Lecture one:

UNIT: INTRODUCTION TO PLANT DESIGN

INTRODUCTION
This chapter is an introduction to the nature and methodology of the design
process, and its application to the design of chemical manufacturing processes.
In this modern age of industrial competition, a successful chemical engineer
needs more than a knowledge and understanding of the fundamental sciences
and the related engineering subjects such as thermodynamics, reaction kinetics,
and computer technology. The engineer must also have the ability to apply this
knowledge to practical situations for the purpose of accomplishing something
that will be beneficial to society.
The expression plant design immediately connotes industrial applications;
consequently, the dollar sign must always be kept in mind when carrying out
the design of a plant. The theoretical and practical aspects are important, of
course; but, in the final analysis, the answer to the question “Will we realize a
profit from this venture?” almost always determines the true value of-the design.
The chemical engineer, therefore, should consider plant design and applied
economics as one combined subject. Special emphasis is placed on the economic
and engineering principles involved in the design of chemical plants and
equipment. Development of a new plant or process from concept evaluation to
profitable reality is often an enormously complex problem.

❖ A plant-design project moves to completion through a series of stages such

as
❖ Inception
❖ Preliminary evaluation of economics and market
❖ Development of data necessary for final design
❖ Final economic evaluation
❖ Detailed engineering design
❖ Procurement
❖ Erection
❖ Startup and trial runs
❖ Production
❖ This brief outline suggests that the plant-design project involves a wide
variety of skills among these are research, market analysis, design of
individual pieces of equipment, cost estimation, computer programming,
and plant-location surveys.
❖ In fact, the services of a chemical engineer are needed in each step of the
outline, either in a central creative role, or as a key advisor
❖ The general term plant design includes all engineering aspects involved in
the development of either a new, modified, or expanded industrial plant.
❖ In this development, the chemical engineer will be making economic
evaluations of new processes, designing individual pieces of equipment for

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 the proposed new venture, or developing a plant layout for coordination of
the overall operation
❖ Because of these many design duties, the chemical engineer is many times
referred to here as a design engineer.
❖ A chemical engineer specializing in the economic aspects of the design is
often referred to as a cost engineer.
❖ Process engineering is used in connection with economic evaluation and
general economic analyses of industrial processes.
❖ Process design refers to the actual design of the equipment and facilities
necessary for carrying out the process
❖ Similarly, the meaning of plant design is limited by some engineers to items
related directly to the complete plant, such as plant layout, general service
facilities, and plant location
❖ Plant design is the conversion of ideas or data in the form of needs to data
in the form of designed plant (process & technical systems) by sciences,
and engineering knowledge in the most suitable manner and the target is
achieved

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Lecture Two:
Objective:
➢ Define professionalism and ethics in design
➢ Describe the Nature and Function of Design
1.1 Need for Professionalism and Ethics in Design

What is a professionalism?

➢ Professionalism means performing in right manner while assuming and

fulfilling your rightful responsibilities in every situation, every time, without
fail.
➢ Conducting your affairs in such a way as to create trust and confidence in
every aspect of your work.
➢ It means having the requisite ability to be worthy of the confidence others
place in you. It means having already made the right choices so that you
attract the right sort of client and work under good circumstances rather than
having to continually make the best of bad circumstances and take whatever
is tossed your way, regardless of its quality.
➢ Perhaps most importantly, professionalism means, in every situation, willfully
gathering responsibility rather than avoiding it. Doing so is important
because if you don't acknowledge and assume the duty of responsibility in
every aspect of your work you will seldom if ever make the right choice to do
what is necessary to achieve consistent success for your employer, your
employees, your clients, or yourself.

It's your responsibility to demonstrate your competence and professionalism to

your clients before you ever start designing for them. Otherwise, you'll seldom
be allowed to give them your best work. If you know that most of the clients you
work with are business owners, it is your responsibility to study how to run a
business in order to better understand and serve their needs. It is your
responsibility to know how to conduct discovery in order to determine how best
to design for your clients. It's your responsibility to present your design decisions
in a compelling manner so that your clients don't needlessly corrupt your work.
In short, it's all you…every time and in every circumstance.

The fundamental characteristics of a professionalism:

1. Great responsibility

Professionals deal in matters of vital importance to their clients and are therefore
entrusted with grave responsibilities and obligations. Given these inherent
obligations, professional work typically involves circumstances where
carelessness, inadequate skill, or breach of ethics would be significantly
damaging to the client and/or his fortunes.

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2. Accountability
Professionals hold themselves ultimately accountable for the quality of their
work with the client. The profession may or may not have mechanisms in
place to reinforce and ensure adherence to this principle among its members.
If not, the individual professional will (e.g. guarantees and/or contractual
provisions).
3. Based on specialized knowledge

Professionals render specialized services based on theory, knowledge, and

skills that are most often peculiar to their profession and generally beyond
the understanding and/or capability of those outside of the profession.
Sometimes, this specialization will extend to access to the tools and
technologies used in the profession (e.g. medical equipment).

