Diploma in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

HANDBOOK
FOR
PROCESS ENGINEERING DESIGN

April 2019 Semester

LSCT/CBE/006143/PED 1
CONTENT

 Introduction to Module

 Lesson Plan

 Assessments and Mark Allocation

 Introduction to Design Project

 Submission of Reports

 Software

 Useful Websites and References

 Annexes

o Annex 1 Design Brief

o Annex 2 Format for the Report

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Introduction to Module

This module consists of a series of lectures and a design project. In chemical

engineering, it has long been the custom to require undergraduates to prepare the
design of a chemical plant or some similar entity. Such a requirement has at least two
purposes.

First, to impose upon the students the need to utilize the theoretical knowledge to
which they have been exposed in their course work, in a more nearly practical setting
than is usual in the normal course of study.

Secondly, to acclimate them to the kinds of designs and economic analyses which
many of them will be called on to perform when they enter the industry.

A third purpose is, particularly important, which is to introduce students to industrial

practices, which they will experience in their future employment.

Many students will start their project with very little understanding and information. It
is the intention of this design project to have the students search out information
pertaining to the project from the various resources available i.e. the Internet, libraries,
technical journals, research papers, patent office etc. Students should realize that
through the pieces of information they have in hand, the project can be brought to the
next level and finally to conclusion.

The emphasis of most of current education is stressed upon the work of the individual.
Yet much of modern industry functions in teams, and only rarely is an individual alone
in working on a project. To prepare students for this fact of industrial life, design
projects are assigned to groups of students, three or four at most, who must organize
the job, subdivide the effort among themselves, function effectively as a team to
execute the design and prepare the written report.

On a few rare occasions, this has required one or two members of a team to take over
the responsibilities previously assigned to others who have fallen short or dropped out.
This is a requirement recognized by any engineer who has been part of an industrial
organization; just as the theatre requires that "The show must go on!", a working
engineer knows that the job must be done, by whoever is around to do it.

Thus, the design project is more than simply another course offering. It is the logical
conclusion of the education of chemical engineers at the undergraduate level,
embodying a major part of the material covered in all previous chemical engineering
courses, and demanding (and, hopefully, inculcating) skills and disciplines which the
students have rarely needed previously. The reports either written or oral are regarded
as if they were industrial reports: in effect, the results of the students' first job in
"industry".

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 Lesson Plan

The project is made up of several problems which have to be solved as an entirety of

the project. The problems will be presented in a series of short lectures which will
cover selected topics. These briefings will provide the guidance and assist students in
carrying out the design project.

Attendance is compulsory for the lectures and tutorials.

Week Dates Lecture Topics Tutorials Practical Misc.

Sessions
1 Introduction on
14 – 20 chemical process
Oct design and design
tasks
2 Block diagram & Submission of
21 – 27 Process Flow Assignment
Oct Diagram (PFD) I:Project schedule
simulation I with milestones
3 28 Oct – PFD simulation II Deepavali (off 28
3 Nov Oct)
4 4 – 10 PFD simulation III
Nov
5 11 – 17
PFD simulation IV
Nov
6 18 – 24 E-LEARNING WEEK (Ethics in Engineering) Red Camp (20-22
Nov Submission of Assignment II: PFD Nov)
7 25 – 1 Piping & Instrument
Dec Diagram (P&ID)
8 2–8
P&ID drawing
Dec
9 9 – 15
COMMON TEST WEEK
Dec
10 16 – 22
BREAK
Dec
11 23 – 29
BREAK
Dec
12 30 Dec –
BREAK
5 Jan
13 6 – 12 WHITE SPACE WEEK Open House (9 –
Jan Submission of Assignment III: P&ID 11 Jan)
14 13 – 19 Equipment sizing I
Jan
15 20 – 26 Equipment sizing II
Jan
16 Safety analysis; Chinese New
27 Jan – Economic Year (25 – 27
2 Feb Evaluation; Report Jan)
writing
17 Presentation Submission of
3 – 9 Feb Assignment IV:
Individual work

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18 Submission of
10 – 16 report
Feb (Deadline:14th Feb.
2020, 11:59 pm)
19 17 – 23
STUDY & EXAM WEEK
Feb
20 24 Feb –
EXAM WEEK
1 Mar

Assessments and Mark Allocation

Design Assignments 30%

Students are expected to complete and submit reasonably completed assignments as

per lesson plan. They are assessed on their logical solutions to the task, use of correct
methods, correct codes and practices, safety in design and engineering presentation.

