FChE’s Chemicals

(Co. Registration: K100101)

19 October 2020
Dear Sir/Madam,

INVITATION TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL FOR THE DESIGN OF CHEMICAL PLANT

FChE’s Chemicals, a multinational company, is planning to have a large investment in a chemical plant in
the country. Your consulting firm has been invited to propose the design work of a chemical plant. The
product selected must be a product from an existing plant in Malaysia where later you can visit the plant
and compare your design with them. Based on market analysis, you are required to produce any capacity
(example: 100,000 lb/hr) of the product and you are required to submit a report for each task assigned
before each dateline. Note that your team are required to

You are required to submit the proposal in stages according to the following dates:

Task 1: PROJECT & SITE SELECTION (example: Production of 100,000 MT/year of Benzene)
[Dateline: 3 November 2020 submit softcopy to BOD]
Search for a chemical product which is manufactured in Malaysia and its commercial process flow
diagram.
Perform market survey on the product (Global and local outlook, market price, etc)
Perform process screening based on gross profit (GP)/Economic potential (EP) and other factors
related to sustainable design for all possible reaction pathways
Site selection

Task 2: PROCESS CREATION AND SYNTHESIS

[Dateline: 17 November 2020 submit report and 23 & 24 November 2020 present 10 min each team
to BOD (5 min Q&A)]
Propose where the raw material should be bought and what is its specification if you are to open a
similar plant but as competitor (e.g. raw material might not be pure)
Obtain the physical and chemical properties data for the reactant and product
Perform the 5 key synthesis steps of Rudd, Powers and Sirrola to come up with the process flow
diagram and process description complete with justification on process condition and equipment
selected. Show at least 2 possible process flowsheet for the process and justify why you select
one of it.
Calculate the mass and energy balances manually (show sample calculation in appendix) for the
selected process flowsheet.
Indicate the destination of any stream that leaves the process (for example, “recycle”, “to landfill”,
“to market”, “to wastewater treatment”).
Draw an A3 process flow diagram complete with mass and energy balance summary table. The
summary table must include temperature, pressure, enthalpy, mass flowrate of each component
and total mass flowrate. Optional info such as phase and composition is good to include.

Some guideline:
• Minimize the number of units in your process.
• Minimize waste of material and energy in the process.
• Maximize the yield of product and any other marketable by-product
• Your process should be safe and environmentally benign
Task 3 (Dateline: 22 December 2020 submit report only): PROCESS SIMULATION, HEAT
INTEGRATION
Simulate the plant mass and energy balance using ASPEN HYSIS to obtain a result with less than
15% difference compared to manual calculation.
Proposed a heat exchanger network to reduce the heating and cooling utilities of the plant
Perform process optimization to maximize profit and reduce losses

Task 4 (Dateline: 12 January 2021): EQUIPMENT SIZING, COSTING & PROCESS

OPTIMISATION
Perform equipment sizing and costing for all the equipments (HEX, Separation Towers, Pressure
Vessel, Pump and Compressor etc) in the final process flow diagram and estimate the total capital
investment needed for the plant. Use appropriate Chemical Engineering Index.
Visit a plant in Malaysia that produce the product your team is developing. Compare the
differences between your plant design and the plant you visited. Interview the plant engineers to
know why they design the plant the way it is.

Submit Final Project Report (Improved version of Task 1 and Task 2, Task 3 & Task 4): 12
January 2021 (1 softcopy to lecturer, 1 softcopy to opponent team, 1 softcopy in e-learning forum)

Final Project Presentation: 18-19 January 2021 (8 mins present, 7 mins Q&A)

* Opponent team is a team that is chosen by the Board of Director to be the consultant to check and
criticize another consultant team project. The appointed opponent team consultant needs to read and
comment the report (please write all your comments on the report hardcopy to be given back to the
presenting team for correction) as well as prepare questions for the presenting consultant team. 1
question must be prepared for each member of the presenting consultant team. The questions must be
related to their proposed plant design proposal.

Guidelines for opponent team:

1. Is the report well written?

2. Does the report have all the requirements for the project?
3. Are the report convincing? If you are the Board of Director, will you take the project?
4. What is the difference between your report and their report?
5. Are there any calculation problems or anything which is not correct?