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Understanding Process Condition

Temperature & Pressure
40-250 oC; 1-10 bar no severe processing
difficulties
T: material construction tensile strength
P: Pressure vs. Volume Size
Equipments:
Reactors
Separators
Compressors, Pumps, Turbine, Expander
Heat Exchangers
Process Heaters
Valves
Mixers

Reactors
<40oC,

oC

T:
> 250
P: < 1 bar, > 10 bar performance, phase consideration
Inert, excess reactant, products present performances,
control rate, inhibits side reaction, recycle
Equilibrium reaction
exo./endo.reaction, Le Chatelier, Arrhenius
CSTR/PFR
Series/parallel/combination
Conversion, selectivity and yields: Exp. data
Kinetic data/rate law
Residence time/Space Time

Separators
T: <40oC, > 250 oC
P: < 1 bar, > 10 bar
Phase considerations, temperature sensitive materials

Short cut methods/rule of thumb

Type of equipments

Distillation
P, T ? P-T-X
Relative volatility
Condensing medium (air, water, refrigerant)
Steam (lps, mps, hps)
Feed quality
Rop=1.2 Rmin

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Raw Materials and Chemical Reactions

Absorptions
P, T ?
Phase Equilibrium
Physical and Chemical
Max. absorption capacity
Solvent regeneration:
steam (lps, mps, hps)/ hot air
L/G op=1.2 (L/G)min

Distribution of Chemicals

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Distribution of Chemicals

Distribution of Chemicals

Distribution of Chemicals

Distribution of Chemicals

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Distribution of Chemicals

Distribution of Chemicals

Distribution of Chemicals

Distribution of Chemicals

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Separations

Separations

Separations

Separations

Favor separations using energy separation agents.

The heart of a separation process is the separating agent which takes the form of energy or mass. Energy separation agents do not add
anything to the mixture being separated

Remove corrosive and hazardous materials first.

Corrosive materials often require expensive materials of construction while hazardous materials may require special conditions and add
cost to the process.

Do the easiest, cheaper separations first.

This reduces the volume of material to be processed and is less demanding of trays and reflux.

Remove the most plentiful components first.

This reduces the load of the downstream processes.

Favor sequences which give a nearly equimolal division of the feed between the distillate and the bottoms product
for distillation.
For compositions that are similar, 50:50 splits minimize the flow rates in the cascade which means that both the rectifying and stripping
sections can operate at flow rates near the optimum.

For distillation, remove the components with the highest heat of vaporization first, if possible.
This reduces the heating/cooling duties of subsequent units.

Avoid vacuum distillation and refrigeration if possible.

Low temperatures and pressures are less likely to be economical. Both very high and very low temperatures should be avoided, but
when necessary go high not low.

Favor sequences yielding the minimum number of products.

Components which will eventually be in the same product should not be separated, this wastes time and resources.

Do not recombine separated streams.

If the components are ultimately to be separated, any partial separation should be retained since remixing the components will result
in an increase in entropy.

Do not overpurify streams.

When high purity is not required, single-column schemes should be considered. Consider using side streams to withdraw products.

When a mass separating agent is used, favor recovering it in the next separation step.
Downstream recovery of mass separating agents is very difficult. Also, do not use a mass separating agent to recover another mass
separating agent.
When alternative separation methods are available for the same product split, discourage consideration of any
method giving a separation factor close to unity.
This seeks to avoid the use of excessively tall columns.

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Separations

Heat Transfer in Reactors

Distillation
- Relative volatility a greater than 1.2
- Product thermally stable
- Rate greater than 5,000-10,000 lbs/day
- No corrosion, precipitation or explosion problems

Azeotropic/Extractive Distillation
-Systems normally contain azeotropes
- in solvent greater than for distillation
-Solvent thermally stable and easily regenerable
-Solvent commercially available (at a reasonable
cost)

Adsorption
- Adsorbent selectivity greater than 2 for
bulk separations and greater than 10-100
for purifications
- High percentage solute removal
- Acceptable delta loadings
- Adsorbent not susceptible to rapid fouling
- Bed(s) easily regenerable
- Clean air/water projects

Extraction
- Solvent selectivity greater than for
distillation and greater than 1.5-2.0
- Solvent selective for low-concentration
component
- Energy costs high
- Easy solvent recovery

Membranes
- Membrane selectivity greater than 10 (except for
air separation)
- Bulk separation, clean air/water projects
and some trace removal
- Acceptable fluxes
- Membrane chemically stable
- Membrane not susceptible to rapid fouling
- Low to moderate feed rates

Heat Transfer in Reactors

Heat Transfer in Reactors

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Heat Transfer in Reactors

Heuristic 25: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Unless required as part of the design of the separator or
reactor, provide necessary heat exchange for heating or
cooling process fluid streams in an external shell-andtube heat exchanger using countercurrent flow
With or without utilities

