Bahir Dar Institute Faculty of

of Technology Chemical and Food Engineering

Lecture - I
Introduction on Integrated Process and Energy
utilization: The Hierarchy of process design

2015E.C Nigus Gabbiye Habtu (PhD)

 Introduction: Course Objective
▪ To provide a systems approach and systematic methods in the
framework of a process design and integration
▪ Apply basic chemical engineering principles to design chemical
processes conceptually.
▪ Select and design chemical processing equipment based upon design
heuristics, guidelines or rules of thumb.
▪ Use ASPEN+ to simulate and optimization chemical processes. And perform

energy/heat integration study with ASPEN+

▪ to able to calculate minimum energy and material requirements in process
plants
▪ to design heat exchanger networks that achieves minimum external heating
and cooling loads.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

Definitions

Conceptual Design: refers to that part of a design project that deals with
the fundamental elements of a process: layout of the units or flowsheet,
material and energy balances, specifications, performance and sizing
of the equipment, energy requirements, safety, hazard and
environmental issues and economic efficiency

Process Integration: "Systematic and general methods for designing

integrated production systems, ranging from individual processes to
total sites, with special emphasis on the efficient use of energy and
reducing environmental effects" (International Energy Agency (IEA-
1995 )

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
❑ The objectives of the conceptual process design can be formulated as follows:
– Given the project definition in term of chemistry, raw materials, product
specifications and profitability targets,

• Find the optimal process flowsheet with respect to:

– Efficiency of raw materials and energy,

– Minimal impact on the environment,

– Flexibility in throughput and quality of raw materials.

• Set feasible and quasi-optimal tasks for units.

• Evaluate the effect of interactions through recycles of mass and energy.

• Solve the key issues in health, environment and safety.

• Study the plantwide control strategy for managing the inventory of components
and the energy balance

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• The Hierarchical Approach of conceptual process design process follows a
series of decisions

1. Decide whether the process will be batch or continuous.

Existing Process
New process

2. Identify the input/output structure of the process.

3. Identify and define the recycle structure of the process.

4. Identify and design the general structure of the separation system.

5. Identify and design the heat-exchanger network or process energy

recovery system

• The synthesis process at different levels is completed by employing both

systematic methods and heuristics.

– At each level, the result is not a unique solution but a collection of

alternatives, from which an evaluation procedure eliminates the less
attractive ones

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• The Hierarchical Approach is not a mathematical procedure, but it allows the
identification of the optimal design. This is possible for the following reasons:

– Design decisions set bounds in searching the optimal solution at each

level.

– The design space is progressively reduced, by retaining only feasible

solutions that include always the optimal one.

– Few alternatives are selected for optimization.

– Embedded systematic techniques can perform structural refinement of

subsystems, as well as the pre-optimisation of operational parameters and
equipment sizing

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Outlineofthehierarchicalapproach
❑ The overall strategy is organized in eight levels, each level has a
number of tasks.
• Level 0 - Input information
– Collect data on chemistry, raw materials, product specifications, economic
constraints and legal regulations.
• Level 1 - Number of Plants
– Determine the number of plants for multi-step reactions.
• Level 2 - Input-Output Structure and Plant Connections
– Specify feed, exit and recycle streams for each plant. Specify
interconnections between plants. Estimate minimum capital and operation
costs
• Level 3 - Recycle structure of the simple plants
– For each plant specify reactor type, recycle streams and flows. Set upper
and lower limits for conversion by taking into account the cost of recycles.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

• Level 4 - Separation systems of the simple plants

– General separation structure: identify specific separation
subsystems.
– Vapour separation and recovery system: separate gaseous
products and recover valuable liquid components.
– Solid recovery system: recover valuable solids from
solutions.
– Liquid separation system(s); separate products from liquid
mixtures.
– Solid separation system: separate solid products.
– Combine separation systems in the whole flowsheet, and
study interactions.

