Inorganic Industrial Chemistry

InCh2081

1
 Objective of this chapter

At the end of this chapter you should be able to:

 Distinguish between classical and industrial

chemistry

 Classify the chemical industry in terms of scale, raw

materials, end use and value addition

 Distinguish between unit operation and unit process

 Describe unit process by means of flow diagrams

 Carry out material balances for a simple process

2
 Industrial Chemistry

Industrial chemistry as branch of Chemistry

which applies physical and chemical
procedures towards the transformation of
natural raw materials and their derivatives to
products that are of benefit to humanity

3
 Industrial Chemistry

Scope of industrial chemistry therefore include:

The exploitation of materials and energy in

appropriate scale

Application of science and technology to enable

humanity experience the benefits of chemistry in
areas such as food production, health and hygiene,
shelter, protection, decoration, recreation and
entertainment
4
 Classification of industries
Industry is a general term that refers to all economic
activities that deal with production of goods and
services.
Manufacturing

Building and construction

Agriculture and trade

Energy and finance

Transport and communication

Education and tourism 5

 The manufacturing Industry
 The manufacturing industry is the area of focus in the
study of this course

 Manufacturing produces manufactured goods. This makes

it distinct from other sectors like agriculture which also
produce goods

 In manufacturing materials are transformed into other

more valuable materials

 Manufacturing industry is a compartment of industry or

economy which is concerned with the production or
making of goods out of raw materials by means of system
of organized labor
6
 Classification
Manufacturing industry can be classified into two
major categories, namely, HEAVY and LIGHT
industry

Capital intensive industries are classified as heavy

while labour intensive industries are classified as
light industries

Light industries are easier to relocate then heavy

industries and require less capital investment to build

7
 The Chemical Industry
 The chemical industry can be classified according to the type of
raw materials used and/or type of principal products made

 Therefore we have industrial inorganic chemical industries and

industrial organic chemical industries

 Industrial inorganic chemical industries extract inorganic

chemical substances, make composite of the same and also
synthesize inorganic chemicals

 Heavy industrial organic chemical industries produce petroleum

fuels, polymers, petrochemicals and other synthetic materials,
mostly from petroleum.

8
 The Chemical Industry

Light organic industry produce specialty

chemical which include pharmaceuticals,
dyes, pigments and paints, pesticides, soaps
and detergents, cosmetic products and
miscellaneous products

9
 Commodity Chemicals
The global chemical industry is founded on
basic inorganic chemicals (BIC) and basic
organic chemicals (BOC) and their
intermediates

Because they are produced directly from

natural resources or immediate derivatives of
natural resources, they are produced in large
quantities

10
 Commodity Chemicals
In top ten BIC, almost all the time, sulphuric
acid, nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia, sodium
hydroxide, phosphoric acid, and chlorine
dominate

The reason sulphuric acid is always number

one is because it is used in manufacture of
fertilizers, polymers, drugs, paints, detergents,
and paper.

It is also used in petroleum refining, metallurgy

and in many other process. 11
 Commodity Chemicals
The top ranking of oxygen is to do
with its use in the steel industry.

Ethylene and propylene are usually

are among the top ten BOC.

They are used in the production of

many organic chemicals including
polymers.
12
 Commodity Chemicals

BIC and BOC are referred to as commodity or

industrial chemicals

Commodity chemicals are therefore

defined as low-valued products
produced in large quantities mostly in
continuous processes.

They are technical or general purpose

grade

13
 Specialty Chemicals
High-value adding involves the
production of small quantities of the
chemical products for specific end uses.

Such products are called specialty

chemicals.

These are high value-added products

produced in low volumes and sold on the
basis of a specific function.
14
 Specialty Chemicals

In this category are the so- called

performance chemicals which are high
value products produced in low
volumes and used in extremely low
quantities

They are judged by performance and

efficiency.

Enzymes and dyes are performance

chemicals 15
 Specialty Chemicals
Other examples of specialty chemicals
include medicinal chemicals,
agrochemicals, pigments, flavour and
fragrances, personal care products,
surfactants and adhesives

Specialty chemicals are mainly used in

the form of formulation. This calls for
organic synthesis of highly valued pure
chemicals known as fine chemicals
16
 Fine Chemicals

At times you will find that the raw

materials for your product need to be
very pure for the product to function as
desired.

Research chemicals are in this category

as also are pharmaceutical ingredients.

17
 Fine Chemicals

Such purified or refined chemicals are

called fine chemicals.

