L1S1 Process Engineering

Lecture 1 - Process Development

Task of process development is to extrapolate a conversion / transformation discovered and
researched in the laboratory to an industrial scale, taking into consideration the economic, safety,
and ecological boundary conditions.
The starting point is the laboratory equipment and the outcome of development is the production
plant, in between, process development is required.
Development of a Process may have one of the following objectives.
1. Design and construction of a new plant (grass root designing)
Development of a new process for the production of new material, compound or a product, never
made in commercial quantity. New materials and new compounds are synthesized every day.
When a promising compound/ material or product is found, the best method of developing it for
commercial use is further investigated.
2.

The design and development of a new process for an old process (modernizing an existing
plant)
The development of a new process for the production of a product already in large scale production.
The new process may use new, cheap raw materials, avoid troublesome processing steps, increase
the production capacity or it may reduce the operation cost.

3.

Modifications and additions to existing plant: (process modification)

Existing processes are modified
a. To reduce the present energy consumption (improve energy efficiency)
b. To cater for the diversification

The development of a Chemical Process is a complex procedure and may include many different
activities
1. Research, laboratory scale experiments and collection of process data
2. Process research, miniplant design and development
3. Pilot plant design and development
4. Production plant design and construction
5. Commissioning and operation

1. Research, laboratory work and collection of process data

The first step in establishing a new process is to find a particular reaction, which may have
commercial possibilities, and then to identify a promising synthesis route and to discover the
associated catalysts. More typically this is the work of the chemist. This is not usually continuous
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(batch process) and the individual process steps are examined independently of each other in the
laboratory.
When the laboratory phase has been completed and the results are promising, enough
data/information must be obtained for the process development. The core of a chemical plant is a
reactor. Its input and output decide the structure of the entire plant. Therefore, detailed knowledge
of the chemical reaction must be available at the earliest possible stage.

Information required,
Thermodynamic Equilibria
Kinetics of the main, secondary, and side reactions
Information must be available on the potential reaction routes to the main and secondary products
and the by products. The rate of formation and its dependence on process parameters such as
temperature, pressure, and catalyst concentration be known quantitatively.
Physical, chemical and thermal data
Knowledge of physicochemical data of reactants, products (e.g. density, viscosity, specific heat
capacity, thermal conductivity, melting point, boiling point, explosive limits, toxicity etc.) are
important for a number of reasons:
To approve chemical plants, the authorities demand information on the toxicity,
degradability, and safety of the materials involved.
The public are demanding more information on the effect of the materials being handled on
the environment.

2. Process research, mini plant design and operation

A continuous laboratory plant (miniplant) is then designed, set up and operated. This is a small but
complete plant handling production quantities of about 100 g/h and consisting of a synthesis
section, working-up, and all recycling streams.
The miniplant has the following characteristics:
This includes all the recycling paths and it can consequently be extrapolated with a high
degree of reliability
The components used (columns, pumps, condensers, pipelines) are often the same as those
used in the laboratory. These are reusable standardized components which have been tried
and tested in continuous operation. For these reasons, investment costs are low and
flexibility is high.
The plant is operated round the clock on a shift basis for weeks and it therefore must be as
fully automated as possible to keep operating costs low.
The measuring and control instruments used are standard components connected to a small
process control system, thus it is possible to carry out modifications in the measurements
and control rapidly.
The entire plant is normally set up in a chamber so that explosion-proof operation is possible
and safety at work requirements can be met more easily.

Scale-up problem
Almost all the scientific data and experience obtained during the course of a process development
problem are gathered from work on small apparatus. Before this information can be used for larger
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scale plant design it must be modified in some manner which accounts for the change in the size of
the apparatus from small scale to large scale. This modification is termed scale up.

SCALE-UP

The scaling up a piece of process equipment is an extrapolation into the unknown. Therefore it has
always been regarded as a difficult and uncertain task requiring methods and techniques, which are
not straightforward. It has been found that the large units tended to be less efficient than small ones
in spite of extensive testing of small ones.
In order to reduce the element of risk in the extrapolation, the scale ratio is held at a low level and
equipment at several intermediate scales are built and tested.
Information and data required for the scaling up are obtained from correlations exists in literature.
When such information is not available, scaling up is done from the result of the previous
development stages of the process.