If a process stream requires heating above 750F, use a

furnace, unless the process fluid is subject to chemical
decomposition

Heuristic 26: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Heuristic 27: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Near optimal minimum temperature

approaches in heat exchangers depend on the
temperature level as follows:

When using cooling water to cool or condense

a process stream, assume a water inlet
temperature of 90F (from a cooling tower)
and a maximum water outlet temperature of
120F

10F or less for temperatures below ambient

20F for temperatures at or above ambient up to
300F
50F for high temperatures
250-350F in a furnace for flue gas temperature
above inlet process fluid temperature

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Heuristic 28: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Heuristic 29: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Boil a pure liquid or close-boiling liquid

mixture in a separate hat exchanger, using a
maximum overall temperature driving force of
45F to ensure nucleate boiling and avoid
undesirable film boiling

When cooling an condensing a stream in a

heat exchanger, a zone analysis, should be
made to make sure that the temperature
difference between the hot stream and the
cold stream is equal to or greater than the
minimum approach temperature at all
locations in the heat exchanger.

Heuristic 30: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Heuristic 31: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Typically, a hydrocarbon gives an adiabatic

flame temperature of approx. 3,500F when
using the stoichiometric amount of air.

Estimate heat exchanger pressure drops as

follows:

Use excess air to achieve complete combustion

and give a maximum flue-gas temperature of
2,000F
Set the stack gas temperature at 650-950F to
prevent condensation of corrosive components of
the flue gas

1.5 psi for boiling and condensing

3 psi for a gas
5 psi for a low-viscosity liquid
7-9 psi for a high-viscosity liquid
20 psi for a process fluid passing through a
furnace

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Heuristic 32: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Heuristic 33: Heat Exchangers and Furnaces

Quench a very hot process stream to at least

1,150F before sending it to a heat exchanger
for additional cooling and/or condensation

If possible, heat or cool a stream of solid

particles by direct contact with a hot gas or
cold gas, respectively

The quench fluid is best obtained from a

downstream separator
Alternatively, is the process stream contains water
vapor, liquid water may be an effective quench
fluid

Use a rotary kiln, fluidized bed, multiple hearth,

flash/pneumatic conveyor, or jacketed spiral
conveyor

Heuristic 34: Increasing Pressure of Gases

Heuristic 34: Increasing Pressure of Gases

Use a fan to raise the gas pressure from

atmospheric pressure to as high as 40 H2O
gauge (10.1 kPa gauge, 1.47 psig)
Use a blower or compressor to raise the gas
pressure as high as 206 kPa gauge or 30 psig
Use a compressor or a staged compressor
system to attain pressures greater than 206
kPa gauge or 30 psig

Use a fan to raise the gas pressure from

atmospheric pressure to as high as 40 H2O
gauge (10.1 kPa gauge, 1.47 psig)
Use a blower or compressor to raise the gas
pressure as high as 206 kPa gauge or 30 psig
Use a compressor or a staged compressor
system to attain pressures greater than 206
kPa gauge or 30 psig

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Heuristic 35: Increasing Pressure of Gases

Estimate the theoretical adiabatic horsepower (THp) for compressing a
gas from
a

T P
THp SCFM 1 2 1
8130a P1

where SCFM = standard cubic feet of gas per minute at 60F and 1 atm
(379 SCF/lbmol); T1 = gas inlet temp. in R, inlet and outlet pressures;
P1 and P2, are absolute pressures; and a = (k-1)/k with k = the gas
specific heat ratio, Cp/Cv
Estimate the theoretical exit temperature, T2, for a gas compressor
from:

Heuristic 36: Increasing Pressure of

Gases
Estimate the number of gas compression stages, N, from the
following table, which assumes a specific heat ratio of 1.4 and a
maximum compression ratio of 4 for each stage
Final Pressure/Inlet
Pressure
<4
4 to 16
16 to 64
64 to 256

Number of Stages
1
2
3
4

Optimal interstage pressures correspond to equal Hp for each

compressor; therefore, estimate interstage pressure by using
approx. the same compression ratio for each stage with an
intercooler pressure drop of 2 psi or 15 kPa

T2 T1 P2 P1

Heuristic 37: Increasing Pressure of Liquids

Heuristic 38: Increasing Pressure of Liquids

For heads up to 3,200 ft and flow rates in the

rage of 10-5,000 gpm, use a centrifugal pump
For high heads up to 20,000 ft and flow rates
up to 500 gpm, use a reciprocating pump

For liquid flow, assume a pipeline pressure

drop of 2 psi/100 ft of pipe and a control valve
pressure drop of at least 10 psi
For each 10 ft rise in elevation, assume a
pressure drop of 4 psi

Axial pumps for heads up to 40 ft for flow rates

from 20-100,000 gpm
Rotary pumps for heads up to 3,000 ft for flow
rates from 1-1,500 gpm

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Heuristic 39: Increasing Pressure of Liquids

