Development of the project

• The key objectives for a Chemical Engg

plant project :
• Design & Erection of new plant
• Design & erection of an addition to an existing
plant.
• Revamping & modernization of existing plant.
 Development of the project
• Once, an idea is clicked in the mind, the
company executives start the work to
investigate it.
• A preliminary study is made & more
detailed analysis is carried out.
• From this information, a reliable decision is
taken-to go ahead or to drop the project.
 Development of the project
• Key consideration for Dev. of project are:
• The process,
• laboratory work,
• pilot plant data and other details.
• All these data are submitted to the design
group to integrate technical factors with
economics.
• The next stage required to evaluate the
process
 Evolution of a Process
• A evolution of a process consists of the following
stages:
– Process Research-library & laboratory work.
– Research evaluations for possible commercialization.
– Process development.
– Preliminary engineering studies.
– Pilot plant.
– Semi commercial plant.
– Commercial plant.
• Many stages may be carried out simultaneously
to expedite the work but first five items may be
carried at a time.
 Process Research
• The conception of an idea may be originated by chemical engineer,
chemist, physicist or any other person.
• A chemical research is carried out to provide more quantitative
basis for evaluating the economic feasibility of the process.
• In general the objectives of process research are:
1. To carry out library survey & laboratory work if product can be made
& what the yield & Rate of conversion are.
2. To provide scientific data for rational design of manufacturing
process. The data contains :
– time → minimum time
– equipment → pilot plant studies
– economic operating conditions:
• like: temp, pressure, velocities, feed composition
 Research evaluation
• From the available data engineering &
economics analysis is made before doing
laboratory work.
• This analysis is help to determine the
potentialities of a project
• The analysis also help for research &
development of the work.
• Some times it happens that price of new material
and finished product are very closed so such
process must be dropped
 Research evaluation
• In second stage all laboratory work is completed
& enough information is available for material
balance , unit operation & process involved.
• An engineering evaluation is made:
– To make an economic analysis of the project
– To out line unit operation &process involved.
– To show what additional information are required to
complete the design of the process and equipment for
plant.
 Research evaluation
• All above information is used to evaluate
the process and provide basis for the final
decision

• The main objective of engineering &

economic evaluation is to find that project
is economical sound or viable if yes
further work is carried out
 Process Development
• Through research evaluation necessary
process development studies is conducted
• Design information is collected from
laboratory work & pilot plant.
• Material and energy balance is also very
essential for process development
 Process Development
• To Material and Energy balance, various
properties of material are required :
– Molecular weight - Specific gravity
– Boiling point - Melting point
– Liquid vapor relationship - Viscosity
– Vapor pressure - Entropy
– Critical pressure - Enthalpy
– Critical temperature - Heat capacity
 Preliminary Engg. Studies
• To operate the process physical equipment and
facilities must be specified.
• The commercial plant require large scale
equipment so material of construction is very
important.
• Engineering studies are carried out at lab scale
so development of equipment is required which
is commercially not available.
• Such equipments are generally Glass apparatus
 Pilot Plant
• It is completely medium scale processing unit
• It contains all essential product processing
element including control.
• Pilot scale equipment falls into two categories:
1) Capable of producing translatable results according
to supplied instruction into full scale design &
operational data.
2) Designed and Constructed to permit much wider
range of operating characteristics than normally
available in production models
 Functions of Pilot Plant
• Conversion of
laboratory data → plant design data
• Works as research unit
• Development of unusual equipments which are
commercially not available
• helps for selection of suitable materials and
equipment
• Gives information regarding time & labor study
• Gives idea about recovery & waste disposal
• Detects trouble shooting problems
 Check list of Pilot Plant
• b) Materials:
• Raw materials – availability, substitute raw material
• Impurities in raw material
• Corrosion, erosion, dust fumes
• Solvent – properties & recovery
• Waste disposal
• Byproduct
 Check list of Pilot Plant
• c) Equipment / operation:
• Selection of equipment
• Cost of operation
• Control specification
• Material of construction
• Heat transfer & Mass transfer
• d) Material handling :
• Proper method of handling
• Storage
• Industrial hazards – Explosion, fire, etc.
 Check list of Pilot Plant
• e) Labour
• Operation needed
• Control specification
• Process simplification
• Safety
• Saving of time and labour
• The ultimate goal is to operate plant with the
assurance that all risk both technically &
economic in full commercial plant have been
minimized or eliminated.
• The cost of pilot plant is one of the largest
expensive component in research budget.
 Semi Commercial Plant
• It is larger than the pilot plant
• It produces sufficient quantity of new
product in small lots for sale.
• If product is accepted in the market or
demand of the product increases the
capacity of plant is increased.
• When full capacity is reached :
Semi commercial plant → commercial plant
 Commercial Plant
• If production cost is sufficiently low
commercial plant should be carried out
• Capacity of plant depends upon Demand
• This final step is the coordination of :
– all chemical engineering data obtained & their
translation into a detailed commercial plant.
 Commercial Plant
• The key consideration for designing the
commercial plants are:
• Specification of equipments and materials
• Selection of commercial equipment
• Plant Elevation
• Plant location
• Selection of appropriate staff
• Operating instruction for working staff
• Preconstruction cost
• Production cost per unit of material used
 The Aim of Project Design
• Plant design not only technically satisfactory but
also economically sound.
• The goal of the design is to get workable plant
with maximum return on Investment.
• Any plant design must also consider the safety
factors not only for the sake of its workers but
also for the
• Public of large
• The equipment
• Plant
• The product
 Factors for Plant Design
Technical Legal
– Market - Patent
– Flow diagram - Infringement
– Equipment - Public Relation
– Plant layout
– Plant location
– Building
Economic Safety
– Economic Contribution - Process
– Preliminary process appraisal - Equipment
– Cost & Profitability analysis - Building
– Cost in Safety & Environment
 Technical Factors
• Market:
– It is made by trade or market survey
department.
– Some times some agencies or consultant are
appointed to carry out market survey
– They prepare complete report on any
Commodity / Product.
– The reports Include various items like:
 Technical Factors: Market
– Its uses
– Forms of the product- solid/ liquid/ gas
– Quality of the product
– Quantity of the product
– Availability of the same type of the product
– Consumers Test
– Network for distribution
– Trade agreement
– Import Export of the product
 Technical Factors
• Flow Diagram:
– It shows the sequence or arrangement of equipment
– It is a picture representing of :
– Process ,
– Material balance
– Energy balance
– Equipment
– Material handling
– Storage
– Future expansion
– Utility requirement
– Equipment symbols & flow sheet symbols are used
for flow diagram
 Technical Factors: Flow Diagram
• There are three types of flow diagram
1. Qualitative Flow Diagram :
– It indicates the flow of material unit operation
involved, equipment necessary and other
information required (like temp & pressure)
• Quantitative Flow Diagram :
– This indicates the material and energy balance of
each equipment.
• Combined Detail Flow Diagram:
– This is combination of above two and it gives
complete details regarding process.
 Technical Factors
• Equipment:
– Performance and service are demanded for
all equipment.
– The information for the selection of equipment
can be obtained from the manufacturer.
• Equipments are classified in :
• Standard equipment
• Special equipment
 Technical Factors: Equipment
• Standard equipment:
– Many equipments for material handling, unit
operations and for process are standardized
– Advantages of standardized equipments are:
• Low cost
• Easy for replacement/ duplication
• Easily available
• Spare parts are easily available
• Service after sale is also available from
manufacturer
 Technical Factors: Equipment
• Special equipment:
– Some services are not possible to get from
normal equipments.
– Drawing , detailed design & specifications
sheets are required for special type of
equipments.
– If small changes are to make to suit standard
equipment, one should do it so that it will
lower the cost substantially.
 Technical Factors
• Plant Layout
– This means a systematic economic
arrangement of equipment.
– The proper arrangement of equipments saves
the spaces and labour requirement
– It reduces the time and distances for
transportation and material handling
 Technical Factors
• Building:
– Building plan is prepared after the layout is properly studied.
– For The building required depends on process and material
handling.
– chemical industries special attention is given to:
• Foundation for building and equipment
• Fumes
• Waste gas handling
• Lighting
• Sanitation
• Ventilation
• Drainage
• Safety protection
– Multistory building is used to utilize:
• the gravity flow of material,
• discharging of product
• reduce the power consumption for material handling.
 Economic Factors

