Process Design

Code

Course teacher

Associate teachers

Status of the course

Course objectives

Students will know the basic principles and the methodology of process equipment design. They will also acquire knowledge of the methodology used in chemical process industry to evaluate the ultimate commercial feasibility.

Course enrolment requirements and entry competences required for the course

Learning outcomes expected at the level of the course (4 to 10 learning outcomes)

After passing the exam, the student is able to:
- define the stages in the design and modification of chemical processes
- choose the optimum location of plants
- explain the research and development in the laboratory and pilot scale
- scale up of process and apparatus of the chemical process industry
- estimate of financial viability of the investment
- explain synthesis, optimization and simulation of process scheme
- carry out synthesis of heat exchanger network using pinch analysis
- dimensioned heat exchanger, the continuous distillation of a multicomponent mixture, separators, pipelines.

Course content broken down in detail by weekly class schedule (syllabus)

1st week: Introduction. Design, optimization, sustainable development. Steps in the design and development of new processing plants. The project leader.
2nd week: From idea to product. Idea. Preliminary works . A feasibility study . Numerical examples. Process development and evaluation. Selection and design of project equipment. Project engineering. Process engineering. Construction of the plant .
3rd week: Plant location. Location factors. Methods of evaluation of location factors. Numerical examples.
4th week: The process development. Process research in laboratory and industrial scale.
5th week: Scaling up of process and apparatus of the chemical process industry. Similarity low. Models and scaling up methods in chemical engineering. Numerical examples .
6th week: The rating process. The rating of the financial performance of investments. Estimation of investment costs. Estimation of production costs. Methods for the evaluation of financial viability of the investment. Numerical examples.
7th week: Process design. Synthesis, optimization and flowsheet simulation. Material and energy balance. Numerical examples.
8th week: Synthesis and process integration. A hierarchical approach. Model of onion. A holistic approach to the integration process. Pinch analysis. Synthesis of heat exchanger network by pinch analysis.
9th week: A graphical method. Analytical method of temperature intervals . Performance of heat exchanger network above and below pincha. Numerical examples .
10th week: Heat transfer. Classification. Analysis of the processes of heat transfer. Calculation of the heat exchanger using the mean logaritam differences of temperature. Calculation of the heat exchanger using heat efficiency.
11th week: Sizing the heat exchanger. Heat calculation. Mechanical calculation. Numerical examples.
12th week. Determining the optimal thickness of insulation. A numerical example.
13th week: Sizing distillation columns. The multicomponent mixtures . The distribution of the components . Vapor-liquid equilibrium. Temperature of boiling and dew point. Calculation of Underwodova parameter  using Newton’s method. Numerical examples.
14th week: Sizing the continuous distillation of a multicomponent mixture. The heat duty of the condenser and reboiler. Numerical examples.
15th week: Sizing separators. Sizing pipelines. Numerical examples.

Format of instruction:

Student responsibilities

Attending lectures is 80%, while seminars 100% of the total hours.

Optional literature (at the time of submission of study programme proposal)

R.H. Perry i sur.: Perry’s Chemical Engineer’s Handbook, Seventh Edition, McGraw-Hill New York, 1997.
J. M. Douglas: Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes, McGraw-Hill New York, 1988.

Quality assurance methods that ensure the acquisition of exit competences

Quality assurance will be performed at three levels:
(1) University Level;
(2) Faculty Level by Quality Control Committee;
(3) Lecturer’s Level.

Other (as the proposer wishes to add)

 Suggestions and reactions of participants during the semester.
Student survey.