Jirdsak Tscheikuna

Lecture 03

Reactant

Process

Product Storage

Conceptual Design of
Chemical Processes

Raw Material Storage

Utilities

Product

Waste

Plant

What are we doing in

Conceptual Design?

What are we doing in

Conceptual Design?

Decide whether the process will be operated

as a batch or a continuous flow process.
Identify the input-output structure of the
process.
Identify and design general structure of
each system in the process.

Identify and design the heat-exchanger

network or process energy recovery system.

What are we doing in

Conceptual Design?
Decide whether the process will be operated
as a batch or a continuous flow process.
Identify the input-output structure of the
process.
Identify and design general structure of
each system in the process.

Batch or Continuous
Scale-up problems
Very long reaction times
Handling slurries at low flow rates
Rapidly fouling materials

Market forces
Seasonal production (limitation of feedstock)
Short product lifetime

Batch or Continuous
Production rate
Sometimes batch if less than 5,000 ton/yr
Usually batch if less than 500 ton/yr

Multiproduct plants
High product quality

What are we doing in

Conceptual Design?
Decide whether the process will be operated
as a batch or a continuous flow process.
Identify the input-output structure of the
process.
Identify and design general structure of
each system in the process.

Feed Stream
Focus on raw material (input/feed) and
products (output) only.
Utility streams are not considered at this
point.

Feed Stream
Reactant is the component which is
converted to desired product after the
reaction.

Feed stream is not a pure component.

Feed stream consists of reactant and
impurity.
Impurity can be classified as reactive and
inert.

Structure Consideration
Should we purify the feed streams before
they enter the process or the reactor?

Purification of Feed
If a feed impurity is a catalyst poison,
remove it.
If a feed impurity is reactive and form
difficult-to-separate or hazardous product,
remove it.
If an inert impurity is present in large
amounts, say >10-20%, remove it.

Purification of Feed
If separation of impurity is difficult, such as
an azeotrope with a reactant, do not separate
the impurity.
If an impurity is present in a gas feed
stream, as a first guess process the impurity.

Purification of Feed
If a feed impurity is an inert, but is easier to
separate from the product and by-product
than from the feed, it is better to process the
impurity.
If an impurity in a liquid feed stream is a
product or by-product and is present in large
amount, feed the process through the
separation system.

Structure Consideration
Should we purify the feed streams before
they enter the process or the reactor?
How many product streams will there be?

Identify Product Streams

List all the components that are expected to
leave the reactor.
Classify each component in the list and
assign destination code to each.
Order the components by their normal
boiling points
Group neighboring components with the
same destination

Keep in mind that Gases

are the component which is
very difficult to condense or
change to liquid phase.

Classification of Component
Gas/Liquid/Solid
Reactant/Product/Byproduct/Impurity
Example
Gas Reactant
Liquid Byproduct
Liquid Reactant

Our Primary Product

should be in liquid phase,
if required.

Destination Codes for

Liquid/Solid

Destination Codes for Gases

Vent
Recycle and Purge

Evaluation of the Flowsheet

Be certain that all by-products and
impurities leave the process!

Recycle
Primary Product
Valuable Byproduct
Fuel
Waste

Process Alternative
If we are not certain that our decision is
correct, we list the opposite decision as a
process alternative.

General Consideration
General Considerations
for Specifying
Input-Output Structure

Select raw materials and chemical reactions

to avoid, or reduce, the handling and storage
of hazardous and toxic chemicals.

General Consideration

General Consideration

When nearly pure products are required,

eliminate inert species before the reaction
operations when the separations are easily
accomplished and when the catalyst is
adversely affected by the inert, but not
when a large exothermic heat of reaction
must be removed.

Introduce purge streams to provide exits for

species that enter the process as impurities
in the feed or are formed in irreversible side
reactions, when these species are in trace
quantities and/or are difficult to separate
from the other chemicals. Lighter species
leave in vapor purge streams, and heavier
species exit in liquid purge streams.

General Consideration

General Consideration

Do not purge valuable species or species

that are toxic and hazardous, even in small
concentrations. Add separators to recover
valuable species. Add reactors to eliminate
toxic and hazardous species.

By-products that are produced in reversible

reactions, in small quantities, are usually
not recovered in separators or purged.
Instead, they are usually recycled to
extinction.

General Consideration

Profit Margin

For competing reactions, both in series and

parallel, adjust the temperature, pressure,
and catalyst to obtain high yields of the
desired products. In the initial distribution
of chemicals, assume that these conditions
can be satisfied. Before developing a basecase design, obtain kinetics data and check
this assumption.

PM = Product Value + By-product Value

- Raw Material Cost
Profit margin (potential profitability) is a
cost per year basis (annual cost)

Information determined using InputOutput Diagram

All the reactions, both desired and
undesired, that take place.
What chemical components must enter with
the feed and leave as products
Basic economic analysis on profit margin