3. Pilot Plant
If the results of the process research (mini plant work) are economically promising the next step is
designing and setting up of a trial plant or a pilot plant with much higher capacity. Pilot plant is a
form of insurance. Although it is expensive to build and operate, it may save much more money by
eliminating uncertainties in the construction and operation of the commercial plant. A pilot plant
should be designed as a scaled down version of the industrial scale plant and not as a larger copy of
the existing miniplant. Pilot plant should be simple and flexible. Simplicity gives ease of
operation. The quantities produced are a few kilograms per hour or tones per annum.
It may be necessary to construct a pilot plant if:
1. The scaling up risk is too large to proceed directly from the miniplant to the industrial scale plant
due to
a) the process involves several critical staged which cannot be described by physical
models
b) a difficult or completely novel technology is being used.
2. It is necessary to provide representative product quantities. e.g., for market launch, and these
cannot be produced by the miniplant in a reasonable time

The operation of the pilot plant should clarify all the issues, which have not been fully dealt
with in the miniplant.
a)
b)
c)

check design calculations

solve scale-up problems
check experimental results obtained with the miniplant
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d)
e)
f)
g)

produce the new product identical to the expected product of the proposed full scale plant
in fairly large amounts for market research
understanding the dynamic behaviour of the plant, start-up and shut-down procedures and
also helps in determining difficulties, which might arise in the full-scale plant.
Operation of the pilot plant will provide data for design of a commercial plant and develop
operating procedures for the full size plant
training the personnel who are to run the plant

Once process development on a pilot scale has been successfully concluded, the pilot plant must be
kept on stand-by until the industrial scale plant is running satisfactorily. Normally, when the larger
plant is started up, the pilot plant is operated simultaneously so that any problems, which occur in
the former, can be dealt with rapidly.

4.

Production plant design and development

Process design is a creative activity and one of the most rewarding and satisfying activities
undertaken by an engineer. It is the putting together of ideas to achieve a desired purpose. The
design does not exist at the commencement of the project. The designer starts with a specific
objective in mind, a need, and by developing and evaluating possible design, arrives at what he
considers the best way of achieving that objective.
When considering possible ways of achieving the objective the designer will be constrained by
many factors, which will narrow down the number of possible designs, but there will be just one
possible solution to the problem, just one design depending on the nature of the constraints.
The constraints to a design problem arise in many ways. Some constraints will be fixed, invariable
such as
government regulations
standards and codes
physical laws
The constraints that are outside the designer's influence can be termed external constraints.
Internal constraints over which the designer has some control are
choice of the process
personnel
choice of process conditions
raw materials
equipment/materials of construction
Economic considerations are a major constraint on any engineering design: plants must make profit.
Time will also be a constraint. The time available for completion of a design will usually limit the
number of alternative designs that can be considered.

Process selection
Possible designs - within the external constraints
Plausible designs - within the internal constraints
Probable design - likely candidate
Best design - judge the best solution to the problem

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Steps involved in process design

i). Feasibility survey
Before any detailed work is done on the design, the technical and economic factors of the proposed
process should be examined. To proceed with the design, the designer must first assemble all the
relevant facts and data required. This will include information on possible processes, equipment
performance, and physical property data. Details of process information and physical properties are
obtained from design manuals (covering methods, data, and routine design procedures) and national
standards.
The following results from the feasibility study provide the basis for deciding to proceed to the
design phase:

Plant capacity on the basis of the market research

The projected capital outlay

The projected production costs for the product

The payout time and profitability

The potential site for the plant

ii) Block Diagrams

A block diagram is the simplest form of presentation. Each block represents a single piece of
equipment or a complete stage in the process. Blocks are joined by lines representing the principal
material and energy streams
Block diagrams are useful for representing a process in a simplified form, but have only a limited
use as engineering documents. The stream flow rates and compositions can be shown on the
diagram adjacent to the streamlines, when only a small amount of information is to be shown.
SULFUR
WATER

