Chemical Processes

What is Engineering?
July 25, 2007
Chemical Processes Outline

Motivations
Reactions
Separations
Calculations using Conservation of
Mass and Energy
Distillation
Chemists vs Chemical Engineers
Chemists

Design reaction
pathways to produce
a chemical from raw
materials

Work in the laboratory
setting to produce
material on the gram
to kilogram scale
Chemical Engineers

Design a process to
scale the chemists
process to mass
produce the product

Work in a chemical
plant to produce
material in the ton and
beyond range
Why do we care about Chemical
Engineering?
Shampoo
Soap
Toothpaste
Dyes
Gasoline
Decaffeinated
Coffee
Sugar
Chemicals Are All Around
Cosmetics
Paint
Food
additives
Hydrogen
Fertilizer
Polymers
Pharmaceuticals
If that isnt reason enough

In the United States

170 Major Chemical
Companies

$400 Billion a year

Employs more than a
million workers
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/13/pf/college/starting_salaries/index.htm
Molecules that Chemicals Engineers
work with
Small and Simple
Helium (He)
Ammonia (NH
3
)
Hydrogen Flouride (HF)
Trinitrotoluene (C
6
H
2
(NO
2
)
3
CH
3
)

Large and Complicated
Insulin C
257
H
383
N
65
O
77
S
6

Large and Simple
Polyvinyl Chloride (-CH
2
-CHCl-)
n

How to Produce Chemicals
Two methods to obtain a desired
chemical

Design a reactor to produce a chemical
from raw materials

To isolate the compound that exists in
combination with other substances
through separation processes
Chemical Reactions
Raw Materials
Energy
Catalysts
Reactor
Products
Raw Materials
Byproducts
Energy
Catalysts
Possible Problem with Exothermic
Reactions
Reactor
Water Bath
A+B->C
Energy Produced by
reaction is proportional to
reactor volume L
3

Energy Removed is
proportional to surface
area L
2

L
Possible Scale up Problem

Separations
Molecular Property

Boiling Point
Freezing Point
Particle size
Affinity to a
stationary phase
Density
Selective affinity to
solid particles
Separation Process

Distillation
Crystallization
Filtration
Chromatography

Centrifuge
Adsorption
Exploits Differences of Material Properties
Separations: Unit Operations
Use separation processes to:
Purify raw materials
Purify products
Purify and separate unreacted feed.

Most common types:
Distillation
Flash distillation
Batch distillation
Column distillation

Absorption

Stripping

Extraction

Chromatography
Mass and Energy Balances
Balance Equation
Input + generation Output =
Accumulation
Control
Volume
Mass and Energy Balances
For non-reacting systems
Generation = 0

For systems operated at steady
state Accumulation = 0

Mass and Energy Balances reduce to
Input = Output
Separations Calculation
Magic
Separating
Machine
100 moles
10% C
2
H
5
OH
90% H
2
O
V moles
40% C
2
H
5
OH
80 moles
x % C
2
H
5
OH
Separation Calculation
Magic
Separating
Machine
100 moles
10% C
2
H
5
OH
90% H
2
O
V moles
40% C
2
H
5
OH
80 moles
x % C
2
H
5
OH
Conservation of total Moles 100 (V+80) = 0
V =20
Conservation of moles of C
2
H
5
OH 100*.1 (.4*V+x*80) = 0
x = 2.5%
Separations: Distillation
Magic
Separating
Machine
Equilibrium Stages
(Distillation Column)
Distillation
Separates liquids based on differences in volatility!
Consider a liquid mixture of A and B:
Boiling point of A: 70 C
Boiling point of B: 100 C
What would be the composition of the vapor phase if the entire
liquid mixture vaporized?
As mixture begins to boil, the vapor phase becomes
richer in A than the liquid phase!
As temperature increases, the concentration of B in
the vapor phase increases.
Condense vapor phase to get a mixture with a higher
concentration of A!
Distillation

V
1
V
2
L
0
L
1
stage 1


Distillation: Equilibrium Stages
A) Phases are brought into close contact
B) Components redistribute between phases to
equilibrium concentrations
C) Phases are separated carrying new component
concentrations
D) Analysis based on mass balance
L is a stream of one phase; V is a stream of another phase.
Use subscripts to identify stage of origination (for multiple
stage problems)
Total mass balance (mass/time): L
0
+ V
2
= L
1
+ V
1
= M
Distillation
Represent vapor liquid equilibrium data for more volatile
component in an x-vs-y graph
Pressure constant, but temperature is changing!
Distillation: McCabe-Thiele Calculation
Operating Line
Calculation of theoretical number of equilibrium stages
x
D

x
F
x
B
Distillation: McCabe-Thiele
Distillation
Benefits

Applicable for
many liquid
systems
Technology is well
developed
High Throughput

Drawbacks

High heating and
cooling costs

Azeotropes
Azeotrope
Separations limitation
Due to molecular interactions. Composition of vapor
equal to composition of liquid mixture.
Distillation
Batch distillation
apparatus only one
equilibrium stage!
Conclusions