4. Institutional preparation

Professions typically require a significant period of hands-on, practical

experience in the protected company of senior members before aspirants are
recognized as professionals. After this provisional period, ongoing education
toward professional development is compulsory. A profession may or may not
require formal credentials and/or other standards for admission.

5. Autonomy
Professionals have control over and, correspondingly, ultimate responsibility
for their own work. Professionals tend to define the terms, processes, and
conditions of work to be performed for clients (either directly or as
preconditions for their ongoing agency employment).
6. Direct working relationships
Professionals habitually work directly with their clients rather than through
intermediaries or proxies.
7. Merit-based
In a profession, members achieve employment and success based on merit
and corresponding voluntary relationships rather than on corrupted ideals
such as social principle, mandated support, or extortion (e.g. union members
are not professionals). Therefore, a professional is one who must attract
clients and profits due to the merits of his work. In the absence of this
characteristic, issues of responsibility, accountability, and ethical constraints
become irrelevant, negating any otherwise-professional characteristics.
8. Capitalist morality

The responsibilities inherent to the practice of a profession are impossible to

rationally maintain without a moral foundation that flows from a recognition
of the singular right of the individual to his own life, along with all of its
inherent and potential sovereign value; a concept that only capitalism
recognizes, upholds and protects.

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 If you know these features of professionalism, you can then use them as a guide
to build a fundamental blueprint for design professionalism.

What are Ethics?: Defined as that branch of philosophy dealing with values
relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of
certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such
actions.

Further Reading

What are Your Responsibilities as a Designer?

Designers are human beings and face the same ethical dilemmas all human
beings face. They also have their own set of ethical consideration specific to their
industry as well as responsibilities to a variety of people.

Designers have responsibilities to:

• Themselves
• Family and friends
• For business and brand
• All the people our business supports
• Their clients
• The customers of their clients
• Other designers
• Society in general

A lot of people are impacted by what they do.

A code of ethics prohibits merely immediate factors in favor of inviolate

standards. In order to be of use or relevant to a professional, a code of ethics
requires internalization and habitual reference. Specifically, it requires a strong,
consistent internal standard; quantifiable, integrated into every element of
practice, and each component related to the others. The result of this
standard put into practice is known as professionalism.

1.2 Nature and Function of Design

❖ Design is a creative activity, and as such can be one of the most rewarding and
satisfying activities undertaken by an engineer.

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❖ It is the synthesis and putting of ideas together to achieve a desired purpose.
The design does not exist at the commencement of the project.
❖ The designer starts with a specific objective in mind, a need, and by developing
and evaluating possible designs, arrives at what he considers the best way of
achieving that objective; be it a better chair, a new bridge, or for the chemical
engineer, a new chemical product or a stage in the design of a production
process.
The creative aspects of process design, the purpose of the process is
to create new material wealth through either chemical or biochemical
transformations of the raw material or one type of material to value added
products.

Now, process design is about generating idea and translating into a reality. Now,
what kind of ideas that can be generated?

➢ A process design may involve production of a purchased raw material for an

existing process.
➢ It may involve conversion of waste product to a value-added product; again,
in an existing process. This will increase the revenue on by the process and
its profitability. It may also bring down the level of emissions from the process.
➢ The idea could be creation of completely new material; that is setting of a
grass root plant.
➢ Find new ways of producing existing material. The new ways may have
advantage of reduced capital cost, reduced operating cost; more
environmentally safe process so on and so forth.
➢ Implement a new technology. New technology again could have a distinct
advantage like reduction of capital cost, making process very safe.
➢ Use new material of construction. This could be for high temperature, high
pressure operation or specialty polymers so on and so forth. So, as you see
that the process design is not just about designing a new process; but also
improving the existing process in numerous ways. And, everywhere we want
to increase the profitability of the process, it we want to make the process as
environmentally safe as possible, less hazardous.

Now, how does a process design evolve? Where is this idea generated? Idea is
basically generated in laboratory. Whenever we are doing experiments with new
material for new processes, idea is always generated in laboratory.
➢ So, at research stage the idea, the chance that an idea can be translated into
a commercial process is about typically, 1 to 3 percent.
➢ In development stage, chance that an idea that could be translated into a real
process is about 10 to 25 percent.
➢ Next, at the pilot stage the chance that an idea or a process could be
translated into a commercial process is about 40 to 60 percent.

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 Now, what is basically a process design? It is about selection of process
equipment, the inter connection between the equipment and then translating the
raw material into the final product and also the byproducts.

Now, when we start designing a process, we will see that every process alternative
will give various alternatives of the process design, various variables of the
process. It could be in terms of temperature, pressure, catalyst, conversion; all
various variables of the process give rise to large number of process alternatives.

