

Fixed capital •
Labor force •
Production capacity •
Marketing experience •
Main raw materials •
Baggasse –
Agriculture residues –
 Continued R&D work
Sugar factory filter mud as an alternative •
raw material

Process and plant design of •

waste
Second business opportunity
:MSW Composting plants

license
Global perspective on municipal
solid waste quantities

Generation rates
kg/capita.day
Low-income Middle-income High-income
country country country

Mixed urban waste-

to 0.75 0.50 to 1.1 0.55 to 2.2 0.75
large city
Mixed urban waste
– small to medium to 0.65 0.35 to 0.75 0.45 to 1.5 0.65
city
Residential waste
to 0.45 0.25 to 0.65 0.35 to 1.0 0.55
only
Global Perspective on Solid Waste
Management Costs Versus Income
Low Middle High
Units Income Income Income
Country Country Country
Average waste
Tons/cap. yr 0.2 0.3 0.6
generation
Average income from
cap.yr/$ 370 2,400 22,000
GNP
Collection cost ton/$ 10-30 30-70 70-120

Transfer cost ton/$ 3-8 5-15 15-20

Sanitary landfill cost ton/$ 3-10 8-15 20-50

Total cost without
ton/$ 13-40 38-85 90-170
transfer
Total cost withtransfer ton/$ 16-48 43-100 105-190

Cost as % of income per cent 0.7-2.6 0.5-1.3 0.2-0.5

Business opportunity is to convert this
kind of waste
To this kind of product
and to get recyclable material in addition
Process and plant design
:Scope and Capabilities

layout design
civil engineering design work
electrical system design
 Material Balance
Overview of the process

Sorting Units
Bales of recyclables
Composting Units
Bales of Rejects Gases
693.5 ton /day Compos
emissio t
Recycling n
660 ton /day
Mixed 133 ton /day
MSW

1920 ton / day Receiving 1904 ton / day Sorting

1387 ton / day
Composting
693.5 ton / day
Final Product
Area Area Area Refining

380 ton /day

96 ton / day
33.5 ton /day
Primary
Rejects

Baling Area
Bales of Rejects Un degradable
Matter

Landfill
STEP I:      Waste receiving
Municipal solid waste receiving area
STEP II: Sorting of recyclables
The waste is then transferred to sorting
conveyors, each conveyor supporting 6
stations
Two Lines sorting system
Two Lines sorting system picture
Adding water for moisture content control
compost turning machine in
operation
Screening of matured final product
 Second business opportunity in
summery
First business opportunity has been used •
as a show room for the marketing of our
process and plant design
sorting and composting plants have 42 •
been built in Egypt over the last 10 years
plants have been exported to Libya 6 •
plant ( 3 lines ) is in the manufacturing 1 •
phase to be built in Malaysia