• Economic Factors
• Economic consideration
• Preliminary process appraisal
• Cost & profitability analysis
• Cost in safety & environment
• Economic consideration:
– Success of engineer is directly related to his contribution to an
enterprise
– An efficient engineer can make
• New design at lower cost
• Increase in production
• Production at lower cost
– All these ultimately leads to increase the profit of the business
 Economic Factors
• Preliminary Process Appraisal:
– This usually consist:
• Preliminary process design of comm. Plant
• Investment cost
• Processing cost
• Profit
– Based on experience commercial performance is
studied and compared with various other process.
– Batch process data is converted into continuous data
& optimum operating condition are set.
 Economic Factors
• Cost & Profitability Analysis:
– The cost of following items are estimated
• Raw material land building
• Labour & supervision Equipments
• Taxes Insurances
• Interest on loan & capital
– Design engineer obtain all above cost +
• Preconstruction cost
• Total manufacturing cost
• Total capital investment
• Estimated of selling price
– From all these data possible profit and earning is
estimated & Return on investment can be forecast.
 Economic Factors
• Safety:
– Safety leads to be very important economic
factor for any chemical business
– Hazard is main villain of profit
– Hazards also involves:
• Loss of production
• Men’s service
– Hence decrease in Hazards favors saving
and profit.
 Legal Phase
• Legal:
• Patent
• Infringement
• Public Relation
• Patent:
– If any item is registered as patent, then such item can
not produced
– Patent can be obtained to:
• Any product
• Equipment
• Uses or application of any product
– The patent law are to be referred by legal department
– Trade mark & copy rights are also like a patent
 Legal Phase
• Infringement:
– A search is made in patent office for required item.
– Many patent are registered for fixed period say ten
years., after ten years such patent expires.
– As regards infringement, it should be emphasized that
no unexpired patent can be covered.
– The validity of patent is studied by legal dept.
– For entire new product/process one should registered
it in patent office so that no one can use it without
permission.
 Economic Factors
• Public Relation:
– Legal dept. must be acquainted itself with all local,
state and central laws that pertain to manufactures of
the commodity.
• Site clearance NOC from local authority
• Special approval from government of India for prohibited
explosive( if any)
– Explosive act -Environmental act
– Electricity act -Hazardous chemical act
– Workmen’s compensation act -Insurance act
– Indian boiler act -national building code
– Factories act -National electrical code
– Building & construction works act
 Safety
• Safety is very important factor:
– Process leakage
– Equipment
– building
• Process leakage
• Flash-fire Explosion
• Decomposition combustion
• Toxic vapors

• Many chemical can cause severe burns if permitted to come into

contact with living tissues.
– E.g.: oxidizing agent, acids, base, etc
• Chlorine irritates eyes.
• Eyes & mucous membranes of nose throat sensitive to
– Corrosive dust , gases, mists