❖ When considering possible ways of achieving the objective the designer will be
constrained by many factors, which will narrow down the number of possible
designs; but, there will rarely be just one possible solution to the problem, just
one design
❖ Several alternative ways of meeting the objective will normally be possible, even
several best designs, depending on the nature of the constraints.
1.External constraints: They are fixed, invariable & are outside the designer's
influence
✓ Physical laws,
✓ Government regulations, and
✓ Standards & Codes.
✓ Economics
2. Internal constraints: less rigid, and are within the designer's influence
✓ Raw materials & inputs
✓ Process & equipment choice
✓ Process Conditions [T, P, C & Others]
✓ Time

Feasible design = f( Finance/economics,Enviornment)

Optimum design= f(process, Financce/economics,Enviornment

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The stages in the development of a design, from the initial identification of the
objective to the final design, are shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2 shows design as an iterative procedure; as the design develops the
designer will be aware of more possibilities and more constraints, and will be
constantly seeking new data and ideas, and evaluating possible design solutions.

1. The design objective (the need):

Defined design as, the conversion of an ill-defined requirement into a satisfied
customer.
The designer is creating a design for an article, or a manufacturing process, to
fulfil a particular need. In the design of a chemical process, the need is the public
need for the product, the commercial opportunity, as foreseen by the sales and
marketing organization.
Within this overall objective the designer will recognize sub-objectives; the
requirements of the various units that make up the overall process.
Before starting work the designer should obtain as complete, and as
unambiguous, a statement of the requirements as possible. If the requirement
(need) arises from outside the design group, from a client or from another
department, then he will have to elucidate the real requirements through
discussion. It is important to distinguish between the real needs and the wants.
The wants are those parts of the initial specification that may be thought
desirable, but which can be relaxed if required as the design develops. For
example, a particular product specification may be considered desirable by the
sales department, but may be difficult and costly to obtain, and some relaxation
of the specification may be possible, producing a saleable but cheaper product.
Whenever he is in a position to do so, the designer should always question the
design requirements (the project and equipment specifications) and keep them
under review as the design progresses.
Where he writes specifications for others, such as for the mechanical design or
purchase of a piece of equipment, he should be aware of the restrictions

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(constraints) he is placing on other designers. A tight, well-thought-out,
comprehensive, specification of the requirements defines the external
constraints within which the other designers must work.
2. Data collection:
To proceed with a design, the designer must first assemble all the relevant facts
and data required. For process design this will include information on possible
processes, equipment performance, and physical property data.
This stage can be one of the most time consuming, and frustrating, aspects of
design.
Many design organizations will prepare a basic data manual, containing all the
process “know-how” on which the design is to be based. Most organizations will
have design manuals covering preferred methods and data for the more
frequently used, routine, design procedures.

3. Generation of possible design solutions:

The creative part of the design process is the generation of possible solutions to
the problem (ways of meeting the objective) for analysis, evaluation and selection.
In this activity the designer will largely rely on previous experience, his own and
that of others.
It is doubtful if any design is entirely novel. The antecedence of most designs can
usually be easily traced. In the chemical industry, modern distillation processes
have developed from the ancient stills used for rectification of spirits; and the
packed columns used for gas absorption have developed from primitive,
brushwood-packed towers. So, it is not often that a process designer is faced
with the task of producing a design for a completely novel process or piece of
equipment.
The experienced engineer will wisely prefer the tried and tested methods, rather
than possibly more exciting but untried novel designs. The work required to
develop new processes, and the cost, is usually underestimated. Progress is
made more surely in small steps. However, whenever innovation is wanted,
previous experience, through prejudice, can inhibit the generation and
acceptance of new ideas; the “not invented here” syndrome.
The amount of work, and the way it is tackled, will depend on the degree of
novelty in a design project.
Chemical engineering projects can be divided into three types, depending
on the novelty involved:
1. Modifications, and additions, to existing plant; usually carried out by the plant
design group.
2. New production capacity to meet growing sales demand, and the sale of
established processes by contractors. Repetition of existing designs, with only
minor design changes.
3. New processes, developed from laboratory research, through pilot plant, to a
commercial process. Even here, most of the unit operations and process
equipment will use established designs.

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The first step in devising a new process design will be to sketch out a rough block
diagram showing the main stages in the process; and to list the primary function
(objective) and the major constraints for each stage. Experience should then
indicate what types of unit operations and equipment should be considered.
The generation of ideas for possible solutions to a design problem cannot be
separated from the selection stage of the design process; some ideas will be
rejected as impractical as soon as they are conceived.
4. Selection:
The designer starts with the set of all possible solutions bounded by the external
constraints, and by a process of progressive evaluation and selection, narrows
down the range of candidates to find the “best” design for the purpose.
The selection process can be considered to go through the following stages:
➢ Possible designs (credible) within the external constraints.
➢ Plausible designs (feasible) within the internal constraints.
➢ Probable designs likely candidates.
➢ Best design (optimum) judged the best solution to the problem.