Chemicals are produced by
reactions or separations
The driving force for separations are
property differences
Mass and Energy are Conserved
Distillation is the workhorse of
separations
Todays Laboratory
Three Parts:
Energy Transfer
Chromatography
Batch Distillation
(One equilibrium stage)
Todays Laboratory: Energy Transfer
Want efficient transfer and conversion
of energy ($$)

In lab, will be examining energy
transfer in the form of heat:
warming a pot of water with a hot
plate what is the efficiency of
energy transport from electricity to
the water?
Todays Laboratory: Chromatography
Separation technique that takes
advantage of varying affinities of solutes
for a given solvent traveling up a filter
paper.
Solutes: colored dyes
Solvents: water, methanol, 2-propanol
Measure the distance traveled by the
solutes and solvents!

**Methanol and 2-propanol are poisons! Wear
safety goggles, do not ingest or inhale and
rinse skin immediately if spilled.
Todays Laboratory: Distillation
Using distillation to separate a liquid
mixture of ethanol and water
Ethanol is the more volatile material (it will boil
first)
Take samples of distillate with time to
determine the concentration of ethanol in
the mixture!

**Ethanol is a poison! Wear safety goggles, do
not ingest or inhale and rinse skin immediately
if spilled.

Assume three components: A = dye, B = oil, C =
water
xA = mass fraction of A in stream L
yA = mass fraction of A in stream V
(e.g., L0 xA0 = mass of component A
in stream L0 )
Component mass balance (mass/time):
L0 xA0 + V2 yA2 = L1 xA1 + V1 yA1
= M xAM
L0 xC0 + V2 yC2 = L1 xC1 + V1 yC1
= M xCM
(equation for B not necessary because
xA + xB + xC = 1)
Suppose the following: V is oil (B) contaminated with dye
(A). L is water (C) which is used to extract the dye from the
oil. When V comes in contact with L, the dye redistributes
itself between the V and L. L and V are immiscible (i.e., two
distinct liquid phases).

V
1
= oil + less dye
V
2
= oil + dye
L
0
= water
L
1
= water + some dye
stage 1

Oil flow = V(1 - yA) = V = constant
Water flow = L(1 - xA) = L = constant
Then, for mass balance of the A component:
Another assumption: dye concentrations yA1, xA1
come into equilibrium according to Henrys Law: yA1 =
H xA1 , where H depends on the substances A, B, C.
Specific problem: 100kg/hr of dye-contaminated oil (1% by weight) is
mixed with 100 kg/hr of water to reduce the dye concentration in the oil.
What is the resulting dye concentration in oil after passing through the
mixing stage if dye equilibrium is attained and Henrys constant H = 4?
Soln:
L = 100kg/hr V = 100 ( 1 - .01) = 99 kg/hr
x
A0
= 0 (no dye in incoming water)
y
A2
= .01 (initial contamination in oil)
y
A1
= 4 x
A1
(equilibrium concentration of dye between oil and water)
100
0
1 0
99
01
1 01
100
1
99
1
1
1
1
1

|
\

|
.
| +

|
\

|
.
| =

|
\

|
.
| +

|
\

|
.
|
.
.
x
x
y
y
A
A
A
A
1 100
25
1 25
99
1
008
1
1
1
1
1
=

|
\

|
.
| +

|
\

|
.
| =
.
.
.
y
y
y
y
y
A
A
A
A
A

100
0
1 0
99
01
1 01
100
1
99
1
1
1
1
1

|
\

|
.
| +

|
\

|
.
| =

|
\

|
.
| +

|
\

|
.
|
.
.
x
x
y
y
A
A
A
A

1 100
25
1 25
99
1
008
1
1
1
1
1
=

|
\

|
.
| +

|
\

|
.
| =
.
.
.
y
y
y
y
y
A
A
A
A
A

Specific problem: 100kg/hr of dye-contaminated oil
(1% by weight) is mixed with 100 kg/hr of water to
reduce the dye concentration in the oil. What is the
resulting dye concentration in oil after passing through
the mixing stage if dye equilibrium is attained and
Henrys constant H = 4?
Soln:
L = 100kg/hr V = 100 ( 1 - .01) =
99 kg/hr
xA0 = 0 (no dye in incoming water)
yA2 = .01 (initial contamination in oil)
yA1 = 4 xA1 (equilibrium concentration of dye
between oil and water)
q-line
z
F

*
*
*
x
D
x
B
y-int ~ 0.36
Rectifying operating line
Stripping operating line
N
ideal
= 6 2/3