1.

Introduction to Chemical Process & Plant

Design

Objectives
After completing this chapter, students should
be able to
 appreciate the importance of chemical pro-
cess and plant design
 understand the natures of chemical pro-
cess and plant design
 know the sequence of chemical process and
plant design
 have a basic understanding of the organi-
sation of a chemical engineering project
 have a basic knowledge on how to produce
a project documentation

1
 know how to specify/identify codes & stan-
dards, design factors, and systems of units
used in the chemical engineering project
 understand how to set the design object-
tive(s) and that the design always has a
limitation/constraints

2
1.1 Nature of Chemical Process and Plant Design

Chemical products are essential to modern

society; high living standards depend heavily on
chemical products

Almost all aspects of our everyday life are

supported by chemical products in one way or
another [1]

Examples of chemical products widely used in

our daily life are illustrated in Figures 1.1-1.8

3
 Figure 1.1 Consumers’ products
(from http://www.heartlandexpress.com/industry-solutions-page/)

Figure 1.2 Food and beverage products

(from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nestle/2624712168/sizes/l/)

4
 Figure 1.3 Pharmaceutical products
(from http://www.rc-globalholding.com &
http://www.spotoncoating.com)

Figure 1.4 Products from poly-ethylene (PE)

(from http://www.ineos.com & http://www.freelin-wade.com)

5
Figure 1.5 Luxury products from PVC
(from http://www.lyst.com & http://www.ebay.com)

6
Figure 1.6 Automobile parts made of plastic
products
(http://www.myplaticmold.com)

Figure 1.7 Petroleum products

(http://www.bloomberg.com)

7
 Figure 1.8 Fragrances

Chemical products can be divided into 3 cate-

gories [1]:
1) Commodity or bulb chemicals:
 Produced in large volumes
 Purchased on the basis of chemical com-
position, purity, and price
 Examples are sulphuric acid, nitrogen,
oxygen, detergent, soap, shampoo, con-
ditioner, and toothpaste

8
2) Fine chemicals:
 Produced in medium to small volumes
 Purchased on the basis of chemical com-
position, purity, and price; but with
higher purity and price
 Examples include
o chloro-propylene oxide (used for the
manufacture of epoxy resins and ion-
exchange resins)
o dimethyl formamide (used as an in-
termediate in the manufacture of
pharmaceutical products)
o n-butyric acid (used in the produc-
tion of beverages, flavourings, and
fragrances)
o cosmetics
o premium-grade petroleum products

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 3) Specialty or functional chemicals:
 Purchased on the basis of their function
 High value-added and sold at a very
high margin (or profit)
 Short lifetime
 Examples are
o Pharmaceutical/healthy products
o flavourings
o perfumes
o premium-grade cosmetics

These chemical products (of any category) are

produced in chemical plants, which were operated
mainly by chemical engineers

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 The creation of plans & specifications and the
analysis of financial feasibility/profitability for the
construction/modification/operation of chemical
processes/plants to produce chemical products is
the activity of chemical engineering design

Process and plant designs are the focal point

of chemical engineering practice [2]

The development of chemical processes and

products is the creative activity [2-3]

The design engineers of either processes or

plants normally start their designs from specific
objectives or customers’ needs and arrive at the
best way to achieve such objectives/needs

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1.2 Basic Components of Chemical Processes

It is necessary for the design engineer to under-

stand the basic components of each chemical pro-
cess, so that he/she can select and specify suitable
equipment for each stage efficiently

The basic components of a chemical process

comprise:
1. Raw material storage
Storage of raw materials are necessary
to avoid the fluctuations of the production
and of the product quality or to avoid the
interruptions of the production
The amount of raw materials to be
stored depends on, e.g.,
 the nature of raw materials
 the method and frequncy of delivery
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 Storing too high amounts of raw mate-
rials leads to higher capital and operating
costs; on the other hand, if the amount of
raw materials stored is not sufficient, it can
result in the interruption of the process
2. Feed preparation
This stage is required to prepare the
raw materials to be, e.g.,
 at the appropriate purity
 in the right form/size
 free of contaminants that can be poi-
son to the catalysts
3. Reaction
This stage is the most important stage
(or the heart) of a chemical process
The design engineers must design the
reactor such that the desired product(s)
is(are) produced at the desired amount
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4. Separation
In this stage, the desired product(s) is
(are) separated from the by-product(s) and
the un-reacted reactant(s)
At times, the un-reacted reactant(s) is
(are) recycled to the reaction or the feed
preparation stage
5. Purification
In this stage, the main product(s) is
(are) purified using various kinds of tech-
niques, in order to meet the standard(s) or
market/customer need(s)
6. Product storage and sales
The amount of product(s) to be stocked
before sales depends on the nature of the
product(s) and/or the market/customer de-
mand(s)