The selection process will become more detailed and more refined as the design
progresses from the area of possible to the area of probable solutions. In the
early stages a coarse screening based on common sense, engineering judgement,
and rough costings will usually suffice.
What are the yardsticks/criteria that we will use for choosing the best
process alternative?
In a course of a design project, it is necessary to determine the most suitable
process for obtaining a desired product. Several different manufacturing
methods may be available for making the same material, and various processes
must be compared in order to select the one best suited to the existing
conditions.
The comparison can be accomplished through the development of complete
designs. In many cases, however, all but one or two of the possible
processes can be eliminated by a weighted comparison of the essential variable
items, and detailed design calculations for each process may not be required.
The following items should be considered in a comparison of this type:
1. Technical Factors
➢ Process flexibility
➢ Continuous operation
➢ Special controls involved
➢ Commercial yields
➢ Technical difficulties involved
➢ Energy requirements
➢ Special auxiliaries required
➢ Possibility of future developments
➢ Health and safety hazards involved
2. Raw Materials
➢ Present and future availability
➢ Processing required
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 ➢ Storage requirements
➢ Materials handling problems
3. Waste Products and by-products
➢ Amount produced
➢ Value
➢ Potential markets and uses
➢ Manner of discard
➢ Environmental aspects
4. Equipment
➢ Availability
➢ Materials of construction
➢ Initial costs
➢ Maintenance and installation costs
➢ Replacement requirements
➢ Special designs

5. Costs
➢ Raw materials
➢ Energy
➢ Depreciation
➢ Other fixed charges
➢ Processing and overhead
➢ Special labor requirements
➢ Real estate
➢ Patent rights
➢ Environmental controls
6. Time factor
➢ Project completion deadline
➢ Process development required
➢ Market timeliness
➢ Value of money
7. Process considerations
➢ Technology availability
➢ Raw materials common with other processes
➢ Consistency of product within company
➢ General company objectives

In general criteria that we will use for choosing the best process alternative see
the following points

➢ The first and foremost is obviously the capital and operating cost of the
process
➢ Then it should be environmentally friendly
➢ Then it should not use any hazardous chemical or hazardous conditions
➢ Then, it should be easy to start up and operate so and so forth

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So, these are various criteria that we will choose to; that we will use to choose
the best process alternative.
That point we should note; not all alternatives can satisfy all criteria. Therefore,
we have to shortlist the few best alternatives. Designing of such large number of
process alternatives is also highly time consuming activity.

Development of a strategy or methodology for process design.

And once the strategy is the engineering method. Engineering method is
essentially process design though an artist approach.

➢ Suppress at initial stage only all other information except the most
essential. That means, most essential means basically in a process we look
only at that equipment in the process, which are cost expensive.
➢ Economic trade-offs to reduce the overall capital and operating cost
➢ Introduce changes in the design only if they give significant improvement
in any of the criteria that we listed earlier.
What are the levels of engineering design?
➢ Order of magnitude estimate, this is based on previous cost data and the
accuracy of this estimate is about plus to minus 50 percent.
➢ The study or factored estimate. Now, this estimate is based on a broad
process design; where we have knowledge of only major equipment’s of the
process and here the accuracy is about plus minus 25 percent.
➢ Preliminary estimate or what is also known as budget authorization
estimate. Now, this is based on more data where we not only consider the
major equipment; but also the utilities, energy balance other small equipment
etc based on sufficient data. And, here the accuracy is about plus minus 15
percent
➢ Definitive estimate or what is also known as project cost is project
control estimate. Now, this estimate is based on almost complete process, but
before it is handed over to a contractor, where the exact drawings and
specification are made. And, the accuracy of this estimate is about plus minus
5 percent
➢ The detailed or contractors estimate; this is based on complete
engineering drawing the side data, market surveys and here the accuracy is
about 3 percent.

Now, how do the estimates evolve? How would I get these estimates for a very
new process where previous cost data is not available? The easy way of getting
the estimate is through an experienced engineer who can make analogy; between
the new process and older process and can make an excellent guess. But
however such estimate is only an order of magnitude estimate; you cannot get
more accurate estimates by this approach. Then how do I get an estimator, how
do I design a systematic approach? That will end up in accurate estimate of a
process, design of systematic approach for cost estimation. And, now this can be
achieved only by designing the process through successive layers of details. But
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even with this we are not going to end up with a single process alternative; that
would be the best one. Evaluation process is very important; and design of a
systematic approach for cost estimation is essential evaluation of the process.

So, evaluation is an essential or a major activity that is which is also known as

cleaning of alternatives, evaluation or screening of alternatives is a major aspect
of process design.