➢ For each plant specify the separation system and estimate its
annualized cost. Additional hierarchical refinement reveals seven
sub-levels.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

• Level 5. Process Integration

– Pinch Point Analysis: Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) design for optimal
heat and power saving.
– Water Minimisation: design an efficient system for the recycling of water.
– Solvent Minimisation: design an efficient system for the recycling of
solvents.
• Level 6. Evaluate Alternatives
– Examine alternative design decisions.
– Examine alternatives for the reactor design.
– 6c. Consider more efficient separation systems.
• Level 7. Hazop analysis
– Identify sources of hazards and risks.
– Perform hazard and operability study.
• Level 8. Control system synthesis
– 8a. Plantwide Control: develop the control strategy of the whole plant.
– 8b. Control structure for units: design control structures for individual units

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• The activities involved at each level may be grouped in the following
categories"
1. Synthes& tasks: generate structural alternatives by using heuristic
reasoning, systematic methods or numerical procedures.
2. Analys & tasks: solve material and energy balances, design equipment
by short-cut methods or by computer simulation, and generate cost
estimates.
3. Evaluation Tasks: evaluate flowsheet alternatives by means of
performance indices of economic nature or technical significance.
• An alternative is rejected as unfeasible when one of several indices
violates predefined bounds.
• On the contrary, an alternative is retained for further evolution and
refinement if satisfies the constraints and shows potential for
optimality.
• Because the Hierarchical Approach keeps only the best design or a
short list of the most promising candidates, it is considered a depth-first
search.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• 4. Constraint Propagation Tasks. Setting constraints ensures proper
bounding of the feasible design region. The propagation of constraints can
take place by the following mechanism"
– Propagation of constraint values. For instance, Input/Output material
balance must be consistent at each level, within percentage of errors for
impurities and losses. Here we may add design variables that propagate
as set values, as conversion, reactants' ratio, reaction temperatures,
product purity, etc.
– Induction of new constraints. Some constraints may change if new
information becomes available. This is the case of the Economic
Potential.
– Generation of context-dependent constraints. Design decisions at one
level may generate a context of constraints for subsequent levels. For
example, a noncondensable reactant identified at the Level 0 (input
information) will determine the use of a gas recycle and a purge at the
Level 2 (Input/Output structure), of a plug flow reactor at the Level 3
(recycle structure), and of a flash drum at the Level 4(separation system)

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The Input/Output Structure of the Process: Decision Level
Hierarchy of decisions---See the Onion Model
1 Batch versus continuous
2 Input - output structure of the flowsheet
3 Recycle structure of the flowsheet
4 General structure of the separation system
a.Vapor recovery system
b.Liquid separation on system

5 Heat exchanger network

▪ To understand the decisions required to fix the input-output structure of a flowsheet, what
raw materials are fed to the process and what products and byproducts are removed
have to be determined.

– the raw materials costs normally fall in the range from 33 to 85%

– the environmental impact of any waste materials and pollutants produced must be taken into
account when evaluating alternative synthesis routes

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The Input/Output Structure of the Process: Decision Level
I. Process Concept Diagram(PCD)
• The first step in evaluating a process route is to construct a process concept
diagram.
– It uses the stoichiometry of the main reaction pathway to identify the feed
and product chemicals. Example reaction between hydrogen and toluene

The reactant
chemicals are drawn Product chemicals
as streams entering are drawn as
from the left streams leaving to
the right.

A single “cloud” is drawn

to represent the concept
of the process.

➢ NB:- Unwanted side reactions and products must be considered. The unwanted
products are treated as by-products and must leave along with the product
streams shown on the right of the diagram.

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The Input/Output Structure of the Process: Decision Level
II. The Input/Output Structure of the Process Flow Diagram

▪ The same input/output structure is seen in both diagrams(PCD and PFD)

▪ The difference is auxiliary streams are shown on the PFD, such as utility streams that
are necessary for the process to operate but that are not part of the basic input/output
structure.
▪ Ambiguities between process streams and utility streams may be eliminated by starting
the process analysis with an overall input/output concept diagram.
▪ Chemicals required but not consumed include catalyst make-up, solvent make-up, and
inhibitors has to considered differentely

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Batch versus Continuous Process: Level -1 Decision- :

