Pump power requirement

In the design, two pumps were used to transfer the liquid streams (1) from the mixer to
the reactor, and (2) from the reactor to the intermediates’ storage tank. With this, it is necessary
to estimate the pump power requirements for each pump used.

1. Process layout (computer-aided design)

A process layout was proposed prior to pump power requirement to estimate the length of
the pipe, as well as the number of fittings and valves that will affect the value of friction losses.

Figure 1. Top view of the process layout.

 Figure 2. Front view of the process layout.

Figure 3. Isometric view of the process layout with dimensions.

 2. Calculation of the pump 1 power requirement.
a. Mechanical energy balance

The mechanical energy balance is used to calculate the theoretical pump power
requirement. It is shown as follows.

∆𝑃 𝑔∆𝑧 ∆𝑣 2
+ + + ∑ 𝐹 = 𝑊𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜 (𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 1)
𝜌 𝑔𝑐 2𝑔𝑐

b. Data for work calculation

The following data regarding the liquid properties are summarized in a table as follows.

Table 1. Parameters required for pump power requirement calculation.

Parameter Value
Flow rate (m3/s) 0.00030682
Density (kg/m3) 785.8254729
Di pipe (m) 0.0157988
Viscosity (kg/m-s) 0.00037
NRe 52516.33628
Pipe roughness (m) 0.0000457
ε/D 0.002892625
Fanning friction factor 0.0074
Length of pipe (m) 6.71928552
Flow area (m2) 0.000196037
Flow velocity (m/s) 1.565113872
Mass flow rate (kg/s) 0.241107171

For the pump 1, the liquid to be pumped is the NaOH-MeOH mixture. Its mass flow rates and
properties are already obtained and calculated in the mass balances section. The diameter of the
pipe is obtained in the pipeline dimensioning section and is required for Reynolds number
calculation. Reynolds number is calculated as follows.
 4𝜔
𝑁𝑅𝑒 = (𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 2)
𝜋𝐷𝜇

Where ω = mass flow rate of MeOH-NaOH mixture (kg/s)

D = internal diameter of pipe (m)

μ = viscosity of mixture (kg/m-s)

Pipe roughness is obtained from Perry’s 7th edition based on the values of pipe roughness of
commercial steel. The Fanning friction is graphically obtained using the Moody chart. The
Fanning friction factor is a function of pipe roughness, diameter, and Reynolds number.

Figure 4. Moody diagram based on the Fanning friction factor.

The total length of pipe is based on the proposed layout drawn as a computer-aided design in
AutoCAD. The flow area is the cross-sectional area of the pipe (circle). The flow velocity is
calculated as volumetric flow rate per unit flow area.

c. Calculation of actual power requirement

 The summary of the calculation is tabulated below.

Table 2. Calculation of the pump power requirement.

Parameter Value
P, reactor (atm) 2
P, mixer (atm) 2
ΔP/ρ (J/kg) 0
gΔz/gc (J/kg) 12.04554
Δv2/2gc (J/kg) 0
F due to pipe length (J/kg) 15.41887
K, three 90o ell 2.25
K, fully open gate valve 0.17
F due to fittings (J/kg) 2.963994
F due to entrance (J/kg) 0.612395
F due to exit (J/kg) 1.224791
ΣF (J/kg) 20.22005
Theo W (J/kg) 32.26559
Actual W (J/kg) 40.33199
Actual W (W) 9.724332

The reactor and the mixer are under 2 atm pressure due to the presence of methanol. Thus, the
calculated pressure difference between the surface liquid level of the mixer and reactor is 0. The
gravitational energy difference is calculated based on the difference in liquid levels calculated in
the reactor and mixer design sections. Also, it is assumed that there is no kinetic energy
difference since the sizes of the reactors are much larger compared to the size of the pipe. The
friction loss due to pipes is calculated as follows.

2𝑓𝐿𝑣 2
𝐹𝑝𝑖𝑝𝑒𝑠 = (𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 3)
𝐷𝑔𝑐

Where f = fanning friction factor

 L = length of pipe (m)

v = flow velocity (m/s)

D = inside diameter of the pipe (m)

gc = gravitational constant (kg-m/N-s2)

The friction loss due to fittings, entrance and exit are calculated as follows.

𝑣2
𝐹=𝐾 (𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 4)
2𝑔𝑐

Where K = loss coefficient

The loss coefficients for 90o elbow, fully open gate valve, entrance, and exit are obtained as 0.75,
0.17, 0.5, and 1.0, respectively (Perry & Green, 1997).

With all the required parameters calculated, the theoretical work is computed based on
equation 1. The actual work is also calculated with assumed typical pump efficiency of 0.80. The
actual power requirement is ultimately obtained by multiplying actual work with the mass flow
rate of the liquid stream.

3. Calculation of pump 2 power requirement

Same procedures are done as for the calculation of pump 1 power requirement.

a. Data for work calculation

The summary of parameters and properties obtained for the liquid (intermediates) is
summarized below.
Table 3. Parameters required for pump power requirement calculation.

Parameter Value
Flow rate (m3/s) 0.001572217
Density (kg/m3) 790
Di pipe (m) 0.035052
Viscosity (kg/m-s) 0.002593209
NRe 17398.00034
Pipe roughness (m) 0.0000457
ε/D 0.001303777
Fanning f 0.0073
Length of pipe (m) 19.22285208
Flow area (m2) 0.000964974
Flow velocity (m/s) 1.629284682
Mass flow rate (kg/s) 1.242051355

For the pump 2, the liquid to be pumped is the mixture of intermediates. Its mass flow rates and
properties are already obtained and calculated in the mass balances section. The diameter of the
pipe is obtained in the pipeline dimensioning section and is required for Reynolds number
calculation. The density is approximated as the density of the major component (biodiesel)

Fanning friction is obtained the same way as the first calculation. Same material
(commercial steel) is used in the calculation of friction factor.

b. Pump power requirement calculation

Same number of gate valves and 90o elbows are used in the calculation of pump 2 power
requirement as the first one. The results are summarized as follows.
Table 4. Parameters required for pump power requirement calculation.

Parameter Value
P, tank (atm) 2
P, reactor (atm) 2
ΔP/ρ (J/kg) 0
gΔz/gc (J/kg) 76.27794
Δv2/2gc (J/kg) 0
F due to pipe length (J/kg) 21.25455
K, three 900 elbow 2.25
K, fully open gate valve 0.17
F due to fittings (J/kg) 3.212028
F due to entrance (J/kg) 0.663642
F due to exit (J/kg) 1.327284
ΣF (J/kg) 26.4575
Theo W (J/kg) 102.7354
Actual W (J/kg) 128.4193
Actual W (W) 159.5034

Both the tank and the reactor are pressured (2 atm absolute) due to the presence of methanol. The
gravitational energy difference is calculated based on the difference in liquid levels calculated in
the reactor and intermediate storage tank design sections. It is also assumed that there is no
kinetic energy difference since the sizes of the reactor and storage tank are much larger
compared to the size of the pipe. The loss coefficients obtained are with the same value as the
first one, and the friction loss due to pipes and fittings are calculated using equations 3 and 4.

The obtained theoretical pump work is obtained using equation 1. Actual work is
calculated by assuming a pump efficiency of 0.80. The actual pump power requirement is
obtained by multiplying mass flow rate of the intermediate stream to the actual pump work.