ChE 150

Chemical
Process
Industries
Prepared by:
Engr. Sandra Enn
Bahinting

Overview

Chemical Industry
comprises

thecompaniesthat produce

industrial
chemicals which converts raw materials into
more than 70,000 differentproducts

Basic Raw Materials:

Organic Chemicals

Oil and gas - source of 90% of world organic

chemical production

Inorganic Chemicals
Sulphur and Chlorine,minerals

Products of Chemical
Industry
Base/ Basic Chemicals

Petrochemicals- derived from oil (coal or biomass)

Example:
Methanol=produced from oil and natural gas(US and Europe)
= coal in China.
poly(ethene)=derived from oil and gas (US and Europe)
=biomass in Brazil

Polymers
Example: polyalkenes, polyurethanes, acrylics,
polycarbonates and silicones

Basic Inorganics -

low cost chemicals used throughout

manufacturing and agriculture
Example: chlorine, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric and nitric acids

Specialty chemicals
wide

variety of chemicals for

crop protection,paintsand inks,colorants
(dyes and pigments)

Consumer chemicals
chemicals

are sold directly to the

public. Example: detergents, soaps and
other toiletries.

 About

85% of chemicals are produced from

~ 20 simple chemicals called base
chemicals.
Base chemicals produced from ~ 10 raw
materials.
Base chemicals converted to ~ 300
intermediates.
Base chemicals and intermediates
classified as bulk chemicals.
About 30,000 consumer products are
produced from intermediates.

Consumer products from raw

 First

step in petrochemical industry is

conversion of raw materials into base
chemicals.
Synthesis gas (H2 and CO) through steam
reforming of NG ammonia or methanol.
Lower alkenes through steam cracking of
ethane or naphtha: ethene, propene,
butadiene.
Aromatics through steam cracking of ethane
or naphtha or the catalytic reforming
process: benzene, toluene, xylenes (BTX).

 The

second step involves a variety of

chemical processes often aimed at
introducing various hetero-atoms (O, Cl, S
etc.) into the molecule.
This leads to formation of intermediates
such as: acetic acid, formaldehyde,
acetaldehyde and monomers like
acrylonitrile, terephthalic acid etc.
The third step yields consumer products.
The chemical industry can be conveniently
divided into 7 sectors.

World chemical market (1989)

Where these chemicals go..

12 % of the cost of a car
polyurethane seat cushions;
neoprene hoses and belts;
airbags and nylon seat restraints
10 % of the cost of a house

including the cost of important insulation

pipes
electrical wiring

10 % of what the average household consumer buys and uses

every day
food products
clothing
footwear
health and personal care products
household cleansers
home entertainment equipment.

World chemical Industry

Top five organic chemicals: ethylene, propylene,

ethylene dichloride, methyl-tert-butyl-ether
(MTBE), and vinyl chloride.
Top inorganic chemicals: nitrogen, oxygen,
chlorine, and sodium hydroxide.

RAW MATERIALS AND

ENERGY
Raw

materials and energy are closely

related.
main raw materials for the chemical
industry are fossil fuels.
These are also the most important
sources of energy.
Major energy source is oil (~40%), Coal
(~ 26%), then NG (~ 21%).

Energy and the chemical

industry
A lot of energy is used in the chemical industry (~
same order as used for feedstock)
crude oil (8% ) = raw material in the chemical
industry: the balance is used for fuel production.
1.

Fuels for direct heaters and furnaces:

often same as raw material, e.g. in steam reforming of

NG, the NG is used for both feedstock and fuel.

Fuel oil (a product of distillation) is often used to

preheat feed to the crude oil fractionator.

2.

Steam:

HP
MP
LP

most important utility system for process heating, a

reactant, & in distillation.
It is used saturated, wet or superheated.
Steam used is replaced by treated make-up water.
Steam used at 3 pressures levels:
Operating Conditions
Saturation
Pressure (bar)Temp (K) Temp (K)
40
683
523
10
493
453
3
463
407

3.

Electricity:

Can be generated in-plant or purchased

from utility.
Reduction of energy costs by generation
of power on-site with steam turbines and
process heating with exhaust gases.
Often economical to drive large
compressors with steam.
Co-generation (electricity and
local/district heating).

Chemical Engineer
chemical

engineers concern themselves with

the chemical processes that turn raw
materials into valuable products. The
necessary skills encompass all aspects of
design, testing, scale-up, operation, control,
and optimization, and require a detailed
understanding of the various "unit
operations", such as distillation, mixing,
and biological processes, which make these
conversions possible

Process Flowchart
Lower Alkenes from Oil

Ammonia and methanol

production

Sulfuric Acid

Process and Process variables

Process variables

Mass and Volume

Flowrate - The rate at which a material is
transported through a process line
1.Mass Flowrate (mass/time)
2. Volumetric Flowrate (volume/time)
Concentration

Mass concentration = mass of a component / volume of

the mixture
Molar concentration = moles / volume
Molarity = molar concentration of solute / volume of
solution

Pressure
Atmospheric pressure at sea level, 760 mmHg = 1 atm.

Pgauge = 0 Pabsolute = Patmospheric

Pabsolute = Pgauge + Patmospheric

Temperature

Process Classification
Batch

Process - The feed is charged (fed) into a vessel at the

beginning of the process and the vessel contents are removed
sometime later

Continuous

process - The inputs and outputs flow continuously

throughout the duration of the process

Semi-batch

process - Any process that is neither batch nor

continuous
steady

state -If the values of all the variables in a process (i.e.,

all temperatures, pressures, volumes, flow rates) do not change
with time

Transient

or unsteady state - If any of the process variables

change with time

Material Balance

A balance on a conserved quantity system can be

expressed by :

Each year 50,000 people move into a city, 75,000 people move
out, 22,000 are born, and 19,000 die. Write a balance on the
population of the city.

The following rules may be used to simplify

the material balance equation:
If the balanced quantity is total mass, set
generation =0 and consumption =0. Except in
nuclear reactions, mass can neither be created
nor destroyed.
If the balanced substance is a nonreactive species
(neither a reactant nor a product), set generation
= 0 and consumption = 0
If a system is at steady state, set accumulation=0
, regardless of what is being balanced