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 In addition to the basic components of chemi-
cal processes, auxiliary processes employed for
producing and supplying such services or utilities
as
 process water
 cooling water
 air/process gas (e.g., nitrogen and oxygen)
 steam
are also needed for each component of a chemical
process

The design engineer must not overlook these

services/utilities

15
1.3 Choice of Continuous vs Batch Production

As students have already learned from the

Material & Energy Balances course,
 Continuous processes are designed to oper-
ate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, through-
out a long period of time (e.g., a year)
The operating rate (commonly called
the attainment percentage) of the conti-
nuous process can be determined by the
following equation:
 Number of hours 
 
actually operated
 
% Attainment    100
8, 760
(1.1)
Generally, % attainment of continuous
processes ranges from 90-95% on annual
basis
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  Batch processes are designed to run inter-
mittently (for a certain period of time; e.g.,
10 hours, depending on the nature of the
chemical process)

It should be noted, however, that the combi-

nation of continuous and batch operations is com-
mon in chemical processes; for example, a batch
reactor is employed to produce the mixture of
ethanol + water at a low concentration of ethanol
through fermentation, and the mixture of ethanol
+ water is used as a feed to a continuous dis-
tillation column to produce ethanol with a higher
purity

Continuous processes are usually more econo-

mical than batch processes, especially for large-
scale production, as their capital/fixed costs are
much lower (for a high-volume production)
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 However, batch processes are more flexible, as
they allow the production of multiple products
with different grades/purities in the same equip-
ment; additionally, they are easier to clean and
maintain sterile operation

Accordingly,
 the continuous processes are the best
choice for producing commodity or bulb
chemical products
 the batch processes are highly recommended
for specialty or functional chemical products

Fine chemical products can be produced by

either continuous or batch processes, depending
on the quantity produced

18
1.4 Organisation of a Chemical Engineering
Project

The structure of a chemical engineering pro-

ject can be listed sequentially as follows
1. Project specification (setting the design ob-
jectives or determining customers’ needs)
In this stage, the designer should obtain
as clear and unambiguous requirements as
possible
The needs can be categorised into
 Must-have: cannot be compromised
during the design
 Should-have: can be relaxed during
the design

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 Additionally, in this stage, the design
basis is set; the design basis is a more pre-
cise statement of the design problem, e.g.,
production rate and purity specifications,
along with constraints that will affect the
design, such as
 the international, national, local, or
company’s standards/codes
 the details of raw materials avail-
able
 information regarding the possible
plant location(s), e.g., climate data,
seismic condition, infra-structure
availability
 information concerning the condi-
tions, availability, and price of utili-
ties (e.g., electricity, water supply,
fuels)
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 It is necessary to have a clearly defined
design basis before detailed design can be
started
2. Determination of possible designs/choices
In this stage, possible solutions to the
design problem are to be analysed, evalu-
ated, and selected
For example, the possible ways of in-
creasing the plant capacity for producing a
higher amount of polymer according to an
increase of the market need are [1]:
 Choice 1: 10% increase, with a mo-
dest capital cost
 Choice 2: 20% increase, with a sig-
nificant capital cost
 Choice 3: 30% increase, with an ex-
tremely huge capital cost

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  Choice 4: Build a new plant, in which
a serious consideration of the feasi-
bility of the project must be taken
When the choice is selected, the next
steps (i.e. the economic evaluation and the
detailed design & equipment selection) will
be proceeded according to the selected choice
Generally, chemical engineering projects
can be categorised into 3 types:
1) Modifications to the existing plant,
to, e.g., increase the purity of the
product, or to lower the emissions
of pollutants
2) Expansion of the existing plant, to
meet the growing demand
3) Development of the new process/
plant