Lecture Three:
Objective:

➢ Describe Design Consideration

➢ Identify Sources of Design Information and Data

1.3 General Design Consideration

The development of a complete plant design involves consideration of many

different topics. Quite understandably, the overall economic picture generally
dictates whether or not the proposed facility will receive management approval.
However, the application of engineering principles in the design of such a facility
in a safe and environmentally acceptable fashion, along with some general design
considerations, will ultimately determine whether these earlier economic goals
can be met.
Before proceeding any further with the development of a process design and its
associated economics, it will be desirable to consider an overall view of the
various functions involved in a complete plant design. Particular emphasis in
this discussion will be placed on important health, safety, loss prevention, and
environmental considerations. Other items that will be noted briefly include
plant location, plant layout, plant operation and control, utilities, structural
design, storage, materials handling, patents, and legal restrictions.
A) HEALTH AND SAFETY HAZARDS
The potential health hazard to an individual by a material used in any chemical
process is a function of the inherent toxicity of the material and the frequency
and duration of exposure. It is common practice to distinguish between the
short-term and long-term effects of a material. A highly toxic material that’
causes immediate injury is classified as a safety hazard while a material whose
effect is only apparent after long exposure at low concentrations is considered as
an industrial health and hygiene hazard. The permissible limits and the
precautions to be taken to ensure that such limits will not be exceeded are quite

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different for these two classes of toxic materials. A number of health effects noted
in these sources besides that of cancer are dermatitis, neuropathy, irritation,
reproductive damage, and acute poisoning.
The main objective of health-hazard control is to limit the chemical dosage
of a chemical by minimizing or preventing exposure. It is not practical to
measure or control the chemical dosage directly; rather, exposure is measured
and limits are set for the control of such exposure.

B) Fire and Explosion Hazards

Besides toxic emissions, fire and explosion are the two most dangerous events
likely to occur in a chemical plant. Considerable resources are expended to
prevent both of these hazards or control them when they do occur because of an
accident. These two hazards account for the major loss of life and property in the
chemical and petroleum industry.

C) Personnel Safety
Every attempt should be made to incorporate facilities for health and safety
protection of plant personnel in the original design. This includes, but is not
limited to, protected walkways, platforms, stairs, and work areas. Physical
hazards, if unavoidable, must be clearly defined. In such areas, means for egress
must be unmistakable. All machinery must be guarded with protective
devices. In all cases, medical services and first-aid must be readily available
for all workers.

D) LOSS PREVENTION
The phrase loss prevention in the chemical industry is an insurance term where
the loss represents the financial loss associated with an accident. This loss not
only represents the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged facility and taking
care of all damage claims, but also includes the loss of earnings from lost
production during the repair period and any associated lost sales opportunities.
The process designer must be aware of these hazards and ensure that the risks
involved with these hazards are reduced to acceptable levels through the
application of engineering principles and proven engineering practice. In its
simplest terms, loss prevention in process design can be summarized under the
following broad headings:
1. Identification and assessment of the major hazards.
2. Control of the hazards by the most appropriate means; for example,
containment, substitution, improved maintenance, etc.
3. Control of the process, i.e., prevention of hazardous conditions in process
operating variables by utilizing automatic control and relief systems, interlocks,
alarms, etc.
4. Limitation of the loss when an incident occurs.
Identification can be as simple as asking “what-if’ questions at design reviews. It
can also involve the use of a checklist outlining the normal process hazards
associated with a specific piece of equipment. The major weakness of the latter
approach is that items not on the checklist can easily be overlooked.
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The more formalized hazard-assessment techniques include, but are not limited
to
➢ Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP)
➢ Fault-Tree Analysis (FTA)
➢ Failure Mode-and -Effect Analysis (FMEA)
➢ Safety Indexes, and Safety Audits
E) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Because of the greater concern for the continued degradation of the environment,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has systematically been rewriting
and tightening many policies and regulations. The EPA has also been
encouraging state and local governments, as well as industry, to take a more
active role in environmental issues. Some of the important issues include the
disposal of wastes, both hazardous and nonhazardous, effluent controls on
wastewater and storm water runoff, and hydrocarbon emissions to the
atmosphere.
The EPA is also encouraging companies to perform environmental audits.
F) PLANT LOCATION
The geographical location of the final plant can have strong influence on the
success of an industrial venture. Considerable care must be exercised in
selecting the plant site, and many different factors must be considered.
Primarily, the plant should be located where the minimum cost of
production and distribution can be obtained, but other factors, such as
room for expansion and safe living conditions for plant operation as well as
the surrounding community, are also important.
A general consensus as to the plant location should be obtained before a design
project reaches the detailed estimate stage, and a firm location should be
established upon completion of the detailed-estimate design. The choice of the
final site should first be based on a complete survey of the advantages and
disadvantages of various geographical areas and, ultimately, on the advantages
and disadvantages of available real estate.
The following factors should be considered in selecting a plant site:
1. Raw materials availability 7. Waste disposal
2. Markets 8. Labor supply
3. Energy availability 9. Taxation and legal restrictions
4. Climate 10. Site characteristics
5. Transportation facilities 11. Flood and fire protection
6. Water supply 12. Community factors