❑ Level 1 : Decision Guide line for selecting batch/continuous process

– Production rate:
• Production capacity >10*106Ib/yr.-Continuous process)
• Production capacity <1*106Ib/yr- Batch process
• Multiproduct plants
– Market Forces:
• Seasonal variation of product demand (Example: Fertilizer)
– (Batch process is prefer)
• Short product lifetime
– Operational Problems
• When reactions are very slow
• When high viscous materials at low flow rate
Batch process is prefer
• Rapidly fouling materials

– Multiple Operations in a Single Vessel

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Decisions for the input-output structure: Level -2 Decision

❑ Level -2 Decision: Flowsheet Alternatives, process alternatives,

recycle systems
▪ Gas Recycle and Purge
▪ Purification of Feeds
▪ Recover or recycle By- products
(a). Process flowsheet with not
reactant in the product stream

(b). Process flowsheet with reactant in

the product stream

➢ Rule of thumb in process design: More than 99 % of all valuable materials

has to be recovered..

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Decisions for the input-output structure: Level -3 Decision
Decisions for the recycle Structure

Reaction that do not need separate reactor

Reaction that need separate reactor

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Trends in Process Design
I. Process Design
“Process Design is the creative activity whereby we generate
ideas and then translate them into equipment and process for
producing new materials or for significantly upgrading the value
of existing materials(J. Douglas (1988))”
• Conceptual Design deals with the basic elements defining a process:
flowsheet, material and energy balances, specifications and
equipment performance, utility consumption, safety and
environmental issues, as well as economic efficiency

• Therefore, in conceptual design the emphasis is on the

behavior of the process as a system rather than on the sizing
of the equipment items.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

Main direction of Process Engineering

FIGURE: Direction of progress in process design

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
1. Efficient use of raw materials
a) Changing the chemistry: Changing the chemistry is the most efficient manner for getting a
breakthrough in material efficiency of a process. The usual way is implementing a new
catalyst, but a sustainable solution is switching to a feedstock based on renewable raw
materials
b) Novel reactor systems: Innovative design can be found in the area of catalytic multi-functional
heterogeneous reactors.
c) Innovative separations: Innovative separations for non-ideal mixtures and hybrid separations
can be found by applying RCM analysis. New applications emerged recently due to the
progress in the field of ionic liquids
d) Reactive separations: Under certain conditions, it is possible to carry out chemical reaction
and separation of products in the same device, with significant saving in both capital and
energy. Reactive separations offer a wide field of novel applications

2. Energy efficiency
a) Generalisation of Pinch Analysis: Pinch Analysis emphasises saving opportunities and guides
design modifications both for new and retrofitting projects
b) Complex columns and thermally coupled distillation systems: Employing complex distillation
devices instead of simple columns and thermal coupling offers substantial savings in energy
c) Cogeneration and site utility systems: Cogeneration consists of simultaneous production of
heat and electricity. This method is attractive for processes involving highly exothermic
reactions or for valorising low-value by-products and waste such as Bagasse

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
d) Design of low-temperature systems: Significant saving can be achieved by considering
multilevel and cascaded systems, as well as by using mixed-refrigerants fluids

3. Capital cost reduction

a) Significant saving in capital costs and in plant area can be obtained by designing compact
equipment. Process Intensification designates techniques and equipment that can
achieve significant improvement in productivity and energy efficiency.
b) The development in this field can be classified in two areas: Process-intensifying
equipment and Process-intensifying methods.

4. High environmental performance

Modern design should aim for zero-effluents by the minimization of gaseous emissions and
wastes, including wastewater.
a) Water minimization: A water-pinch method has been developed for optimizing the
recycling of process water. Mathematical programming is another valuable method.
b) Minimization to zero of hazards, toxics and emissions: Severe constraints for process
design are related to health preservation, safety and environment. This problem can be
handled at best by identifying the most important nuisances at the early input/output
synthesis stage
c) Ecological characterization of processes: LCA offers qualitative and quantitative methods
for evaluating the environmental performance and sustainability of product and process
design projects