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 The next step is to examine the fitness of
the designs/choices, which includes the se-
lection of the process and the sketch of flow
diagrams
In this stage, the design engineer must
evaluate each design/choice to see how
well it fit the objective/need
Process simulation software package
(e.g., Aspen Plus® or Aspen HYSYS® or
Pro/II®) are to be employed to test the
choice(s)
3. Performing material & energy balances
The is the first step of the technical
analysis of the selected design/choice

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4. Preliminarily selecting & designing process
equipment
In this stage, the detailed specifications
of equipment in the chosen process, e.g.,
vessels, heat exchangers, pumps, reactors,
and distillation columns, are specified (by
chemical & mechanical engineers)
Control systems are also examined and
selected (by chemical & electrical engineers)
Additionally, a plant site preparation
for further construction is to be made (by
civil engineers)
These tasks are, normally, carried out
by an Engineering, Procurement, and Con-
struction (EPC) company (or a contractor).
5. Formulating the process flow diagram
(PFD); an example of PFD is depicted in
Figure 1.9
24
Figure 1.9 An example of a process flow diagram
(PFD)
(from http://chemengineering.wikispaces.com)

6. Preliminarily estimating process/plant costs

and acquiring the source of funds
After selected design(s)/choice(s) can
be chosen from Stages 2 & 4, economic per-
spective of each design/choice will be ana-
lysed

25
 In addition to economic analysis, effects
on human’s health/hazards and the envi-
ronment will (must) also be determined
7. Piping & instrumentation design [an exam-
ple of piping & instrumentation diagram
(P & ID) is as shown in Figure 1.10] and
detailed process design, which includes

Figure 1.10 An example of piping & instrumen-

tation diagram (P & ID)
(from http://www.creativeengineers.com)

26
 selecting/designing chemical engineering
equipment
 selecting/specifying instrument & con-
trol systems
 selecting/specifying pumps & compres-
sors
 a reactor design
 a heat exchanger design
 selecting/specifying/designing separation
equipment
 a piping design
 designing/specifying utilities & other ser-
vices
 selecting/specifying electrical motors,
switch gear, and sub-stations

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8. Structural & plant layout design, which
comprise
 a structural design
 a plant layout design
 designs of general civil works, foun-
dations, drainage systems, and roads
 designs of offices, laboratories, and con-
trol rooms
9. Project cost estimation & fund authorisa-
tion
10. Procurement/purchasing
11. Construction
12. Start-up (or commission)
In this stage, even though the plant is
fully operational, it is not for commerciali-
sation yet; the purpose of this stage is to
examine whether or not the plant is ready

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 During this start-up period, the design
engineer must be ready to be called upon
to solve the start-up and operating problem
13. Operation
Up to this point, the plant is ready for
commercial operation
14. Sales (including Marketing)

1.5 Project Documentation

Since the chemical engineering project is very

complicated and requires the co-operation of seve-
ral groups, it is necessary to have an effective and
well-organised documentation, which include
 Correspondence within the design group
and with, e.g.,
o the government departments
o the client
o the vendors
29
 Calculation sheets, which comprise, e.g.,
o material & energy balances
o design calculations
o a cost estimation
 Drawings, e.g.,
o process flow sheets/diagrams (PFSs/
PFDs)
o P & IDs
o a plant layout
o architectural drawings
o electricity drawings
o mechanical drawings
o detailed drawings of each equipment
 Specification sheets, e.g.,
o the design basis
o the feed & product specifications
o the equipment list

30
 o the detailed specifications of each equip-
ment
 Information on health, safety, and the en-
vironment, e.g.,
o material safety data sheets (MSDSs);
an example of MSDS is as illustrated in
Figure 1.11
o HAZOP or HAZAN documentation
o documents concerning emission assess-
ments
 Purchase orders, e.g.,
o quotations
o invoices

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Figure 1.11 An example of a material safety data
sheet (MSDS)
(from http://www.zeofill.com)