G) PLANT LAYOUT
After the process flow diagrams are completed and before detailed piping,
structural, and electrical design can begin, the layout of process units in a plant
and the equipment within these process units must be planned. This layout can
play an important part in determining construction and manufacturing costs,
and thus must be planned carefully with attention being given to future problems
that may arise. Since each plant differs in many ways and no two plant sites are
exactly alike, there is no one ideal plant layout. However, proper layout in each
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case will include arrangement of processing areas, storage areas, and handling
areas in efficient coordination and with regard to such factors as:
1. New site development or addition
to previously developed site
2. Type & quantity of products to be
produced
3. Type of process & product control
4. Operational convenience and
accessibility
5. Economic distribution of utilities
and services
6. Type of buildings & building-code
requirements
7. Health and safety considerations
8. Waste-disposal requirements
9. Auxiliary equipment
10. Space available & space
required
11. Roads and railroads
12. Possible future expansion

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H) PLANT OPERATION AND CONTROL
In the design of an industrial plant, the methods which will be used for plant
operation and control help determine many of the design variables. For example,
the extent of instrumentation can be a factor in choosing the type of process and
setting the labor requirements. It should be remembered that maintenance work
will be necessary to keep the installed equipment and facilities in good operating
condition. The engineer must recognize the importance of such factors which are
directly related to plant operation and control and must take them into proper
account during the development of a design project.
I) UTILITIES
The primary sources of raw energy for the supply of power are found in the
heat of combustion of fuels and in elevated water supplies. Fuel-burning plants
are of greater industrial significance than hydroelectric installations because
the physical location of fuel-burning plants is not restricted. At the present
time, the most common sources of energy are oil, gas, coal, and nuclear energy.
The decreasing availability of the first two sources of energy will necessitate the
use of alternate forms of energy in the not-too-distant future.
In the chemical industries, power is supplied primarily in the form of electrical
energy. Agitators, pumps, hoists, blowers, compressors, and similar equipment
are usually operated by electric motors, although other prime movers, such as
steam engines, internal-combustion engines, and hydraulic turbines are
sometimes employed.
When a design engineer is setting up the specifications for a new plant, a
decision must be made on whether to use purchased power or have the plant
set up its own power unit. It may be possible to obtain steam for processing
and heating as a by-product from the self-generation of electricity, and this
factor may influence the final decision.
J) STRUCTURAL DESIGN
One of the most important aspects in structural design for the process industries
is a correct foundation design with allowances for heavy equipment and vibrating
machinery used. The purpose of the foundation is to distribute the load so that
excessive or damaging settling will not occur. The type of foundation depends on
the load involved and the material on which the foundation acts. It is necessary,
therefore, to know the characteristics of the soil at a given plant site before the
structural design can be started.
K) STORAGE
Adequate storage facilities for raw materials, intermediate products, final
products, recycle materials, off-grade materials, and fuels are essential to the
operation of a process plant. A supply of raw materials permits operation of the
process plant regardless of temporary procurement or delivery difficulties.
Storage of intermediate products may be necessary during plant shutdown for
emergency repairs while storage of final products makes it possible to supply the
customer even during a plant difficulty or unforeseen shutdown. An additional
need for adequate storage is often encountered when it is necessary to meet
seasonal demands from steady production.

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L) MATERIALS HANDLING
Materials-handling equipment is logically divided into continuous and batch
types, and into classes for the handling of liquids, solids, and gases. Liquids and
gases are handled by means of pumps and blowers; in pipes, flumes, and ducts;
and in containers such as drums, cylinders, and tank cars. Solids may be
handled by conveyors, bucket elevators, chutes, lift trucks, and pneumatic
systems. The selection of materials-handling equipment depends upon the cost
and the work to be done. Factors that ‘must be considered in selecting such
equipment include:
1. Chemical and physical nature of material being handled
2. Type and distance of movement of material
3. Quantity of material moved per unit time
4. Nature of feed and discharge from materials-handling equipment
5. Continuous or intermittent nature of materials handling.
M) PATENT CONSIDERATIONS
A patent is essentially a contract between an inventor and the public. In
consideration of full disclosure of the invention to the public, the patentee is
given exclusive rights to control the use and practice of the invention. A patent
gives the holder the power to prevent others from using or practicing the
invention for a period of some years from the date of granting. In contrast, trade
secrets and certain types of confidential disclosures can receive protection under
common-law rights only as long as the secret information is not public
knowledge.
A new design should be examined to make certain no patent infringements are
involved. If the investigation can uncover even one legally expired patent covering
the details of the proposed process, the method can be used with no fear of patent
difficulties. Although most large corporations have patent attorneys to handle
investigations of this type, the design engineer can be of considerable assistance
in determining if infringements are involved. An engineer, therefore, should have
a working knowledge of the basic practices and principles of patent law?