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

5. Integrating design and control

Effective development of a chemical process requires the simultaneous
consideration of both steady-state and dynamic controllability aspects
(Luyben, 2011). Key trends are:

a) Safety first: Safe operation has the highest priority. Safe design can be
achieved by incorporating non-linear analysis in process dynamics and
control.
b) Increased process flexibility and inventory reduction: In the context of
an uncertain market, modern process design should ensure good plant
performance for large flexibility in throughput (ex: +10%/ to 30%).
Reducing the inventory of units has positive effects on safety, dynamics
and costs.
c) Emphasis on quality: The goal is ensuring constant product quality
corresponding to specifications, which can be achieved by the
reduction of impurities and by implementing advanced process analysis
equipment

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process
Design and Integration
II. Process Intensification:
– Process-intensifying equipment, such as novel reactors, intensive mixing, heat
transfer and mass-transfer devices;
– Process intensifying methods, such as the integration of reaction and
separation steps in multifunctional reactors (examples: reactive distillation,
membrane reactors, fuel cells), hybrid separations (example membrane
distillation), alternative energy sources, and new operation modes (example
periodic operations).

• Examples: Hybrid/intensified processes

(a) Reactive distillation (b) Membrane reactor

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

• Catalysts:- the screening and selection of novel catalysts for

reactive systems

• Solvents:- the generation, screening, and selection of

environmentally friendly solvents for separation processes

• Materials:- the design of new materials for the design of

novel, innovative unit operations that combine reaction,
separation, or reaction–separation system

• Energy:- the use of process integration concepts to generate

more sustainable process alternatives with respect to reduced
waste and environmental impact

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• Classification of PI operations

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Systematic Methods for Integrated Process Design(IPD)

• A number of powerful systematic techniques have emerged to

support Integrated IPD activities. These can be
classified roughly as:

1. Heuristics-based methods

2. Thermodynamic analysis methods

3. Optimization methods

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
❑ Integrated Process Design is described as the marriage of two
types of activities:

1. Process Synthesis – architectural design

2. Process Integration - development and optimization of subsystems
in a flowsheet.

• Process Synthesis focus on

the Reaction-Separation-
Recycle structure that defines
the material balance envelope
and the flowsheet architecture.

Process Integration deals mainly with energy recovery and resources,

but includes two supplementary layers" E - Environmental protection, and
C -Controllability, safety and operability. In addition, the Utility layer (U)
considers Site Integration.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

➢ The two inner layers, Reactor

and Separations, define the
material balance envelope.
Moreover, these define the basic
structure of the flowsheet also,
which is the object of a design
activity named Process
Synthesis.
➢ The outer layers of Heat
Recovery and Utility systems
deal with the heat balance
envelope.

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
➢ The objective of process synthesis is the selection of the best
(optimal) process flowsheet from among numerous
alternatives for converting specified raw materials into specific
desired products, subject to predefined performance criteria

Fig.: Three-stage sustainable

process design method that
incorporates PI

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
What is the meaning of Integration?
❑ Integration means combining Needs/Tasks of “opposite” kinds so that
Savings (or Synergies) can be obtained
❑ Examples of such Integration in the Process Industries:
▪ Heat Integration
– Cooling & Condensation integrated with Heating & Evaporation
– Identify near-optimal Level of Heat Recovery
– Design the corresponding Heat Exchanger Network
▪ Power Integration
– Expansion integrated with Compression
– Same Shaft or combined in “Compander”
▪ Chemical Integration
– Byproducts from one Plant used as Raw Materials in other Plants
– The Idea of materials integration is used in Industrial “Clusters”
▪ Equipment Integration
– Multiple Phenomena (Reaction, Separation, Heat Transfer) are integrated in
the same piece of Equipment e → Process Intensification

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• Process Integration can be applied in the following forms
for achieving process improvement:
– Heat integration (heat exchanger networks) where energy efficiency is
increased through energy consumption minimization(first type of process
integration, first developed by Linnhoff et al)

– Mass integration (mass exchanger networks) where the flow route of mass
within the process is optimized, for example, through the use of
concentration differences

– Supply-chain management where the total supply-chain cost (related to

suppliers, storage, retailers, customers etc.), is minimized based on the
concepts applied for heat and mass integration

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Some key features of an IPD are listed below:

1) The main objective of the conceptual design is the process’ architecture.

