2/23/2025

Dr. Jigisha Parikh,

Course Coordinator
PROCESS DESIGN ASPECTS Professor, DoChE,
SVNIT-Surat

Chemical engineering projects can be divided into three types, depending on the
novelty involved:

1. Modifications, and additions, to existing plant; usually carried out by the plant
design group.

2. New production capacity to meet growing sales demand, and the sale of
established processes by contractors. Repetition of existing designs, with only
minor design changes.

3. New processes, developed from laboratory research, through pilot plant, to a

commercial process. Even here, most of the unit operations and process equipment
will use established designs.

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DESIGN CONSTRAINTS

A. Internal constraints:
 over which the designer has some
control.

B. External constraints:
 fixed, invariable.

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Traditional method. Use past experience, use of heuristics or rule of thumb.

Modern methods. Treat synthesis problem as a quantitative problem and use

mathematical programming, computer simulations to come up with best
solutions or more optimal solutions.

PROCESS DESIGN ASPECTS

Choice of Process
Selection of Process Cycles
Continuous vs. Batch Processing

 continuous processing in preference to batch processing based purely on economic

reasons
 smaller-size, less expensive processing equipment
 steady state and easier to control
 capital investment, fixed charges, and labor requirements are minimized.

Often a few steps in a process may better be accomplished by batch

operation and the remainder on a continuous basis with provision for sufficient
buffer storage facilities between steps.

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COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT PROCESSES

1. Technical factors
a. Process flexibility
b. Continuous operation
c. Special controls involved
d. Commercial yields
e. Technical difficulties involved
f. Energy requirements
g. Special auxiliaries required
h. Possibility of future developments
i. Health and safety hazards involved

2. RAW MATERIALS
a. Present and future availability

b. Processing required

c. Storage requirements

d. Materials handling problems

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3. WASTE PRODUCTS AND BY-PRODUCTS

a. Amount produced

b. Value

c. Potential markets and uses

d. Manner of discard

e. Environmental aspects

4. EQUIPMENT
a. Availability

b. Materials of construction

c. Initial costs

d. Maintenance and installation costs

e. Replacement requirements

f. Special designs

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5. PLANT LOCATION
a. Amount of land required

b. Transportation facilities

c. Proximity to markets and raw-material sources

d. Availability of service and power facilities

e. Availability of labor

f. Climate
g. Legal restrictions and taxes

6. COSTS
a. Raw materials
b. Energy
c. Depreciation
d. Other fixed charges
e. Processing and overhead
f. Special labor requirements
g. Real estate
h. Patent rights
i. Environmental controls

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7. TIME FACTOR

a. Project completion deadline

b. Process development required

c. Market timeliness

d. Value of money

8. PROCESS CONSIDERATIONS
a. Technology availability

b. Raw materials common with other processes

c. Consistency of product within company

d. General company objectives

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PROCESS DESIGN ASPECTS

Choice of Process
Selection of Process Cycles
Continuous vs. Batch Processing

 continuous processing in preference to batch processing based purely on economic

reasons
 smaller-size, less expensive processing equipment
 steady state and easier to control
 capital investment, fixed charges, and labor requirements are minimized.

Often a few steps in a process may better be accomplished by batch

operation and the remainder on a continuous basis with provision for sufficient
buffer storage facilities between steps.

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BATCH PROCESSING
It is feasible in such cases as:
1. Small-volume output of relatively expensive products when sales demand is not
steady, or when the same equipment can be used for several processes of this nature.

2. When batch equipment from an abandoned process is available at a low transfer

cost to the current project.

3. When continuous process equipment has not been satisfactorily developed and
batch-process equipment has been satisfactorily demonstrated; this is a short-range
solution when emergency deadlines must be met.

4. When yields and quality of products cannot be achieved by continuous processing

because of such things as very low reaction rates and correspondingly long residence
times in the processing equipment.

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SHIFTS AND OPERATING TIME SCHEDULES

1. Around the clock operation. Three shifts of operation per day, seven days a week,
using four shifts of labor, with or without scheduled maintenance shutdowns.

2. Five-day operation. One, two, or three shifts of operation and labor; stand-by
conditions on weekends and holidays; overtime if production demands must be
temporarily increased; maintenance done during periods of nonoperation.

3. Scheduled shutdown. Scheduled shutdowns or "turn around“ after operating for periods
up to 2 years, or annually for 2 weeks with operating labor on vacation and maintenance
labor doing inspection, repair, and replacement work on the plant.

4. Unscheduled shutdowns. Interruption in scheduled operation due to lack of raw

materials, labor strikes, failure of utilities such as power and water, fire and explosions,
and extreme weather conditions, or most probably equipment failure. In starting up new
plants, this latter factor should be taken into account as an estimated per cent on stream
time for at least the first year.

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RECYCLE STRUCTURE OF THE PROCESS

Raw materials are very valuable.

They make up 25 to 75%of total operating costs.

Separation and recycling of unused reactants is very important.

Exception is when raw materials are very cheap

Extent of recycling of unused reactants depends on ease of

separation.

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SEPARATE AND PURIFY

Ease of separation depends on:

What conditions (T and P) are necessary to
operate the process?

Are the differences in physical and chemical

properties for the species to be separated large or
small?

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FEASIBILITY SURVEY
Before any detailed work is done on the design, the technical and
economic factors of the proposed process should be examined.

The various reactions and physical processes involved must be

considered, along with the existing and potential market conditions
for the particular product.

A list of items that should be considered in making a feasibility

survey:

1. Raw materials (availability, quantity, quality, cost)

2. Thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions involved (equilibrium,

yields, rates, optimum conditions)

3. Facilities and equipment available at present

4. Facilities and equipment which must be purchased

5. Estimation of production costs and total investment

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6. Profits (probable and optimum, per pound of product and per year, return on investment)

7. Materials of construction

8. Safety considerations

9. Markets (present and future supply and demand, present uses, new uses, present buying
habits, price range for products and by-products, character, location, and number of possible
customers)

10. Competition (overall production statistics, comparison of various manufacturing

processes, product specifications of competitors)

11. Properties of products (chemical and physical properties, specifications,

impurities, effects of storage)

12. Sales and sales service (method of selling and distributing, advertising
required, technical services required)

13. Shipping restrictions and containers

14. Plant location

15. Patent situation and legal restrictions

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TYPICAL DESIGN STEPS OF A CHEMICAL PROCESS

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