ASSIGNMENT N.

4 INPUT SPECIFICATION PRE-TREATMENT

OPERATIONS IN ASPEN PLUS
Chemical engineering has to do with industrial processes in which raw
materials are changes or separated into useful products. The chemical
engineer must develop. Design, and engineer both the complete process and
the equipment used; choose the proper raw materials; operate the plants
efficiently, safely and economically, and see to it that products meet the
requirements set by the customers [1]. That is why chemical engineers have
the ASPEN PLUS tool to simulate the processes and within them one of the
most important stages such as unit operations
This paper presents a list of the main unit operations and the required entries
in ASPEN PLUS.
Table 1. Pretreatment operations and equipments required inputs in an Aspen
plus [2]
Pre-treatment
operation

Description

1. Crystallizer

Produces crystals from

solution based on
solubility

2. Crusher

Breaks solid particles to

reduce particle size

Blocks required inputs

You must specify two of the
following:
Crystallizer temperature, Pressure
or pressure drop, Heat duty for
the heat exchanger, Crystal
product flow rate, Vapor flow
The type of crusher.
If you want to calculate power
required, specify the Bond work
index
(BWI).
Particle
size
distribution (PSD) of the product,
comminution laws, distribution
functions.

3. Screen

Separates solid particles

based on particle size

Screen size opening, Operating

level (Upper or Lower) and
operating mode (Wet or Dry), Cut
size, Separation sharpness, Offset
of
fines,
Whiten
beta,
Entrainment specification and
value.

4. Filter

Separates solids from

liquid using a continuous
rotary vacuum filter

Diameter, Width, rate

revolution,
filter
characteristics (optional).

of
cake

Combines multiple
streams into one stream

When mixing heat or work

streams, Mixer does not require
any specifications.
When mixing material streams,
you can specify either the outlet
pressure or pressure drop.

Separates solids from

6. Hydrocyclon
liquid using liquid vortex
e
in a hydrocyclone

For
simulation:
Efficiency
correlation, diameter and number
of
hydrocyclones.
Optionally,
length of cylinder, diameter of
inlet,
diameter
of
overflow,
diameter of underflow and cone
angle.

Evaporates volatile
7. Solids dryer moisture components
from wet solids

In the feed stream's Input form,

enter
specifications
for
the
moisture component(s) and solid
component(s). For convective
dryers, specify heat loss, flow
direction,
and
for
crossflow
dryers, specify whether the solids
are mixed or plug flow.
For the shortcut dryer type,
specify dryer operating conditions
(pressure
and
one
of
temperature,
temperature
change, heat duty, or degrees of
superheating) and exit moisture
content
and
moisture
specification basis (wet or dry) for
each sub- stream.

5. Mixer

8. Decanter

Separates feed into two

liquid outlet streams

Pressure, Temperature or duty

Tabla 2. Heat exchangers and equipments required inputs in an Aspen plus

[2]
Pre-treatment
Description
Blocks required inputs
operation
Specify temperature and pressure
estimates and flash convergence
parameters.
Use the Hcurves form to specify
Heater or cooler Determines thermal and optional
heating
or
cooling
phase conditions of outlet curves.

stream

This model has no dynamic

features. The pressure drop is
fixed at the steady state value.
The outlet flow is determined by
the mass balance.
You
must
give
outlet
specifications for each stream on
one side of the heat exchanger.
On the other side you can specify
Multistream heat
any of the outlet streams, but you
exchanger
Exchanges heat between must
leave
at
least
one
any number of streams
unspecified stream.
Different
streams
can
have
different types of specifications.
MHeatX
assumes
that
all
unspecified streams have the
same outlet temperature. An
overall
energy
balance
determines the temperature of
any unspecified stream(s).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] McCabe W. Smith J. Harriot P. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering.
Fifth edition. McGRAW-HILL Editions. Page 3.
[2] Data Base ASPEN PLUS