Project Group Report 30%

Working in groups, students are expected to complete the design of the whole unit
operation. In addition, the group is expected to complete the detailed design of the
key equipment including type selection, sizing calculations and material selection.
Students are assessed on their application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation skills.
The use of drafting and design software and report writing skills will also be assessed.

Presentation 30%

Design results will be presented orally by the group. Q&A will be included. Design
understanding and articulation will be assessed in the presentation.

Participation & attitude 10%

Students are assessed individually based on participation, good attendance,

punctuality, teamwork, peer assessment and timeliness in handing in assignments.

Introduction to Design Project

A group of four students is assigned a project. The project is interesting and is within
the scope of the students’ knowledge and skills. Students initially may find themselves
inadequate to proceed. A great amount of information search is required to equip the

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students with the relevant data and information to tackle the project. Students are
advised to plan and schedule the project such that each submission dateline is met.
They are also advised to record their findings, design criteria and recommendations
as the project progresses to form the basis for their reports at the end of the semester.

The Design Brief of the project can be found in Annex 1.

Submissions of Reports

Deadline for the submission of the group report is as follows:

Project report: 14th February 2020 11:59 pm

The format of the report can be found in Annex 2. The format serves as a guide to
the assessment criteria and requirements for submission.

Students are encouraged to use the checklists provided in Annex 3 to ensure that
their design is complete and fulfill the requirements of the design project.

Software

Students are expected to utilize the following software for their design project:

 Aspen Hysys – process simulation software

 MSWord – for word processing
 Excel – spreadsheet for pipe sizing calculation
 AutoCad – for drawing of P&ID

Useful Websites and References

Useful Websites

 http://www.ProcessAssociates.com/process/tools.htm
 http://www.separationprocesses.com

More reference websites can be found in lecture slides.

Useful References

 Perry Chemical Engineering Handbook

 Coulson & Richardson’s Chemical Engineering, Volumes 1 to 6

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  Chemical Process Equipment: Selection and Design, by
James Couper, Roy Penney, James Fair and Stanley Walas

 Chemical Engineering Design: Principles, Practice and Economics

of Plants and Process Design, by
Gavin Towler and R. K. Sinnott

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 ANNEX 1

Design Brief for October 2019 Semester

Problem Statement

You are the chief design engineer of an engineering and contracting company that
carries out design projects for the petrochemical, chemical and pharmaceutical
industries.

A local chemical/ pharmaceutical company has approached your company to provide

a preliminary design for a process to produce ethyl benzene (EB), an intermediate in
the production of styrene, the precursor to polystyrene, a common plastic material. EB
is produced by alkylation of benzene with ethylene. Starting from raw materials, the
process consists of reactor, heat exchangers, pumps, distillation columns, separator
and the associated ancillaries. The process is to be built within the compound a
Singapore ABC company and there is a plot of land available for the unit. The client
would like to use the preliminary design for a basic cost estimate and has stressed
that the design should consider sustainability, cost and safety to be of utmost
importance.

The head projects engineer has asked you and your design team to make the
preliminary design.

A report of the design should be prepared by the end of 4 months and should follow a
fixed format (Annex 2). A presentation is also need to explain the design and address
the client questioning.

Process Design tasks description

1. Fresh ethylene feed stream specification:

T= 30 ºC,
P= 2 bar,
2. Fresh benzene feed stream specification:

T= 30 ºC,
P= 2 bar,

3. Ethyl benzene product stream specifications

Purity: ≥99.5% (mol);

Ethyl benzene overall yield: ≥99.5% of theoretical yield based on ethylene.