Systematic techniques are capable of setting optimal targets for sizing of units,
which in this way becomes an easier downstream activity.

2) The systemic approach consists in developing alternatives rather than a single

solution.
▪ In the conceptual phase, the emphasise is set on the performance of the system in
meeting the specifications, the functional behaviour of units, the interactions through
recycles, the cost of equipment and energy for achieving the targets and the
environmental burdens. The selected solution fulfils at best the optimisation criteria
and the environment of constraints. However, other sub-optimal solutions could be
reconsidered in a different environment of specifications and constraints.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Some key features of an IPD are listed below………

3) Computer simulation is a key tool for both analysis and synthesis.

▪ The quality of the final design depends largely on the capacity of the designer to
integrate generic software capabilities with personal engineering skills. Today, the
steady-state simulation is largely available. The competitiveness advantage could be
achieved by taking profit from user-modelling and dynamic
simulation capabilities.

4) IPD deals with both new (grassroots) plants, as well with debottlenecking and
retrofitting existingplants.
▪ The methods and tools can be applied to any type of process industries,
from oil refining to petrochemical industries, Sugar to food processing
industries, pharmaceuticals manufacturing, biotechnologies, etc

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Why we need integrated process design?
❑ Nowadays, most of the manufacturing processes are based on the
exploitation of fossil resources. Due to this, the natural environment
is under a triple threat:

– Exhaust of resources;

– Increased pollution, namely of air, water and soil;

– Reduction in the absorption capacity of the environment.

❑ Feature of Sustainable Development is important.
❑ An efficient use of scarce resources by non-polluting technologies is
possible only by a large innovation effort in the research, development and
design of processes. Integrated process design!!!

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
➢ Integrated Process design considers the concept of Sustainable
Development
Economic success
Social Environment
Problem al Damage

Sustainable
Development
Environmental Social
protection acceptance

Figure: The concept of Sustainable

Development (after Christ, 1999)

Economic Problem
• “Meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”(WCED 1987).

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration

▪ Model of sustainable
development (adapted
from Azapagic and
Perdan, 2000).

• Any businesses, either localized or distributed, which strive to be sustainable by practicing

cleaner technologies, eliminating waste products, reducing the emissions of greenhouse
gases, and reducing the energy intensity of processes;

• Any particular technology that is designed to provide economic value through clean
chemistries.

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process
Design and Integration
• Process Synthesis and Process Integration
– Process Integration (PI) emerged in the decade of 1980-90 as a new discipline in
chemical engineering with emphasis on the efficient use of energy.

• PI revealed that significant energy saving can be achieved by analysing the

problem only in the context of the whole process (system), and not from the
viewpoint of the stand-alone units(separate unit operations).

– The traditional process design consists of a hierarchy of phases that can be

depicted by an Onion Diagram (Linnhoff, 1994). ----Next slide!

• Process design starts with the Reactor (R). Based on the mixture composition
at the reactor outlet,
• The development continues with the Separation system (S).
• Then, the design addresses the Heat Recovery (H) and Utility (U) systems.

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• The onion model of process design. A reactor is needed before the separation
and recycle system can be designed and so on.
1st If the process requires a reactor, this is 2nd The chosen reactor design
where the design starts. This is likely produces a mixture of unreacted
to be the only place in the process feed materials, products and
where raw materials are converted into byproducts that need separating.
products. Unreacted feed material is
recycled.
o The reactor design dictates
the separation and recycle
problem.
3rd The reactor and separation 4th Those heating and cooling duties
and recycle system designs that cannot be satisfied by heat
together define the process recovery, dictate the need for
for heating and cooling external heating and cooling
duties. Thus, heat exchanger utilities (furnace heating, use of
network design comes next. steam, steam generation, cooling
water, air-cooling or
refrigeration).

5th The process and the utility system will both need water, for
example, for steam generation, and will also produce aqueous
effluents that will have to be brought to a suitable quality for
discharge. Thus, the design of the water and aqueous effluent
treatment system comes last.

