Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Engineering
Iván Darı́o Gil Chaves
Javier Ricardo Guevara L opez
José Luis Garcı́a Zapata
Alexander Leguizam on Robayo
Gerardo Rodrı́guez Ni~ no
This book has been developed as an alternative to illustrate the use of process
simulation as a tool for the analysis of chemical processes and for the conceptual
design of unit operations. In the last years, chemical process simulation has become
of significant importance due to the evolution of computing tools, which have
opened a wider spectrum of possibilities in the use of applications for process
integration, dynamic analysis, costs evaluation, and conceptual design of reaction
and separation operations. All above added to the need of performing calculations
in a fast way in order to focus in the analysis of the obtained information and on
other relevant aspects such as safety, green engineering, economic profitability, and
many other factors that make the solutions of engineering more competitive.
Process simulation is a discipline transversal to all the areas of chemical
engineering. The development of many engineering projects demands simulation
studies since the preliminary feasibility analysis, conceptual design, detailed design,
until the process operation. For that reason, the generation of new process supported in
the simulation requires the integration of concepts of chemical engineering and the
breeding of innovation abilities. All that integration redounds in controllability studies
and dynamic analysis, energy integration, and optimization, which aim to achieve the
goals of environmental protection, process safety, and product quality.
The last academic reform of the chemical engineering program of the National
University of Colombia has punted to a more integral formation, addressed to the
reinforcement of the new areas that have become a part of the modern chemical
engineering. Modeling and simulation of chemical processes is one subject that
appears as a natural response to the always more imperative exigency of the
working market in the process design. This book brackets the fundamental concepts
of process simulation and brings together in a concise way some of the most
important principles of the chemical engineering to apply them in the use of process
simulators. To achieve it, the book has been sectioned in ten chapters. The first one
attempts to introduce the fundamentals of process simulation in steady state. In the
second chapter, thermodynamics and basic criteria for the selection of property
packages are addressed. The third and fourth chapters cover to fluid dynamics and
v
vi Preface
heat exchangers, respectively. There the fundamentals that support the calculation
of pressure and temperature change operations are illustrated. In Chap. 4, the last
part is dedicated to heat integration and the tools available to design and evaluate
heat exchanger networks. The fifth chapter deals with chemical reactors making
emphasis in the importance of this kind of equipment in the conceptual design of
the process. In consequence, with the objective of giving a systematic order from
the learning point of view, the sixth chapter regards the operations of vapor–liquid
separation, presenting the theory behind the shortcut and rigorous calculations.
The last four chapters involve transversal or special topics, beginning with process
optimization in Chap. 7, dynamic analysis of processes in Chap. 8, solids operations
in Chap. 9 and, finally, some cases of study related to integrated problems with
specific applications are addressed in the tenth chapter.
According to the goals of the instructor, a typical 16-week semester is enough to
cover the entire text. The topics presented in the chapters are organized in an
inductive way, starting from the more simple simulation up to some additional
and advanced complex problems. As the reader can note, the first four chapters are
focused on the fundamentals with special emphasis on thermodynamics and simu-
lation convergence. After that, the core of a chemical process, i.e., chemical
reactors, is studied. Column operations and advance distillation technologies are
presented after reactors in order to show the importance of solving the separation
problems that naturally appear at the outputs of chemical reaction operations.
Finally, specific topics are developed to illustrate the application of process simu-
lation in a global way. At National University of Colombia, we teach the one-
semester, three-credit course Modeling and Simulation of Chemical Processes.
Students attend two 2-h sessions each week. During the sessions, the first part is
dedicated to present and discuss some theoretical aspects related to specific prob-
lem simulations, then in the last part of the sessions students are encouraged to
solve computer simulation exercises, working in pairs. So, examples from each
chapter can be used to be solved in exercise session part. Additional problems are
proposed at the end of the chapter to be discussed in additional sessions or as
homework problems. In this way, some chapters can be covered in a week and
others can be covered in 2 weeks.
This book is addressed to undergraduates in chemical and process engineering,
as a support for the development of courses such as process simulation, process
design, process engineering, plant design, and process control. Nonetheless, some
sections can also be used in fundamental subjects like chemical reactions and mass
transfer operations. The material presented here has been in part developed by the
authors and, in part, compiled by Professor Iván Gil in the lecture of Modeling and
Simulation of Chemical Processes, in the undergraduate program of chemical
engineering at the National University of Colombia. Also, his experience as
instructor of the lecture of Process Plant Design at Andes University, as well as
the experience resulting of the development of some research projects and the
interaction with real problems of the industry, has influence in the final contents
of the book. The solved examples aim to ensure the understanding of all the
presented topics and invite the reader to look deeper with more complex and
Preface vii
elaborated examples. It is expected that the guidelines and examples will allow the
effective usage of commercial process simulators and become a consulting guide
for all engineers involved in the development of process simulations and computer-
assisted process design.
The authors state their most sincere thanks to the Department of Chemical and
Environmental Engineering of the National University of Colombia, campus
Bogotá, for the lessons learned and the support of all the professors in the depart-
ment, generating a pleasant environment of work and cooperation. It is also
important to mention the support of teaching assistants from Computing Laboratory
for Process Analysis and Design, as well as the students from Modeling and
Simulation of Chemical Processes, and Process Control lectures. Particularly, we
would like to thank some of our graduate students at National University of
Colombia: Paola Bastidas, Nelson Borda, Francisco Malagon, Andrés Ramirez,
Edward Sierra, Santiago Vargas, and Karen Pi~neros, who helped us in proofreading
and the development of some tests for simulation examples.
ix
x Contents
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
About the Authors
xvii
xviii About the Authors
José Luis Garcı́a Zapata is a researcher with the Heavy Oil and Oilsands group at
Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) in Edmonton, Canada. He holds
B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the National University of
Colombia (2010) and the University of Alberta (2013), respectively. Garcı́a has
worked as a Process Engineer for BRINSA S.A., a salt and chlor-alkali company in
Colombia, and has been responsible for the design and commissioning of pilot scale
reactors for heavy oil upgrading at the University of Alberta. His interests include
process design, pilot plant, produced water treatment, and upgrading of heavy oil.
He is registered as an Engineer-in-Training in Alberta.