AIR

DRYING
TOWER

DRY AIR

FURNACE

BOILER

CONVERTER

SO2

STEAM
WATER IN

ACID
COOLERS

Simple block diagram of a sulphuric acid

manufacturing process

WATER OUT

ABSORPTION
TOWER

HEAT
EXCHANGER

98.5% H2SO4
SULFUR
H2SO4
SO3
SO2

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SO2 & SO3

STEAM
WATER
AIR

L1S1 Process Engineering

iii) Material Balance

Before any significant design progress can be made, a quantitative approach to the process design
must be made in terms of material flows and balances. Material balances are the basis of a process
design and a good understand of material balance calculations is essential.
A material balance taken over the complete process will determine the quantities of raw materials
required and products produced. Balances over individual process units set the process stream
flows and compositions. These values help calculate and decide the capacities of processing
equipment and storage vessels.
The target of the process design is given as the desired tonnage of product per year. Therefore
calculations are done from the end of the process line.

iv) Energy Balance

After the complete material balance has been worked out, the mass quantities can be used to
compute an energy balance. Temperature and pressure levels at various key points in the process,
particularly at each major piece of equipment, will serve the guide in making the heat balance.
In process design, energy balances are made to determine the energy requirements of the process:
the heating, cooling and power required. In plant operation, an energy balance on the plant will
give the pattern of energy usage and suggest areas for conservation and saving.
v) Engineering Flow Diagrams (Process flow sheets/ Flow diagrams)
The next step is to prepare a process flow diagram from the block diagram. Engineering flow
diagram shows the sequence of equipment and unit operations in the overall process. In drawing
these flow sheets symbols, which fairly resemble the actual equipment employ in the plant, are
used.
The main objective of a flow diagram is to present heat and material balance of a process identifying
essentially every flow, temperature and pressure for each basic piece of process equipment or
processing step. This usually includes auxiliary services to the process, such as steam, water, air,
fuel gas, refrigeration, circulating oil, etc.

vi) Piping and Instrumentation (P and I) Diagrams (Mechanical flow sheet)

The piping and instrumentation diagram shows the engineering details of the equipment,
instruments, piping, valves and fittings and their arrangement.
vii) Equipment selection and design
With the information available in material, energy and engineering flow diagram (flow sheet), the
design engineer can select possible type of material and types of equipment, which will suit the job
and obtain a cost estimate for each major item.
Process designer is responsible for recommending materials that will be suitable for the process
conditions.
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Many factors have to be considered when selecting materials for chemical process plants:
Temperature
Pressure
Flow rates
Cost
Mechanical resistance
Chemical resistance (Corrosive resistant)
Process safety
viii) Fabrication
Very often contracts are given to construction companies to fabricate the process equipments. Many
of the pieces of equipment for the plant, such as pumps, heat exchangers, and instrumentation, are
supplied by equipment vendors.

5. Commissioning and operation

Commissioning refers to preparing the plant for the production process and its main objective is to
eliminate any problems, which might arise at later and more critical stages of the plant operation. It
is useful to try out as much of the plant as possible before the real production starts. During
commissioning the need for plant modifications will arise.
Process development is not a one-way street. Assumptions are made for the individual development
stages, which are only confirmed or refuted when the next stage is being worked on. Therefore, it
may be necessary to go through the individual stages several times with modified assumptions,
resulting in a cyclic pattern.
The most important task is to find the weak points and subject them to particularly close analysis.
The entire process will then be examined again with improved data obtained and so on.
Each development stage is followed by and evaluation to decide whether development should be
continued, stopped or started again at an earlier development level
Number of possibilities available should be restricted to the laboratory and it is required to choose
the best, between various processes or process variants as early as possible.

The cyclic pattern of process development

Most mistakes are made at the beginning of the activity, but it is easy and cheap to eliminate them at
the miniplant stage. It is more expensive to eliminate mistakes when the process development
advances. Enormous amount of money and time is need for the corrections to be made at the final
production plant.

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Laboratory phase
Draft a process plan
Development of the
Individual steps
Abandon
development

Evaluate
Development of entire process
In miniplant and of individual
Steps in pilot plants

Abandon
development

Evaluate
Development of the entire
process in a pilot plant

Abandon
development

Evaluate
DESIGN OF AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE PLANT

The costs of eliminating mistakes and the investment costs increase by a factor of 10 from one
development stage to the next.

1000

Cost of
eliminating
mistakes
100

10
1

Laboratory

Miniplant
Investment cost

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Pilot plant

Production plant