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1.4. SOURCES OF DESIGN INFORMATION AND DATA

Design problems are always under defined, which means, that very little of the
information that is available to design a complete process is available at the
research stage.
Then how do you obtain the missing information? The missing information is
either obtained by making guesses or making use of heuristics or thumb rule so
on and so forth.

Information on manufacturing processes, equipment parameters, materials of

construction, costs and the physical properties of process materials are needed
at all stages of design; from the initial screening of possible processes, to the
plant start-up and production.

When a project is largely a repeat of a previous project, the data and information
required for the design will be available in the Company’s process files, if proper
detailed records are kept.
For a new project or process, the design data will have to be obtained from the
literature, or by experiment (research laboratory and pilot plant), or purchased
from other companies. The information on manufacturing processes available in
the general literature can be of use in the initial stages of process design, for
screening potential process; but is usually mainly descriptive, and too superficial
to be of much use for detailed design and evaluation.
The literature on the physical properties of elements and compounds is
extensive, and reliable values for common materials can usually be found. Where
values cannot be found, the data required will have to be measured
experimentally or estimated. Methods of estimating (predicting) the more
important physical properties required for design.
Readers who are unfamiliar with the sources of information, and the techniques
used for searching the literature, should consult one of the many guides to the
technical literature that have been published.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
The chemical process industries are competitive, and the information that is
published on commercial processes is restricted. The articles on particular
processes published in the technical literature and in textbooks invariably give
only a superficial account of the chemistry and unit operations used. They lack
the detailed information needed on reaction kinetics, process conditions,
equipment parameters, and physical properties needed for process design.
The information that can be found in the general literature is, however, useful
in the early stages of a project, when searching for possible process routes. It is
often sufficient for a flow-sheet of the process to be drawn up and a rough
estimate of the capital and production costs made.
The most comprehensive collection of information on manufacturing processes
is probably the Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology edited by Kirk and
Othmer (2001) (2003), which covers the whole range of chemical and associated
products. Several books have also been published which give brief summaries of

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the production processes used for the commercial chemicals and chemical
products. The most well-known of these is probably Shreve’s book on the
chemical process industries.
The extensive German reference work on industrial processes, Ullman’s
Encyclopedia of Industrial Technology, is now available in an English
translation, Ullman (2002). Specialised texts have been published on some of the
more important bulk industrial chemicals, such as that by Miller (1969) on
ethylene and its derivatives; these are too numerous to list but should be
available in the larger reference libraries and can be found by reference to the
library catalogue.
Books quickly become outdated, and many of the processes described are
obsolete, or at best obsolescent. More up-to-date descriptions of the processes
in current use can be found in the technical journals. The journal Hydrocarbon
Processing publishes an annual review of petrochemical processes, which was
entitled Petrochemical Developments and is now called Petrochemicals Notebook;
this gives flow-diagrams and brief process descriptions of new process
developments.
Patents are a useful source of information; but it should be remembered that
the patentee will try to write the patent in a way that protects his invention,
whilst disclosing the least amount of useful information to his competitors. The
examples given in a patent to support the claims often give an indication of the
process conditions used; though they are frequently examples of laboratory
preparations, rather than of the full-scale manufacturing processes.
World Wide Web
It is worthwhile searching the Internet for information on processes, equipment,
products and physical properties. Many manufacturers and government
departments maintain web sites. In particular, up-to-date information can be
obtained on the health and environmental effects of products.
Internet sources
Many of the university libraries in the UK and USA provide information guides
for the students and these are available on the Internet. A search using the key
words such as “chemical engineering information” will usually find them. Some
examples are:
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK: www.hw.ac.uk/lib
Edinburgh, UK: www.eevl.ac.uk
University of Florida, USA: www.che.ufl.edu/
Karlsruhe, USA: www.ciw.uni-karlsruhe.de/chem-eng
Useful gateways
EEVL (Edinburgh Engineering Virtual Library) Internet Guide to Engineering,
Mathematics and Computing, www.eevl.ac.uk
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
World-Wide Web Virtual Library: www.che.ufl.edu/WWW-CHEindex.html
University of Florida, USA
International Directory of Chemical Engineering URLs: www.ciw.uni
karlsruhe.de/chemeng.html
Karlsburg
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University, Germany
Another important source is the Knovel organization. This provides online access
to most standard reference books. It is a subscription service but can be accessed
through many libraries, including those of the professional engineering
institutions and some universities.
GENERAL SOURCES OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
International Critical Tables (1933) is still probably the most comprehensive
compilation of physical properties, and is available in most reference libraries.
Though it was first published in 1933, physical properties do not change, except
in as much as experimental techniques improve, and ICT is still a useful source
of engineering data
Tables and graphs of physical properties are given in many handbooks and
textbooks on Chemical Engineering and related subjects. Many of the data
given are duplicated from book to book, but the various handbooks do provide
quick, easy access to data on the more commonly used substances.
An extensive compilation of thermos physical data has been published by
Plenum Press, Touloukian (1970 - 77). This multiple-volume work covers
conductivity, specific heat, thermal expansion, viscosity and radiative properties
(emittance, reflectance, absorptance and transmittance).
Elsevier have published a series of volumes on physical property and
thermodynamic data.
The Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU, www.ihsesdu.com) was set up to
provide validated data for engineering design, developed under the guidance and
approval of engineers from industry, the universities and research laboratories.
ESDU data include equipment design data and software and extensive high-
quality physical property data mostly for pure fluids that are in use in the oil
and process industries and in university chemical and mechanical engineering
departments worldwide.
Caution should be exercised when taking data from the literature, as
typographical errors often occur. If a value looks doubtful it should be cross-
checked in an independent reference, or by estimation.
The values of some properties will be dependent on the method of measurement;
for example, surface tension and flash point, and the method used should be
checked, by reference to the original paper if necessary, if an accurate value is
required.
The results of research work on physical properties are reported in the general
engineering and scientific literature. The Journal of Chemical Engineering Data
specialises in publishing physical property data for use in chemical engineering
design. A quick search of the literature for data can be made by using the
abstracting journals; such as Chemical Abstracts (American Chemical Society)
and Engineering Index (Engineering Index Inc., New York). Engineering Index is
now called Engineering Information (Ei) and is a web-based reference source
owned by Elsevier information (www.ei.org).

