PROCESS ENGINEERING

ALVARO ORJUELA 1

About the professor

Chemical Engineer, UN 1999
M. Sc. Chemical Engineering, UN 2003
Ph. D. Chemical Engineering, MSU 2010
Professor UN Since 2004
Process design and production engineer 2001-2010
Research areas and interests
Chemical processes and products design
Reactive separations
Bio-based chemicals
Natural products extraction and purification
Catalysis and catalytic processes
Equipment design
Process simulation
Contact information:
Of. 412-201. - Phone. 3165000-14303
aorjuelal@unal.edu.co
 Economic incentive in a Project

Key features of process design

Task oriented rather than unit operation oriented
Obtain the Flow sheet architecture: units, performance
and connections by energy and material streams that
will make the process possible.
Process synthesis consist of developing alternatives
rather than a unique solution. The best solution is the
most cost-
cost-effective under certain constrains
(economics, environmental, social, technological, etc)
Computer-
Computer-assisted analysis, synthesis and design,
Methodology can be applied to new projects as well as
in retrofitting.
 Needing of a systematic approach

Design problems are underdefined because of lack of

information, time restrictions, insufficient resources
Design problem is open-
open-ended, depends on decisions
taken at different stages of the process
A systematic method for decision making is required to
do consistent evaluation and raking alternatives
Heuristic-
Heuristic-based methods: not necessarily empirically-
empirically-
based rules
Thermodynamic analysis: i. e. pinch point and residue
curve maps
Optimization methods

Life cycle of a design project

 Product life

Process synthesis and integration

Process Synthesis

Process Synthesis
Process Integration

Process Integration
 Process Integration

Process Synthesis and Integration

 Superstructure

Optimized Superstructure
 What about batch processes?

Hierarchy of design remains