4. Flow rate: please see the following table.

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Tabel 1

Group

P01 Flow rate of Flow rate of benzene feed

ethylene feed stream (kmol/h)
stream (kmol/h)
1 200 200
2 300 300
3 400 400
4 500 500
5 600 600

P02
1 150 150
2 250 250
3 350 350
4 450 450
5 550 550

3. Reactions information and requirements.

Reaction 1: C2H4 + C6H6 → C8H10

Ethylene(E) benzene (B) ethyl benzene(EB)

Reaction rate: r = CECBAe(-E/RT)

A= 1.528 x 106, E = 1.7 x 104 cal/mol

Reaction 2 : C8H10 + C2H4 → C10H14

EB B diethyl benzene (DEB)

Reaction rate: r = CEBCEAe(-E/RT)

A= 2.778 x 107, E = 2.0 x 104 cal/mol

Reaction 3: C10H14 + C6H6 → 2C8H10

DEB B EB

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 Reaction rate: r = CDEBCBAe(-E/RT)

A= 1.0 x 103, E = 1.5 x 104 cal/mol

Note: The unit of concentration is kmol/m3, and the temperature is in Kelvin. The
reaction rate is kmol/m3/s. The reactor is recommended to use a Continuous Stirred-
tank Reactor (CSTR). The catalyst is aluminum chloride in fine particle form.

4. Assume all utilities streams listed in Aspen Hysys software are available. Here list
some examples.

 Cooling water:
T= 20 ºC, pressure 2 bar.
Note: The maximal rising temperature of cooling water is 25 ºC.

 High pressure saturated Steam (HP steam):

T= 250 ºC
Note: After the heat exchanger, the steam turns into saturated water.

 Medium pressure saturated Steam (MP steam):

T= 175 ºC
Note: After the heat exchanger, the steam turns into saturated water.

 Low pressure saturated Steam (LP steam):

T= 125 ºC
Note: After the heat exchanger, the steam turns into saturated water.

 Saturated water:
T= 250 ºC
Note: After the heat exchanger, the steam turns into high pressure saturated steam.

 Fired heat
Fuel: 100% methane, T= 25 ºC, P= 3 bar
O2 source: air, T=25 ºC, P= 2 bar

 Power

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 ANNEX 2

FORMAT FOR THE REPORT

One softcopy is to be submitted through SafeAssign in MeL. The report in one PDF
file must be of the following format:

Page size A4
Line spacing 1.5
Font type and size Arial 12
Total no of words 5000-10000 words
(excluding Reference List and Appendices)

The report must contain the following sections.

 Title (cover) Page

The template can be downloaded from Mel.

 Table of Contents

All sections of the report should be listed here and include page numbers.

 Summary

Brief description of the design project covering key conclusions, special features,
and assumptions. Very important to be brief and to the point. Maximum 1 page.

 Project Definition or Design Basis

1. Objective of the design project.

2. An overview of process requirements such as plant capacity, purity of

products, recovery, plant location, available utilities etc.

 Process Description

This section provides an explanation of the whole process. It describes the

process and function of each piece of equipment. All major equipment should be
described along with their connectivity. Operation conditions and process
requirements such as flowrate, recovery and purity of product should also be
stated. Highlight critical operating conditions and describe critical control systems.

 Process Flow Diagram & Material and Energy Balance

All streams (both process and utilities) are to be numbered clearly and all process
units are to be labeled. Drawing should have a material balance block at the
bottom of the drawing, a table showing, for each numbered stream:

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 1. Total mass or molar flow rate of each stream

2. Composition

3. Temperature

4. Pressure

Note: After change the PFD aspen format to PDF, make sure the resolution is
high enough to view.

 Piping & Instrumentation Diagram

The Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), detailing the equipment

arrangement, piping and instrumentation requirements, and appropriate Legend
Sheet should be included in this section. The symbols and drawing must be in
accordance with British Standards. This section should include the description of
methodology used in pipe sizing, the summarized nominal pipe sizes selected
including pipe wall schedules, and the selection of pipe materials. All process
streams pipelines shown in the Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs)
should be included in the design. Detailed sample calculations (1 example for
liquid stream containing pipe, 1 example for vapour stream containing pipe)
should be included and table summaries should be used where possible.