▪ It is helpful when developing a methodology if there is a clearer picture

of the nature of the problem.
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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
➢ In a chemical process, the transformation of raw materials into
desired products usually can not be achieved in a single step:
▪ Reactions
▪ Separation ▪ The overall
transformation is
▪ Mixing broken down into a
number of steps
▪ Heating and Cooling
▪ Particle size reduction and enlargement

➢ Synthesis is the creation of a process to transform feed streams into product

streams. Simulation predicts how it would behave it was constructed

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
➢ Synthesis of chemical process involves two broader steps
▪ Selection of individual transformation process
▪ Interconnection of individual transformation process to form
complete structure that achieves the overall transformation (called
flow sheet)
o Then simulation of the process will be carried out: simulation of the process
is a mathematical model of the process which attempts how the process would
behave if it is constructed.
o For the model we assume the flow rate, composition, temperature and pressure
of the feed. The simulation model then predicts the flow rate, composition,
temperature and pressure of the products.
▪ The model will aid equipment sizing, conversion, heat and cooling requirements… etc
of the system……Leading to performance evaluation

➢There are two engineering design problems in chemical processes. The

first is the problem of unit operation design and the second is the
problem of designing total systems.
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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
❑ Performance indicators
– Good economic performance Basic performance of
• Energy usage the initial design
• Raw material usage
– Waste generation and utilization
– Healthy and safety hazards
– Operational flexibility (Feed stoke,
products)
❑ Optimization of the process
• Synthesis of alternative structure
– Structurally optimization
– Simulate again and again
• Parametric optimization( changing operating
conditions within each structure)

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Preliminary Assessment of in Process Design Development
• Feed ▪ Consider the process
• Products illustrated in A separation
• Byproducts system is needed to isolate
the PRODUCT at the
required purity.

(a) A reactor transforms FEED into PRODUCT and BYPRODUCT.

▪ The unreacted FEED is recycled, and the

PRODUCT and BYPRODUCT are removed
from the process.
▪ all heating and cooling is provided by
external utilities (steam and cooling water in
this case).
▪ This flowsheet is probably too inefficient in
its use of energy, and heat would be
recovered
(b) To isolate the PRODUCT

➢ Process design starts with the reactor. The reactor design dictates the separation and recycle problem. (From Smith
R and Linnhoff B, 1998, Trans IChemE ChERD, 66:195 by permission of the Institution of Chemical Engineers).

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Integrated process design options/solutions

• Thus, heat integration is carried out to

exchange heat between those streams
that need to be cooled and those that
need to be heated.

• Those two figure shows two possible

designs for the heat exchanger network,
but many other heat integration
arrangements are possible.

➢ For a given reactor and separator design there are

different possibilities for heat integration. (From
Smith R and Linnhoff B, 1998, Trans IChemE
ChERD, 66:195 by permission of the Institution
of Chemical Engineers).

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• If there is less FEED, more PRODUCT
and significantly more
BYPRODUCT(Change rector size).
• This change in reactor design generates a
different task for the separation system,
and it is possible that a separation system
different from that shown in Figures above
is now appropriate.

➢ Changing the reactor dictates a different separation and recycle problem. (From Smith R and Linnhoff
B, 1988, Trans IChemE ChERD, 66: 195 by permission of the Institution of Chemical Engineers).

➢ A different reactor design not only leads to a different separation system but additional possibilities for
heat integration. (From Smith R and Linnhoff B, 1988, Trans IChemE ChERD, 66: 195 by permission of the
Institution of Chemical Engineers).

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
• There are two situations that can be encountered in process design.
I. The design of new plant or grassroot design.

• It is the most straightforward design situations as it has the most freedom to

choose the design options and the size of equipment

II. The design is carried out to modify an existing plant in retrofit or revamp.

• The motivation to retrofit an existing plant could be, for example,

– To increase capacity,
↓ The design must try to
– Allow for different feed or product specifications,
work within the
constraints of existing
– Energy integration/saving
equipment. Because of
this, the ultimate goal of
– Reduce operating costs,
the retrofit design is often
not clear.
– Improve safety or

– Reduce environmental emissions.

