RECALIBRATE FINAL ROUND

Participants are required to make a short PowerPoint presentation which explains the solution
of the following problem. During the round, the participant will need to present their solution
in front of the judges. The presentation should not exceed 10 minutes (excluding 2-3 minutes
for questionnaire from the judges). Participants will be judged on the quality of their solution,
the reasoning, presentation skills, and the questionnaire.

The final round will be on Sunday 23rd October 2016, 1pm onwards. The venue for the
round is H104 classroom. Any changes in the timing and venue will be notified to the
participants.

RULES:
Use of internet is allowed.
Make suitable assumptions and state them.
Mention the references from internet that have been used.

THE PROBLEM STATEMENT: NITRIC ACID PILOT PLANT

A nitric acid manufacturing pilot plant is shown in the given process flow diagram. The
system consists of a closed reactor vessel which is followed by a scrubber. The reaction that
is occurring in the reactor is exothermic and involves production of NOx gases along with
nitric acid, whose concentration is 1500 ppm. According to environmental regulations, the
NOx concentration in the product gas stream needs to be diminished to 100-200 ppm. The
scrubber is employed for this purpose, in which the NOx rich gas stream is contacted with an
aqueous phase. Inlet streams to the scrubber are: NOx rich gas inlet stream from the reactor,
make-up water and a scrubbing solution containing 0.2% hydrogen peroxide and 10% nitric
acid.

Why is make-up water required for the scrubbing operation?

The plant is running perfectly, but all of us are aware that wherever application of science and
technology is involved, anomalies are bound to occur. This is when the knowledge of a
chemical engineer plays an important role. Also, this is the reason a pilot plant study is
important, before scaling up a particular process. Troubleshooting of problems should be
known on a pilot scale first, before considering the design of a commercial plant.
One fine day, following anomalies are faced by the plant:

1. The reading shown by the thermocouples for the reactor suddenly shoots up or falls.
2. The rotameter reading for the make-up water starts rising.
3. The orifice meter pressure drop for cooling water through the reactor falls to zero.
4. The orifice meter pressure drop for cooling water through the reactor shows a steep
rise.
5. The rotameter reading for cooling water through the scrubber falls abruptly by an
appreciable amount.
6. The reading on the RPM meter connected to the agitator falls to zero.
7. The gas chromatograph connected to the NOx rich gas inlet stream shows a rise in the
peak heights.

Considering the above situations, discuss the factors that may have caused them, the
consequences and suggest the improvements in the plant that help in avoiding these
situations.
Justify your solutions with proper reasoning.