Selection of valve type and materials of construction should also be included in

this section.

Note: After change the P&ID autocad format to PDF, make sure the resolution is
high enough to view.

 Process Equipment Design

Overview

In this section, every major piece of process equipment (column, heat exchangers
and pumps) should be included in the Equipment List (download from Mel). Brief
description, giving an overview of the equipment in the unit, should be provided.

Process Equipment Detailed Design

In this section, the detailed design of all selected equipment (also called
equipment sizing) is to be described.

This section should include the following:

1. Basis of design including the objective of the design of the equipment, the
process conditions and the purpose of installing the equipment.

2. Selection of type of equipment and reasons.

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 3. Materials of construction and reasons for selection.

4. The important approximations should be discussed, as well as any difficulties

encountered in performing the design calculations.

5. The specification sheet for the piece of equipment designed.

 Important Considerations

1. Discuss safety and health concerns including results of HAZOP Study carried
out. Highlight features in the design that mitigate risks to safety and health, if
any.

2. Discuss sustainability of the design project including its impact on the

environment and resources. Highlight features in the design that mitigate
adverse impact, if any.

3. Conduct an economic analysis for the design. Discuss how the cost factor was
considered in the design of the process.

 Reflection

It is a long journey and full of difficulty and challenging, one must have a lot to
reflect.

 Conclusion

The principle conclusions of the design study should be presented.

 Reference List

Any reference work used must be acknowledged. Plagiarism is a punishable

crime by law and students will be penalized if found to have plagiarized.
All works referred to in the design report should be listed in this section. In-text
citation should be included in the text where appropriate.

One of the following referencing styles should be used: APA, Harvard or

Vancouver. Other style is accepted provided it is used consistently throughout the
report.

 Appendices

1. Computer simulation output (from HYSYS) if needed.

2. Equipment specification forms. This part also can be integrated into main
report.

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 3. Results of HAZOP Study (presented in tables). This part also can be
integrated into main report.

Breakdown of Marks for Project Report

Excellent Ave Fair Poor Assigned

8-10 6-7 4-5 1-3 Marks
Summary (5%)
Concise description of process and design
requirements, key equipment and material
selections. Key conclusion, assumptions and
special features of the plant are stated

Design Basis/Project Definition (5%)

The problem, its objective and the overview of
process requirement are defined. Impact/extent
of problem

Process Description (15%)

Clear description of process, functions of
equipment and controls. Site conditions,
process requirement and critical operating
conditions are highlighted

PFD & Material Balance (15%)

Diagram is clear and complete with equipment
and control requirement, material balance is
complete with correct quantities and proper
usage units. The diagram must conform to BS
P&ID (15%)
1.Diagram has sufficient and appropriate
equipment, piping and instrumentation details
for operation of unit. Compliance with BS.
Spare equipment are shown.
2. Able to carry out proper sizing of pipelines
using appropriate methodology and selection
of suitable valves and materials. Complete pipe
sizing (P&ID) except utilities

Process/Equipment Design (15%)

Clear listing of key equipment, proper usage of
design methodologies, sizing calculations,
suitable equipment and material selections.
Justifications on the selections of materials.
Discussion on making sense the figures
obtained from calculations. complete spec
sheets with proper design data required for
purchase of equipment

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 Important Considerations (15%)
Able to demonstrate appropriate design
considerations with respect to safety,
sustainability and cost of project

Reflection (5%)
Deep thinking about learning outcomes,
chemical process design, difficulties
encountered and any others.
Conclusions (5%)
Clear statement of design principles and
results obtained
Writing Style, Grammar and Spelling (5%)
Succinct writing; clear and concise
Degree of plagiarism (in % as per SafeAssign, not exceed 20%)
Total

late submission: 0 marks

Plagiarism over 20% will be marked as “0” and disciplinary action taken as well.

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