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Unit Operation - Wikipedia

Unit operations are basic steps in a chemical engineering process that involve physical or chemical changes. They include operations like separation, crystallization, evaporation, and reactions. Historically, different industries were considered separate processes, but unit operations analysis showed that many processes across industries follow the same physical principles. There are five main classes of unit operations: fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer, thermodynamic, and mechanical processes. Combined processes also exist that incorporate elements of multiple unit operation classes.

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150 views11 pages

Unit Operation - Wikipedia

Unit operations are basic steps in a chemical engineering process that involve physical or chemical changes. They include operations like separation, crystallization, evaporation, and reactions. Historically, different industries were considered separate processes, but unit operations analysis showed that many processes across industries follow the same physical principles. There are five main classes of unit operations: fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer, thermodynamic, and mechanical processes. Combined processes also exist that incorporate elements of multiple unit operation classes.

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Manojkumar
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Unit operation

In chemical engineering and related fields,


a unit operation is a basic step in a
process. Unit operations involve a physical
change or chemical transformation such
as separation, crystallization, evaporation,
filtration, polymerization, isomerization,
and other reactions. For example, in milk
processing, homogenization,
pasteurization, and packaging are each
unit operations which are connected to
create the overall process. A process may
require many unit operations to obtain the
desired product from the starting
materials, or feedstocks.
An ore extraction process broken into its constituent
unit operations (Quincy Mine, Hancock, MI ca. 1900)

History
Historically, the different chemical
industries were regarded as different
industrial processes and with different
principles. Arthur Dehon Little propounded
the concept of "unit operations" to explain
industrial chemistry processes in 1916.[1]
In 1923, William H. Walker, Warren K.
Lewis and William H. McAdams wrote the
book The Principles of Chemical
Engineering and explained that the variety
of chemical industries have processes
which follow the same physical laws.[2]
They summed up these similar processes
into unit operations. Each unit operation
follows the same physical laws and may
be used in all relevant chemical industries.
For instance, the same engineering is
required to design a mixer for either
napalm or porridge, even if the use, market
or manufacturers are very different. The
unit operations form the fundamental
principles of chemical engineering.

Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineering unit operations
consist of five classes:
1. Fluid flow processes, including fluids
transportation, filtration, and solids
fluidization.
2. Heat transfer processes, including
evaporation and heat exchange.
3. Mass transfer processes, including
gas absorption, distillation,
extraction, adsorption, and drying.
4. Thermodynamic processes, including
gas liquefaction, and refrigeration.
5. Mechanical processes, including
solids transportation, crushing and
pulverization, and screening and
sieving.
Chemical engineering unit operations also
fall in the following categories which
involve elements from more than one
class:

Combination (mixing)
Separation (distillation, crystallization)
Reaction (chemical reaction)

Furthermore, there are some unit


operations which combine even these
categories, such as reactive distillation
and stirred tank reactors. A "pure" unit
operation is a physical transport process,
while a mixed chemical/physical process
requires modeling both the physical
transport, such as diffusion, and the
chemical reaction. This is usually
necessary for designing catalytic
reactions, and is considered a separate
discipline, termed chemical reaction
engineering.

Chemical engineering unit operations and


chemical engineering unit processing form
the main principles of all kinds of chemical
industries and are the foundation of
designs of chemical plants, factories, and
equipment used.

In general, unit operations are designed by


writing down the balances for the
transported quantity for each elementary
component (which may be infinitesimal) in
the form of equations, and solving the
equations for the design parameters, then
selecting an optimal solution out of the
several possible and then designing the
physical equipment. For instance,
distillation in a plate column is analyzed by
writing down the mass balances for each
plate, wherein the known vapor-liquid
equilibrium and efficiency, drip out and
drip in comprise the total mass flows, with
a sub-flow for each component.
Combining a stack of these gives the
system of equations for the whole column.
There is a range of solutions, because a
higher reflux ratio enables fewer plates,
and vice versa. The engineer must then
find the optimal solution with respect to
acceptable volume holdup, column height
and cost of construction.

See also
Distillation Design
Extrusion
Process simulation
Separation process
Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering
Unit process

References
1. "Arther Dehon Little" . Scatter Acorns
That Oaks May Grow. MIT Libraries.
Retrieved 13 November 2013.
2. "Arthur D. Little, William H. Walker, and
Warren K. Lewis" . Science History
Institute. Retrieved 20 March 2018.

External links
Media related to Unit operations at
Wikimedia Commons

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