Anatomy of a chemical process

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 Raw material storage
 Unless the raw materials are supplied as intermediate products
(intermediates) from a neighbouring plant, some provision will have to
be made to hold several days, or weeks, storage to smooth out
fluctuations and interruptions in supply.
 Even when the materials come from an adjacent plant some provision
is usually made to hold a few hours, or even days, supply to decouple
the processes.
 The storage required will depend on the nature of the raw materials,
the method of delivery, and what assurance can be placed on the
continuity of supply.
 If materials are delivered by ship (tanker or bulk carrier) several
weeks stocks may be necessary; whereas if they are received by road
or rail, in smaller lots, less storage will be needed.
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 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.
 For example, acetylene generated by the carbide process
contains arsenical and sulphur compounds, and other impurities,
which must be removed by scrubbing with concentrated sulphuric
acid (or other processes) before it is sufficiently pure for reaction
with hydrochloric acid to produce dichloroethane.
 Liquid feeds will need to be vaporised before being fed to gas
phase reactors, and solids may need crushing, grinding and
screening.
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 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

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 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..

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 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.

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 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..

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 Ancillary processes
In addition to the main process stages, 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

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 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%. Facilities will also be needed for maintenance, firefighting,
offices and other accommodation, and laboratories

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 Continuous and batch processes

 Batch processes are designed to operate intermittently. Some, or

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 Continuous and batch processes

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 THE ORGANISATION OF A
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROJECT
The design work required in the engineering of a chemical
manufacturing process can be divided into two broad phases.
Phase 1. Process design, which covers the steps from the initial selection
of the process to be used, through to the issuing of the process flow-
sheets; and includes the selection, specification and chemical
engineering design of equipment. In a typical organisation, this phase is
the responsibility of the Process Design Group, and the work will be
mainly done by chemical engineers. The process design group may also
be responsible for the preparation of the piping and instrumentation
diagrams.

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 THE ORGANISATION OF A
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROJECT
The design work required in the engineering of a chemical
manufacturing process can be divided into two broad phases.
Phase 2. The detailed mechanical design of equipment; the structural,
civil and electrical design; and the specification and design of the
ancillary services. These activities will be the responsibility of specialist
design groups, having expertise in the whole range of engineering
disciplines..

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 Project organisation

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 Process flow diagram examples:
Single process unit

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 Process Flow Diagram
 A process flow diagram (PFD) is a diagram commonly
used in chemical and process engineering to indicate
the general flow of plant processes and equipment.
 The PFD displays the relationship between major
equipment of a plant facility and does not show minor
details such as piping details and designations.
 Another commonly-used term for a PFD is a
flowsheet.

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 Typical content of a PFD
Typically, process flow diagrams of a single unit process will
include the following:
 Process piping
 Major equipment items
 Control valves and other major valves
 Connections with other systems
 Major bypass and recirculation streams
 Operational data (temperature, pressure, mass flow rate, density,
etc.), often by stream references to a mass balance.
 Process stream names

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 TERIMA
KASIH
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