Heuristic 40: Decreasing Pressure

Estimate the theoretical horsepower (THp) for

pumping a liquid from:

Use an expander for reducing the pressure of

a gas

THp = (gpm)(pressure increase, psi)/1,714

Use pressure recovery turbine for reducing the

pressure of a liquid when

If recovering more than 20 Hp

If recovering more than 150 Hp

Heuristic 41: Decreasing Pressure

Heuristic 42: Decreasing Pressure

Estimate the theoretical adiabatic horsepower

(THp) for expanding a gas from:

Estimate the theoretical horsepower (THp) for

reducing the pressure of a liquid from:

a
T P
THp SCFM 1 1 2
8130a P1

THp = (gpm)(pressure decrease, psi)/1,714

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Pumping and Compression

Heuristic 44: Vacuum

Estimate inleakage of air by
W = kV0.667
Where w = lb/hr of air inleakage; V = ft3 of volume
of the equipment under vacuum; and k = 0.2 for
pressures greater than 90 torr
k = 0.15 for pressures between 21-89 torr
k = 0.1 for pressures between 3.1-20 torr
k = 0.051 for pressures between 1-3 torr

Heuristic 45: Vacuum

To reduce the amount of gas sent to the
vacuum system if its temperature is greater
than 100F, add a condenser using cooling
water before the vacuum system
The gas leaving the condenser will be at a dewpoint temperature of 100F at the vacuum
pressure

Heuristic 46: Vacuum

For pressures down to 10 torr and gas flow rates up to
10,000 ft3/min at the inlet to the vacuum system, use a
liquid-ring vacuum pump
For pressures down to 2 torr and gas flow rates up to
1,000,000 ft3/min at the inlet to the vacuum system, use
a steam-jet ejector system

1-stage for 100-760 torr

2-stage for 15-100 torr
3-stage for 2-15 torr
Include a direct-contact condenser between stages

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Heuristic 47: Vacuum

For a 3-stage steam-jet ejector system used to
achieve a vacuum of 2 torr, 100 lbs of 100 psig
steam per lb of gas are required

Heuristic 49: Changing Particle Size and Size

Separation
To crush coarse solids
Use a jaw crusher to reduce lumps of hard,
abrasive, and/or sticky materials of 4 to 3 in
diameter to slabby particles of 1-4 in size
Use a gyratory crusher to reduce slabby materials
of 8-6 in size to rounded particles of 1-10 in
diameter
Use a cone crusher to reduce less hard and less
sticky materials of 2-1 in diameter to particles of
0.2 (4 mesh) to 2 in diameter

Heuristic 48: Conveying Solids

If the solid particles are small in size, low in particle
density, and are not sticky or abrasive, use pneumatic
conveying with air at 1-7 ft3/ft3 of solids and 35-120 ft/s
air velocity for distances up to 400 ft
For sticky and/or abrasive solids of any size and density,
use a screw conveyor and/or bucket elevator for
distances up to 150 ft.
For particles of any size and shape, and not sticky, use a
belt conveyor, with inclination up to 30, if necessary, for
long distances up to a mile or more

Heuristic 50: Changing Particle Size and Size

Separation
Grinding fine solids
Use a rod mill to take particles of intermediate
hardness as large as 20 mm and reduce them to
particles in the range of 10-35 mesh
Use a ball mill to reduce particles of low to
intermediate hardness of 1-10 mm in size to very
small particles of less than 140 mesh

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Heuristic 51: Changing Particle Size and Size

Separation
Particle size enlargement
Use compression with rotary compression machines to convert
powders and granules into tablet of up to 1.5 in diameter
Use extruders with cutters to make pellets and wafers from
pastes and melts
Use roll compactors to produce sheets from finely divided
materials; the sheets can be cut into the desired size and shape
Use rotating drum granulators and rotary disk granulators with
binders to produce particles in the size range of 2-25 mm

Heuristic 52: Changing Particle Size and Size

Separation
Size separation of particles
Use a grizzly of spaced, inclined, vibrated parallel bars to
remove large particles greater than 2 in diameter
Use a revolving cylindrical perforated screen to remove
intermediate-sized particles in the range of 0.25-1.5 in
diameter
Use flat, inclined woven screens (US standard) that are vibrated,
shaken, or impacted with bouncing balls to separate small
particles in the range of 3-80 mesh
Use an air classifier to separate fine particles smaller than 80
mesh

Heuristic 53: Removing Particles from Gases

and Liquids
Use a cyclone separator to remove, from a gas, droplets
or solid particles of diameter down to 10 microns (0.01
mm)
Use a hydroclone separator to remove, from a liquid,
insoluble liquid droplets or solid particles of diameter
down to 5 microns (0.005 mm)
Small amounts of entrained liquid droplets can also be
removed from gases by vertical knock-out drums
equipped with mesh pads to help coalesce the smallest
droplets

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