Chemical Engineering Plant Design

CHE 441

Dr. Zakir Khan

Assistant Professor
Email: zkhan@ciitlahore.edu.pk
Environmental Protection &
Pollution Prevention
 Lecture Outline
Introduction
Importance of Environmental protection
Environmental regulations
Environmental Impact Assessment
Development of pollution control system
Air pollution abatement
Water pollution abatement
Solid waste disposal

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 Introduction
Important aspect of Chemical Industry
Hazardous and non-hazardous waste disposal
Emissions of toxic gases/ hydrocarbons
Global warming
Appropriate measures at the Design stage
Selection of sustainable process
Economy
Environment
Society

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 Federal and local regulations
Awareness of regulations
A design engineer must aware of the latest
federal and state regulations involving
environmental protection.
NEQS
(National Environment Quality Standards
provided by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA))
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Environmental Management Systems
(ISO 14001) 5
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 Environmental Impact Assessment
Considering EIA in Planning tool
Environmental consequences of plant
Description of proposed project
Aspects causing main impacts on
environment
Description of impacts on factors (people,
plants etc)
Measures to avoid, reduce, remedy impacts

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 Environmental Impact Assessment
Description of the project
Type and category of project
Objective of project
Alternates considered and reason for
rejection
Location (population around, lakes etc)
Size or magnitude of the operation, including
capital cost, and associated activities.
Duration of implementation

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 Environmental Impact Assessment
Description of the environment
Area affected by the project
Physical resources
Ecological resources
Human resources
Population
Other industries

Infrastructure

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 Environmental Impact Assessment
Screening of potential environmental impact
Environmental problems due to project location;
Environmental problems related to design;
Environmental problems associated with the
construction stage;
Environmental problems resulting from project
operations;

Mitigation measures adopted

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 Environmental Impact Assessment
Scooping
Vital early step
Identifies the important EIA issues
eliminates those that are not.
Cooperation between interested public, government
agent
Final EIA Report Submission

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 Environmental Management System
(ISO 14000)
Standards that help organizations to take a proactive
approach to managing environmental issues
Global applicability
Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Aspects & Impact analysis
Environmental managements programs (EMP)
Emergency response and planning
Trainings
Procedures
Standards that help organizations to take a proactive

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 Development of Pollution Prevention
System
Engineering Evaluation of different factors
Source of pollution
Properties of pollutants
Design of collection/transfer systems
Control device
Dispersion of exhaust under limits
Role of Design Engineer to determine
Volume of pollutants
Nature of pollutants
Change in Raw materials or process

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 Air pollution abatement (Reduction)
Classified into two categories
Particulate removal (PM10 (up to 10 m), PM 2.5 m)
Gas separations (SOx, NOx, CO, CO2)

Problems associated
Urban smog (VOCs + NOx + O2 = O3 and other pollutants)
Acid rain (pH)
Not a local problems
Green house effects
Particulate removal
Cyclone separators
Gravitational separators
Filter bag
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Electrostatic precipitator
Syed Zaheer Abbas 18
 Cyclone separators
Using centrifugal force
Used as a pre-filter

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 Gravitational Separators
Gravity settlers
Coarse particles (100m or more)
Used as a pre-filter
Flocculating agents

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 Wet collectors
Contact between water spray and gaseous stream
Collusion between particulates and droplets

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 Bag Filters
Contact between filter of bag and particulates

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 Electrostatic separators
Discharge plate and collecting surface
Under electric field

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Gas
Separation
A significant unit operation in chemical industries

Large number of emerging GS applications

Huge demand of sustainable technologies for GS

Application Process Gas Pair

industry
Power-Plants CO2 recovery CO2/N2
from Flue-gas
Fertilizer Industry Ammonia H2/CO2 & O2/N2
Synthesis
Natural Gas Methane H2O/CH4 &
Extraction dehydration and CO2/CH4
Enrichment
Refineries H2 recovery from H2/CO2
flue-gas
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 Comparison of different GS
techniques

Process Main features Future challenges

Water Simple and widely used technology, Fugitive emissions, odour
scrubbing removes both CO2 and H2S problem, pretreatment
required
Adsorption High purity transportable products Lower recovery of products
Absorption Removes both CO2 and H2S High pressure required for
solvents, low purity

Cryogenic High recovery, moderate purity, Complete CO2 removal

separation economical at low flows requires freezing
temperatures that deter its
commercial applications,
complex process, long
start-up and shut-down, not
suitable for gas plants
Membrane Simple, low capital cost, high energy Membrane plasticization,
separation efficiency, compact, modular and low contaminant resistance,
scalable, stable at high pressure, lower product purity than
operational at ambient temperature, adsorption
high product recovery
 Absorption
Removal of one or more selected components from a mixture of
gases by absorption into a suitable liquid .
- Substance in absorbed state = absorbate
- Liquid on which absorption takes place = absorbent
Major unit operation based on interphase mass transfer
Divided into two groups
- Physical absorption
- Involving chemical reaction
Examples of physical absorption:
- Removal of acetone from acetone-air mixture by absorption in
water
- Removal of ammonia from ammonia-air mixture by absorption in
water
Examples of absorption process involving chemical reactions
- Absorption of oxides of nitrogen in water to give nitric acid
- Absorption of carbon dioxide in sodium hydroxide solution

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 Absorption
Classical example of Absorption process
Monoethanolamine (MEA) Process for Separation of CO2
from Flue gas

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Adsorption
 Solid waste disposal
Differ from liquid and gas in terms of stagnant location
Ways to dispose solid waste
Recycling
Incineration
Pyrolysis
Landfil

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 Solid waste disposal
Recovery and Recycling
Recovery by magnets, electric conductivity etc.,
Conversion into saleable products
Hydrogenation of organics to produce fuels
Fertilizers (N2, P rich waste)
Biogas

Incineration
Controlled oxidation (CO2, H20, ash)
Consideration for S and N containing compounds
Heat recovery
When landfill site not available

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 Solid waste disposal
Pyrolysis
Air free chamber
High temperature
Advantageous process

Landfill
Conventional technique
Reactivity & Leaching

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 Water pollution abatement
NEQS
TDS
TSS
Heavy metals
Importance to the recovery rather than treatment

Physical Treatment
Chemical Treatment
Biological treatment

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 Water pollution abatement
Physical Treatment
Gravity settlers
Flocculation
Adsorption process (Activated carbon)
Membrane process (Ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis,
electrodialysis)

Chemical treatment
Neutralization for pH control
Chemical oxidation

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 Water pollution abatement
Biological Treatment
BOD
Microorganisms to break down organic matter
Aerobic or anerobic

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