‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

This work and all information provided within doesn’t imply that it
is only for whom has a job interview, but also can be considered as a
refresher reference for all engineers.

*Please feel free to suggest your comments based on your experience

and knowledge in order to be included for mutual benefit

Sections:
1- Practical and applicable sides
2- Instrumentation, equipment and control
3- Semi-real cases
4- Theories, equations and important empirical formulas
5- Important symbols, diagrams and flowsheets.
Section (1)

Q)What are the most common reactor types in industry?

Ans: Batch – Continues flow ( PFR – CSTR)

Q)Where we can see each?

Ans:
Batch: most common uses in small case productions like pharmaceutical industry
CSTR: large scale uses and mainly in liquid-liquid phases
PFR: large scale uses and can have liquid-liquid, liquid-gas,gas-gas phases and might be other
arrangements as well.( in addition to PBR which is a PFR that packed with catalyst)

Q)The most common problems that might be encountered in a CSTR are: dead volumes, and by-passing,
how can we minimize both?
Ans: Dead volumes can be minimized by mechanical design of the reactor to make it having what so
called “Baffles” on the walls of the reactor, which makes the movement of the fluid inside as much
turbulent as possible, manipulating the angle of the mixer to have as much coverage as possible, or
adding another impeller.
By-passing can be minimized by constructing a recycle line which also might increase the conversion as
well.

Q)The two main reaction types are Exo-Endothermic reactions, what sort of precautions have to be
done for each and what to monitor?
Ans: Temperature control, especially for exothermic reactions that is having high rate constants
(depending on the nature of the reaction) so they have to be carried out on low conversions, because it
might cause a phenomena so called “Runaway reactions”
Read about it

Q) Suggest two ways for controlling temperature

Ans: either cooling-heating jacket or adding inerts based on the reaction behavior

Q)There are two main reaction configurations; reversible and irreversible reactions, in reversible
reaction we care about what so called equilibrium conversion so the design based on it, why?
Ans: because it is the highest conversion a certain reaction can reach by its kinetics, unless we
manipulate the thermodynamics of the reaction

Q) What are the most important factors to put in mind when designing a reactor?
Ans: Conversion, and capital cost (Volume of the reactor), so we need to optimize between both.

Q)What is the most important parameter to be considered in multiple reactions?

Ans: it is selectivity: which is the ratio of the desired product formed to the other undesired products
formed as well, and surely the higher the value, the better the design

Q)Does “Mixing” play an essential part in the reaction? And if so, how?
Ans: yes, to an instinct, and depending on the reactor type as well.
by mixing, on a molecular scale the collisions between particles increases making the exposed to each
other more which makes the reaction proceed better leadin to a higher conversion
Q)What is “catalyst”?
Ans: it is a non-reactive material put in a reactor in order to suggest a minimized activation energy path
to the reactants which leads to higher conversion, it doesn’t react but it offers a suitable platform for the
reactants to collide with better conditions.

Q)What is the difference between “Enthalpy” and “Internal Energy”?

Ans: Enthalpy is the heat content of a system, and it is the measure of the total heat of the system plus
the work done by it at constant pressure, whereas the Internal energy is the microscopic energy of the
molecules and particles within the system, energy caused by vibrations, bonds breaking and bonds
forming.

Q)What is specific heat?

Ans: Cp is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a unit quantity(mole-kg) of a
material by 1 degree K or C, the higher the value, the higher energy needed SO IT IS ONE OF THE MOST
ESSENTIAL PARAMETERS IN DESIGNING HEAT EXCHANGERES.

Q)Name two major types of heat exchangers

Ans: Shell and tube – Plate

Q)In shell and tube H.E, does it make any difference which fluid to be operated in the shell side or in the
tube side? And how come?
Ans: yes it does, mainly shell side contains Vapors for their large volumes and corrosive materials can be
put in tube side to maintain their effect, also pressure drop is something to be considered.

Q)What is the difference between Superheated, Saturated Mixture, saturated vap and saturated liq?
Ans: Saturated liq and vapor are the states of a material that can occur at the same time at the boiling
limit (equilibrium with each other) of that substance, if small energy is added to substance it starts to
convert into Sat Vap, and if small energy is removed from the Sat Vap it starts to convert into Sat Liq,
and in between the Saturation mixture occurs ALL AT THE SAME TEMPERATURE. Where as the
superheated is the state of the substance that happens when sufficient energy is added to the Sat Vap
state so even if small amounts of energy is removed, it stays above that threshold
Note: Superheated has zero moisture and Saturated (in its three states) has moisture between 0% and
100%

Q)In heating processes and in heat exchanging, which to use; Superheated or Saturated? And why?
Ans: in heating we need as much energy as possible, and the state which has the highest energy content
is the superheated state, on the other hand Saturated is used in heat exchange because of its moisture
content which acts like a temperature conductor for some point

Q)What are nozzles and diffusers?