By definition they are high- value added

pure organic chemical substances produced
in relatively low volumes and sold on the
basis of exact specifications of purity rather
than functional characterstics.

18
The Global market shares

Commodities 80%

Specialty 18%

Fine 2%

19
Raw materials for chemical industry
All chemicals are derived from raw
materials available in nature

The price of chemicals depends on the

availability of their raw materials.

Major chemical industries have therefore

developed around the most plentiful raw
materials

The natural environment is the source of

raw materials for the chemical industry 20
Raw materials from the atmosphere
The atmosphere is the field above the
ground level

It is the source of air from which six

industrial gases namely N2, O2, Ne, Ar, Kr
and Xe are manufactured.

The mass of the earth’s atmosphere is

approximately 5x 1015 tons and therefore
the supply of the gases is virtually
unlimited 21
Raw materials from the hydrosphere

Ocean water which amounts to about

1.5 x 10 21 litres contains about 3.5% by
mass dissolved material.

Seawater is a good source of sodium

chloride, magnesium and bromine

22
Raw materials from the lithosphere

The vast majority of elements are obtained

from the earth’s crust in the form of mineral
ores, carbon and hydrocarbons.

 Coal, natural gas and crude petroleum

besides being energy sources are also
converted to thousands of chemicals

23
 Raw materials from the biosphere

Vegetation and animals contribute raw

materials to the so-called agro-based
industries.
Oils, fats, waxes, resins, sugar, natural
fibres and leather are examples of
thousands of natural products

24
 Processes and Process Variables
• Process: Any operation or series of operations by which a
particular objective is accomplished.
e.g. Operations that cause a physical or chemical change in a
substance or mixture.

• The material entering a process: input, feed

• The material leaving a process: output, product

• If there are multiple steps, each will be a process unit with

its own process streams (I,O)

• You design (formulation of a flow sheet and

specifications) or operate (day-to-day running of process)
a process. 25
 VARIABLES
• Mass and Volume:
• Density = mass/ volume
• Specific volume = volume occupied by unit
mass= 1/ρ (density)
• If ρ = 1.595 g/cm3, volume = 20.0 cm3,
• →mass = 20.0 cm31.595 g/cm3= 31.9 g
• Specific gravity = ρ subs./ ρ ref.subs.(at specific
conditions)
→SG = ρ/ ρref.
• ρref = ρH2O(l)(4oC) = 1.000 g/cm3= 62.43 Ibm/ft3
• SG = 0.6 (20o/4o) SG = 0.6 at 20oC with
reference to 4oC

26
 Example:
• Calculate the density of mercury in Ibm/ft3, if its
SG=13.546 20o/40o
• Calculate the volume in ft3 occupied by 215 kg of
mercury.
ρHg= 13.546 (62.43 Ibm/ft3) = 845.7 Ibm/ft3
V = m / ρHg
= 215 kg (1Ibm/ 0.454 kg) (1 ft3/ 845.7 Ibm)
= 0.560 ft3
For solids and liquids ρ≠ρ (T,P)
For gases it is obvious For mercury ρ is depended on T:
V(T) = Vo(1 + 0.18 x 10-3T + 0.0018 x 10-6T2)

27
 The chemical process

Every industrial process is designed to

produce desired product from a variety
of starting raw materials using energy
through a succession of treatment steps
integrated in a rational fashion.

The treatments steps are either physical

or chemical in nature

28
 The chemical process

Input PROCESS Output

Materials Transformation product

A typical Industrials process

Energy is an input to or output in chemical process

29
 The chemical process
The layout of chemical process indicates areas
where

Raw materials are pre-treated

Conversion takes place

Separation of products from by-

products is carried out

30
 The chemical process
The layout of chemical process
indicates areas where

Refining /purification of
products takes place

Entry and exit points of services

such as cooling water and steam

31
 Units that make up a chemical process
A chemical process consists of a combination
of chemical reactions such as synthesis,
calcination, ion exchange, electrolysis,
oxidation, hydration and operations based on
physical phenomena such as evaporation,
crystallization, distillation and extraction

A chemical process is therefore any single

processing unit used for conversion of raw
materials through any combination of
chemical and physical treatment changes into
finished products 32
 Unit Process
Unit process are the chemical transformations
or conversions that are performed in a process
Acylation calcination dehydrogenation hydrolysis
alcoholysis carboxylation decomposition ion exchange
alkylation causitization electrolysis isomerization
amination combustion esterification neutralization
ammonolysis condensation fermentation oxidation
aromatization dehydration hydrogenation pyrolysis