32
  Process manuals: describing the process and
the basis of the design, which provide a com-
plete technical description of the process;
generally, process manuals are accompa-
nied by PFDs/PFSs and P & IDs
 Operating manuals: the detailed, step by
step, instructions for the operation of the
whole process and of each equipment

1.6 Codes and Standards

Nowadays, the standardisation is needed;

thus, all the design of chemical processes must
follow codes and standards strictly

There are several codes and standards to be

complied with; for instances,

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 International Organisation for Standardi-
sation (ISO): http://www.iso.org/
 British Standards (BS):
http://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/
 German Institute for Standardisation or
Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN):
http://www.din.de/
 American National Standards Institute
(ANSI): http://www.ansi.org/
 American Society for Testing and Mate-
rials (ASTM): http://www.astm.org/
 Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS):
http://www.jisc.go.jp/eng/
 Thai Industrial Standards (TIS: มอก):
http://www.tisi.go.th/eng/

34
1.7 Design Factors

Since errors and uncertainties arising from the

data and approximation are unavoidable, it is
common for the designers to include some degrees
of over-design, commonly known as design fac-
tor or safety factor [1-2]

Concerning the design/safety factor, the design

engineer should keep in mind that
 if design/safety factor is too low, the pro-
cess might not work or it may run at a high
risk
 on the contrary, if the design/safety factor
is too high, it would cause the process to
be unnecessarily expensive or less efficient

Thus, a balance must be made between these

two extremes [1]
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1.8 Systems of Units

Even though modern engineering design is

based on SI units, traditional scientific (i.e. metric
system) and engineering [i.e. American Engi-
neering (AE) system] are still widely employed

Additionally, some useful data are also avail-

able in metric and AE systems

Accordingly, the design engineers must be fami-

liar with other unit systems (as mentioned above),
in addition to SI units, and must be able to make
a conversion between the unit systems fluently

The following are the examples of the units

commonly used in chemical process design:

36
 Temperature is presented in oC or oF, ra-
ther than K or R
 Pressure is commonly given in bar, rather
than Pa (N/m2) or atm
 Volume or volumetric flow rate is provided
in L or L/time, rather than m3 or m3/time,
which gives too small values
 kg or tonnes (103 kg) used normally em-
ployed to describe plant capacities; g gives
too high values and Gg (gigagramme – i.e.
109 g) is rarely used
 In the USA, M is used for 103, and MM is
used for 106, which can be confusing to
those familiar with SI or metric units
(where k and M are used for 103 and 106,
respectively)

37
 It is highly recommended that the design engi-
neers clearly specify the unit systems used in the
project before the start of the design process

1.9 Design Objectives and Constraints

In the design process, it must have the design

objective(s) for the whole process or for each sub-
process

The design objective is to either minimise or

maximise a specific quantity

For example, to
 maximise a profit
 minimise a cost or emissions

38
 However, the design objective(s) always has
(have) a limitation (limitations), which is generally
called constraints

Examples of constraints are as follows

 Product purity ≥ 99.99 wt%
 Production rate ≤ 500,000 tonnes/year
 NOx emissions ≤ 200 ppm

In order to satisfy the design objective(s), the

design engineers must be able to translate the
design objective(s) and constraint(s) into equa-
tion, in order to be able to solve for the suitable
values of variables related to the design objec-
tive(s) and constraint(s) that lead to the satis-
faction of the design objective(s), which is com-
monly called optimisation

39
 An example of an optimisation problem is as
illustrated below:
Maximise: z  3x1  5x 22
(this is an objective)
Constraints: x 1  x 2  10
x1  4

The obtained values of x 1 and x 2 must satisfy

all objectives and constraints

References
[1] R. Smith, Chemical Process: Design and Integration,
Wiley, 2005.
[2] R. Sinnot and G. Towler, Chemical Engineering Design:
Principles, Practice, and Economics of Plant Design,
2nd ed., Elsevier, 2013.
[3] R. Turton, R.C. Bailie, W.B. Whiting, J.A. Shaeiwitz,
and D. Bhattacharyya, Analysis, Synthesis, and Design
of Chemical Processes, 4th ed., Pearson, 2013.

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