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
Approaches to Chemical Process Design and Integration
❑ There are two broad approaches to chemical process design and integration:

1. Building an irreducible structure: The first approach follows the “onion logic”,
starting the design by choosing a reactor and then moving outward by adding a
separation and recycle system, and so on.

– At each layer, decisions must be made on the basis of the information available at
that stage. The ability to look ahead to the completed design might lead to different
decisions.

– This approach to creation of the design involves making a series of best local
decisions.

– It is based on the use of heuristics or rules of thumb developed from

experience on a more systematic approach.

– Equipment is added only if it can be justified economically on the basis of the

information available, although an incomplete picture

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
There are two drawbacks to this approach:
a) Different decisions are possible at each stage of the design. To be sure that the best decisions
have been made, the other options must be evaluated. However, each option cannot be
evaluated properly without completing the design for that option and optimizing the operating
conditions. This means that many designs must be completed and optimized in order to find
the best.

b) Completing and evaluating many options gives no guarantee of ultimately finding the best
possible design, as the search is not exhaustive. Also, complex interactions can occur between
different parts of a flowsheet. The effort to keep the system simple and not add features in the
early stages of design may result in missing the benefit of interactions between different parts
of the flowsheet in a more complex system.

➢ The main advantage of this approach is that the design team can keep control of the
basic decisions and interact as the design develops. By staying in control of the basic
decisions, the intangibles of the design can be included in the decision making.

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Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
2. Creating and optimizing a superstructure:- In this approach, a reducible
structure, known as a superstructure, is first created that has embedded within it all
feasible process options and all feasible interconnections that are candidates for an
optimal design structure. Initially, redundant features are built into the superstructure.

Toluene + Hydrogen → Benzene

Before optimization After optimization

➢ The structure is reduced in complexity.

➢ At the same time, the operating
conditions and equipment sizes are also
optimized(reduced)

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 Introduction: The Hierarchy of Chemical Process Design
and Integration
❑ Challenges/ difficulties associated with this approach:

a) The approach will fail to find the optimal structure if the initial structure does not have
the optimal structure embedded somewhere within it. The more options included, the
more likely it will be that the optimal structure has been included.
b) If the individual unit operations are represented
accurately, the resulting mathematical model will be
extremely large and the objective function that must be
optimized will be extremely irregular. The profile of the
objective function can be like the terrain in a range of
mountains with many peaks and valleys.

c) The most serious drawback of this approach is that the

design engineer is removed from the decision making.
Thus, the many intangibles in design, such as safety
and layout, which are difficult to include in the
mathematical formulation, cannot be taken into
account satisfactorily.

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 Conceptual Process Design and Integration: Summary
❑ Douglas among others, has proposed a hierarchical approach to conceptual process
design. In this approach, the design process follows a series of decisions and steps.
The order in which these decisions are made forms the hierarchy of the design process.

1. Decide whether the process will be batch or continuous.

2. Identify the input/output structure of the process.

3. Identify and define the recycle structure of the process.

Reactor
4. Identify and design the general structure of the separation

system. Separation & Recycle

System
5. Identify and design the heat-exchanger network or process
Heat Recovery
System
energy recovery system.
Heating & Cooling
Utilities
Water & Wastewater
Treatment

➢ In designing a new process, we follow steps 1 through 5 in that order. Alternatively,

by looking at an existing process, we can work backward from step 5 and eliminate
or greatly simplify the PFD and, hence, reveal much about the structure of the
underlying process.
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Conceptual Process Design and Integration: Summary
“The Figure illustrates the economic incentives of a plant project, from the
conceptual phase down to construction and commissioning (Pingen, 2001).

▪ The conceptual phase takes only 2% of the total project cost, although it could contribute
more than 30% in cost-reduction opportunities. At the detailed design phase, the cost of
engineering rises sharply to 12%, while saving opportunities fall to only 15% In contrast, the
cost of procurement and construction increases to more than 80%, while the saving
opportunities drop to 10%. At the commissioning stage, the total cost is frozen “

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