Ans: Nozzles are equipment used to increase velocity of the flow to the compensation of pressure
decrement, and Diffusers are equipment used to increase pressure of the flow to the compensation of
velocity decrement
Q)You have these given values of pressure, express which is low, medium, high, very high relatively
( 0.01 bar, 1 bar, 5 bar , 50 bar , 100 bar)
Ans: 0.01 bar is low – 1 and 5 bar are medium , 50 bar is high , 100 bar is very high
Note: to visualize these quantities, try to push the wall by your hand with slight force, the pressure
resulting from your hand on the wall is in between 5-10 bars approx

Q)What is the difference between Pumps and Compressors?

Ans: Pumps are equipment used to move LIQUIDS from point A to point B, it might have only that
purpose ( flowrate ) or it can have two purposes ( Flow rate and pressure) depending on the type of it /
Compressors are equipment used to compress GASES , and mainly used for this purpose only (Pressure)

Q)What are the major types of Pumps?

Ans: 1) positive displacement (pumps a volume of the fluid in terms of pulse flow (Pressure
deliverance)
2) Dynamic ( pumps fluid continuously with dynamic movement of the parts inside (Flow deliverance)
Note: Positive displacement pumps can be one stage, two stage, or multi stage, in order either to
achieve the (Pressure) or (Flow+Pressure)

Q)Consider a pipe flowing certain material, and we increased the diameter of the pipe, the pressure will
decrease based on the relation P=F.A, is this statement correct? If not, what is your opinion?
Ans: No, the pressure will increase and the flow velocity will decrease because of Bernoulli relation and
continuity equation, the pressure relation given shows the pressure as vectorial quantity but pressure
inside pipe actually the pressure exerted by each molecule form its convective flow towards other
molecules and the Pipe inside wall, so it cannot be used in this situation

Q)What are the three main ways of heat transfer?

Ans: Conduction – Convection- and Radiation
Note: if flow of a certain material has zero value, the heat transfer will be considered as conduction.

Q)What is relationship between Viscosity and Temperature for gas and liquid phases?
Ans: it is directly proportional in liquids, and inversely proportional in gases

Q)How does pressure effects the boiling point of a substance?

Ans: by increasing pressure, molecules are re-arranged to be closer together more, meaning it requires
more heat to get them far away from each other again leading to the gas state, so the higher the
pressure, the higher the boiling point
Note: Pressure vessels used for cooking meat is a perfect example, where water inside is pressurized
more so it is no longer boils at 100C, it requires higher temperature to boil, meaning the meat inside will
be cooked in less time

Q)What is the difference between boiling, heating and evaporation?

Ans: Boiling mainly is the process of producing steam / heating is the process of raising the temperature
of a material to a desired value / evaporation by its solid meaning the process of creating vapors, but it
is for the reason to separate solids from liquids to purify the solids.
Section (2)

Q)What are the most common variables that we care about in industry?
Ans: Temperature, Pressure, Flow, Level

Q)How can we control those parameters?

Ans: by constructing a control loop consisting mainly of measuring device, controller, and a final control
element

Q)What is the final control element?

Ans: if we considered the control loop as a body, it will be the hands; meaning it is the equipment which
achieves the target value of the parameter we control

Q)What is the controller?

Ans: it can be considered as the brain of the control loop, which compare the value that given to control
with the actual value measured and then give a command based on the difference whether it is positive
or negative

Q)Give examples of “Final Control Element”

Ans: Control Valve / Variable Frequency Drive VFD

Q)Explain what VFD is

Ans: any mechanically moving equipment (Pump,Compressor..etc) has a motor connected to it which
converts the electrical energy to mechanical energy, this motor is connected by electrical signals to a
device called “Drive” which takes the command from the control room and deliver it to the motor, these
drives can be Constant Frequency Drive meaning that it has only one frequency , so the motor will either
rotate as its full speed or fully turned off. But in case of VFD, the Drive manipulates the frequency of the
poles of the motor, leading to a various values meaning that the motor can rotate by its 10%
speed,20%,30, or full; depending on the command given

Motor
Q)Explain what is control valve
Ans: it is a valve that its opening is governed by the command given by from the controller subjected to
it.

The lower part represents an ordinary valve, but the upper part represents the parts added to make this
whole equipment act as it has brain, so it opens and closes automatically based on what controller
commands (which also based how this controller is programmed and standardized based on desired
results by engineers)

Q) what are the most common manual valves?

Ans:

Globe Valve : Globe valves are used for applications requiring throttling and frequent operation.
 Gate valve: either used fully open or fully closed or for on-off regulation on water, oil, gas ..etc
services , the operation is slow but gives high accuracy

Ball Valve: Ball valves are durable, performing well after many cycles, and reliable, closing securely
even after long periods of disuse. These qualities make them an excellent choice for shutoff applications,
where they are often preferred to gates and globe valves, but they lack their fine control in throttling
applications.