33
 Unit operation
There are many types of chemical process that
make up the global chemical industry

However, each may be broken down into a

series of steps called unit operations

These are the physical treatment steps, which

are required to
 Put the raw materials in a form in which
they can be reacted chemically
 Put the product into form which is
suitable for the market 34
 Unit operations

Agitation Dispersion Heat transfer

Atomization Distillation Humidification
Centrifuging Evaporation Mixing
Classification Filtration Pumping
Crushing Flotation Settling
Decanting Gas absorption Size reduction

35
 Flow Diagrams
A picture says more than a thousand words

Some chemical process are quite simple; others

such as oil refineries and petrochemical plants
can be very complex.

The process description of some process could

take a lot of text and time to read and still not
yield 100% comprehension.

Errors resulting from misunderstanding process

can be extremely costly 36
 Process Flow Diagrams
To simplify process description, flow diagrams
also known as flow sheets are used.

A flow diagram is a road map of the process,

which gives a great deal of information in a
small space.

Chemical engineers use it to show the sequence

of equipment and unit operations in the overall
process to simplify the visualization of the
manufacturing procedures and to indicate the
quantities of material and energy transferred
37
 Flow Diagrams
A flow diagram is not a scale drawing but it

 Pictorially identifies the chemical process steps

in their proper/logical sequence

 Include sufficient details in order that a proper

mechanical interpretation may be made

 Two types of flow diagrams are in common

use, namely, the block diagram and the process
flow diagrams

38
 Block Diagrams
This is a schematic diagram, which shows:

 What is to be done rather than how it

is to be done. Details of unit
operations/ processes are not given

 Flow by means of lines and arrows

 Unit operations and processes by

figures such as rectangles and circles

39
 Block Diagrams

This is a schematic diagram, which shows:

 Raw materials, intermediate and final

products

 Example a block diagram for

sulphuric acid plant (Next page)

40
 Block Diagrams

A block diagram for

sulphuric acid plant

41
 Process Flow Diagrams/ Flow sheet
Flow sheet symbols are pictorial quick- to- draw,
easy- to- understand symbols that transcend
language barriers

Some have already been accepted as national

standards while others are symbols commonly
used in chemical process industries, which have
been proven to be effective.

42
 Process Flow Diagrams/ Flow sheet

Engineers are constantly devising their own

symbols where standards do not exist.

Therefore, symbols and presentation may

vary from one designer or company to other

43
Process Flow Diagrams/ Flow sheet

44
 Material balances
Mass balance calculation serve the following
purpose

• They help to know the amount and

composition of each stream in the process

• The calculation obtained in one form the

basis for energy balances through the
application of the law of conservation of
energy

45
 Material balances

Mass balance calculation serve the following

purpose

• We are able to make technical and economic

evaluation of the process and process units
from the knowledge of materials and energy
consumption and product yield obtained

• We can quantitatively know the environmental

emission of the process

46
 Material balances

In mass balance calculations, we begin with two

assumptions

 There is no transfer of mass to energy

 Mass is conserved for each element or

compound on either molar or weight
basis

47
 Material balances
It is important to note the following:

 Mass and atoms are conserved

 Moles are conserved only when there is no

reaction

 Volume is not conserved

 You may write balances on total mass, total

moles, mass of a compound, moles of an
atomic species, moles of a compound, mass
of a species, etc. 48
 Material balances equations
We might be tempted to think that in a process,
INPUT = OUTPUT
in practice, some material may accumulate in the
process or in some particular process units.

For example, in the batch process, some materials

may remain adhered to the walls of the containers.

In the dehydration of ethane to ethylene, possible

chemical reactions are as follows:
C2H6 (g) C2H4(g)
C2H6(g) 2C(s) + 3H2(g)
C2H4 (g) 2C(s) + 2H2(g)
The carbon formed accumulates in the reactor 49
Because process may be batch with no inflow and
outflow or continuous with inflow and outflow,
and that there may be conversion of chemical
species, a good mass balance equation take care of
all these aspects.

The following is a general mass balance equation.

Accumulation within the system = flow in

through the system boundaries – flow out
through the system boundaries + generation
within the system – consumption within the
system 50
 Simply put:
Accumulation = flow in – flow out +
production – consumption.

The system is any process or portion of a process

chosen for analysis.

 A system is said to be open if material

flows across the system boundary during
the interval of time being studied ;

 closed if there are no flows in or out.