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ACCURACY REQUIRED OF ENGINEERING DATA

The accuracy needed depends on the use to which the data will be put. Before
spending time and money searching for the most accurate value, or arranging
for special measurements to be made, the designer must decide what accuracy
is required; this will depend on several factors:
1. The level of design; less accuracy is obviously needed for rough scouting
calculations, made to sort out possible alternative designs, than in the final
stages of design; when money will be committed to purchase equipment, and for
construction.
2. The reliability of the design methods; if there is some uncertainty in the
techniques to be used, it is clearly a waste of time to search out highly accurate
physical property data that will add little or nothing to the reliability of the final
design.
3. The sensitivity to the particular property: how much will a small error in
the property affect the design calculation? For example, the estimation of the
optimum pipe diameter is insensitive to viscosity. The sensitivity of a design
method to errors in physical properties, and other data, can be checked by
repeating the calculation using slightly altered values.
It is often sufficient to estimate a value for a property (sometimes even to make
an intelligent guess) if the value has little effect on the final outcome of the design
calculation.
The designer must, however, exercise caution when deciding to use less reliable
data, and to be sure that they are sufficiently accurate for his purpose. For
example, it would be correct to use an approximate value for density when
calculating the pressure drop in a pipe system where a small error could be
tolerated, considering the other probable uncertainties in the design; but it
would be quite unacceptable in the design of a decanter, where the operation
depends on small differences in density.
Consider the accuracy of the equilibrium data required to calculate the number
of equilibrium stages needed for the separation of a mixture of acetone and water
by distillation

PREDICTION OF PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Whenever possible, experimentally determined values of physical properties

should be used. If reliable values cannot be found in the literature and if time,
or facilities, are not available for their determination, then in order to proceed
with the design the designer must resort to estimation. Techniques are available
for the prediction of most physical properties with sufficient accuracy for use in
process and equipment design. Selected methods are given for the more
commonly needed properties. The criterion used for selecting a particular
method for presentation was to choose the most easily used, simplest, method
that had sufficient accuracy for general use.

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If highly accurate values are required, then specialised texts on physical property
estimation should be consulted; such as those by: Reid et al. (1987), Poling et al.
(2000), Bretsznajder (1971) and Sterbacek et al. (1979), and AIChemE (1983)
(1985).
A quick check on the probable accuracy of a particular method can be made by
using it to estimate the property for an analogous compound, for which
experimental values are available.
The techniques used for prediction are also useful for the correlation, and
extrapolation and interpolation, of experimental values.
Group contribution techniques are based on the concept that a particular
physical property of a compound can be considered to be made up of
contributions from the constituent atoms, groups, and bonds; the contributions
being determined from experimental data.
They provide the designer with simple, convenient, methods for physical property
estimation; requiring only a knowledge of the structural formula of the
compound.
Also useful, and convenient to use, are prediction methods based on the use of
reduced properties (corresponding states); providing that values for the
critical properties are available, or can be estimated with sufficient accuracy; see
Sterbacek et al. (1979).

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