Plug Valve: are valves with cylindrical or conically tapered "plugs" which can be rotated inside the
valve body to control flow through the valve. The plugs in plug valves have one or more hollow
passageways going sideways through the plug, so that fluid can flow through the plug when the valve is
open. Plug valves are simple and often economical.
Butterfly Valve: In the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industry a butterfly valve is used to
interrupt product flow (solid, liquid, gas) within the process. The valves used in these industries are
usually manufactured according cGMP guidelines (current good manufacturing practice). Butterfly valves
generally replaced ball valves in many industries particularly petroleum due to lower cost and ease of
installation.

Check Valves: A check valve, clack valve, non-return valve or one-way valve is a valve that normally
allows fluid (liquid or gas) to flow through it in only one direction
Q) Consider the system shown below, suggest two control loops to control the level of Tank(2)

Ans:
1)

2)

Q) Control loops can be? explain

Ans: Feedback (signal measured, then transferred to controller, then command transferred to final
control element) , Feedforward (command given and transferred to control element, then signal
measured, then command re-adjusted for next times to be more accurate) or Mix
Q) What is reversed and direct acting control?
Ans: Reversed is that high output value results low action or inverse action, and direct means high
output value results high action or direct action
Ex: back to system above, consider the measured value of tank (2) to be 30% (level), and it is meant to
be 75%, so the signal will go to valve and close it, that is REVERSE (high error value “measured-set point”
resulting the controller to give inverse command to the valve, but if the system including the 2 nd
arrangement, the controller will give direct command to the VFD pump to increase its flow, that is
DIRECT.

Q) There are what so called, Air-to open and Air-to close valves, which can be referred to Fail-close and
Fail-open respectively, what are these valves, and where to be used?
Ans: these are valves that can be driven by pneumatic signals to either fully close or fully open based on
where it operates, it usually refers to safety purposes
Ex: suppose you have a reactor, and this reactor has to be cooled with no stop, the valve on the water
stream suddenly has suffered from loss of signal, we can’t risk one moment with no cooling so this valve
on the water supply opens fully to provide water EVEN IF THE REACTION ENVIRONMENT HAS RUINED,
because the consequences if the reaction proceeded with no cooling will be severe. This valve is Fail-
Close (Air-to open)
Section (3)

Q) You are Engineer in charge, and were asked to suggest suitable conditions for heating medium fluid in
a heat exchanger, the argument was whether it is superheated or saturated, and you were asked to
advice where will be better to operate, in tube-side or shell side.
Ans: because it is heat exchange process, we need a very good thermal conductor, we don’t care much
about the heat content as much as the conductivity, so SATURATED will be the perfect choice, and since
it is in its vapor phase, it has more volume so SHELL SIDE will be better, also it will result LESS pressure
drop

Q) You work in a factory, and there is a stream line of SLURRY, it has a certain flowrate and certain
diameter, and there is another stream line with the same conditions (Slurry, same flowrate) BUT LESS
diameter, you have encountered a problem that the FIRST stream line is not delivering the same
amounts as it used to be, although the flowrate to it is the same, what would be one of the problems,
and how can you solve it if you have the authority to change the design?
Ans: one of the main problems will be that the line with the bigger diameter will act as a laminar flow
relatively, meaning that slurry can rest on the walls of the pipe compared to the less diameter line which
is more likely to be turbulent, solution can be either change the flow to make it higher/ or replace the
line with other with the same diameter of the second

Q) You were asked to suggest a suitable feeding pump to a CSTR reactor that operates at 100bar, what
would be your suggestion and why?
Ans: multi-stage positive displacement pump, because it will deliver that amount of high pressure
(because we can’t pump fluid into a system with pressure difference between both points) and maintain
a continuous flow

Q) You have a boiler that delivers superheated steam to a certain point, and you need the steam to be
superheated at that point, but you have encountered small amounts of condensates forming in the way
which makes the heating process less efficient, do you think that increasing the output pressure of the
boiler is a profitable solution? If no, suggest another solution
Ans: increasing the output pressure of the boiler means increasing the thermal energy load which leads
to more cost to be put, one of the suggestions is to add steam traps on the line so the flow won’t be
affected by the condensate formed and lose its momentum, heat content and efficiency

Q) You work in a factory produces liquid material in a packed bed reactor, and you are the engineer in
charge, you have started to see that the conversion values have started to be unrealistically low, how
would you monitor it in order to know what is the problem in order to solve it?
Ans: one suggestion would be to ask for RTD analysis (Residence Time Distribution), and depending on
the data given, you compare it with ideal data, then compare it with data given if the reaction has either
CHANELLING or AXIAL DISPERSION and see which is similar to your case, then address the problem and
suggest solution accordingly.
Section (4)

Mass or mole balance:

Quantity in – Quantity Out + Quantity Generated – Quantity Consumed = Rate of accumulation of
Quantity
If no reaction is occurring, there will be no generation nor consumption
in steady state processes, the rate of accumulation will be zero, but that is rarely happening in real life.

Energy Balance:
Heat in – Heat out + heat generated = rate of accumulation of heat