 Accumulation is usually the rate of change of

holdup of material within the system. 51
 If material is increasing, accumulation is
positive;

 if it is decreasing, it is negative

 If the system does not change with time, it

is said to be at steady state, and the net
accumulation will be zero

52
 Mass balance calculation procedure
The general procedure for carrying out mass balance
calculations is as follows

 Make block diagram (flow sheet) over the

process

 Put numbers on all of the streams

 List down all components that participate in

the process

 Find the components that are in each stream

and list them adjacent to the stream in the
block diagram 53
 Mass balance calculation procedure
 Decide on an appropriate basis for the calculations
e. g. 100kg raw material A, 100kg/hr A, 1ton of
product, 100 moles reactant B etc.

 Find out the total number of independent relations.

This is equivalent to the total number of stream
components.

 Put up different relations between stream

components and independent relations to calculate
concentrations

 Tabulate result
54
 Mass balance Example

Three raw materials are mixed in a tank to make a

final product in the ratio1:0.4:1.5 respectively. The
first raw material contain A and B with 50% A. The
second raw material contain C while the third raw
material contain A and C with 75% A. Assuming a
continuous process at steady state, find the flow
and composition of the product

55
 Solution
Make a block diagram (flow sheet) over the process

56
 Solution
Put all the numbers

F2

F1 F3
F4

LIST all components that participate in the process. The

components are A, B and C
57
 Solution
Find the components that are in each stream and list them
adjacent to the stream in the block diagram.
Let W represent composition by weight
F2 WC2

WA1,WB1 F1 F3 WA3,WC3

F4 WA4, WB4, WC4

58
 Solution
Decide an appropriate basis for the calculations. Let us
use as basis 100kg/hr of the first raw material

Find out the total number of independent relations.

This is equivalent to the total number of stream
components

59
 Solution

The total number of independent relations = the total

number of stream components.

Stream components are W A1, W B1, W C2, W A3, W C3, W A4,

W B4, W C4 = 8.

Therefore, total number of independent relations = 8

60
 Put up different relations between stream components
and independent relations to calculate concentrations

 We need at least 8 independent mathematical relations

to enable us solve the problem

 These are:
 Basis: stream F1 is 100kg

 The ratio of the three raw materials

• W A1 is 50%; W C2 is 100%; W C3 is 25%

 Material balance for A, B & C

61
We have the required number of independent relations
and we can proceed to do the calculations

We start with the general balance equation:

Accumulation = Flow in – flow out + production

- consumption;

For a mixing reaction, production and consumptions

are zero. Therefore,
Accumulation = (F1 + F2 + F3) – F4;
where the rates are in in kg per hour

62
Because the system is at steady state,
accumulation is zero, and:
F4=F1+F2+F3

From the ratio of input flows,

F 2 = 0.4 X (100/1) = 40kg

F 3 = 1.5 X (100/1) = 150kg

Therefore F 4 = 100 + 40 + 150 = 290kg

63
 The next step is to find the quantities of A, B
and C in F4.

 To do this, we shall write the mass balance

equation for each of these three components
assuming no accumulation.

 For A:
Accumulation A = Flow in A – Flow out A +
Production A – Consumption A

64
Accumulation A = 0 = (F 1 W A1 + F 2 W A2 + F 3
W A3 ) – F 4 W A4

0 =100(0.5) + 40(0) + 150(0.75) – 290W A4

=162.5 – 290W A4

W A4 = 162.5/290

65
• Similar balances are done for B and C:

Accumulation B = 0 =(F 1 W B1 + F 2 W B2 +
F 3 W B3 ) – F 4 W B4

0 =100(0.5) + 40(0) + 150(0) – 290W B4

=50 – 290W B4

W B4 = 50/290

=0.17
66
Accumulation C = 0 = (F 1 W C1 + F 2 W C2
+ F 3 W C3 ) – F 4 W C4

0=100(0) + 40(1) + 150(0.25) – 290W C4

=77.5 – 290W C4

W C4 = 77.5/290

=0.27
67
 It is always good to check answers for
consistency.

 We do this by summing the weight fractions:

W A4 + W B4+ W C4 = 0.56 + 0.17 + 0.27 = 1.0

 This proves that the solution is right.

68
Tabulate your results
Stream Components Kg/hr Σ Kg % Σ%
1 A 50 100 50 100
B 50 50
2 C 40 100 10 100
0
3 A 112.5 150 75 100
C 37.5 25
4 A 162.5 290 56 100
B 50 17
C 77.5 27

69
 END OF
CHAPTER 1

70