Process Design

Recommended Prerequisites

The project developed in this curricular unit is based on the continuity of the work carried out by the team of students in the Integrated Problems of Chemical Engineering I / II, thus the previous attendance of the latter is necessary.

Other recommended prerequesites:

Chemical Thermodynamics; Fluid Dynamics; Mass and Energy Balances; Programming and Numerical Methods; Heat Transfer;  Introduction to Reaction Engineering; Chemical Reactors; Solid-Liquid Operations; Mass Transfer; Modeling, Simulation and Optimization; Separation Processes; Industrial Effluents and Environment; Instrumentation and Control; Management and Entrepreneurship; Industrial Statistics; Integrating Project; Process Modeling and Supervision; Advanced Separation Processes; Product Design; Multiphase Reactors

Teaching Methods

Traditional (more expositive) lectures, relative to the methodologies to be applied, and with the presentation of application examples.

Presentation of case studies, encouraging problem solving skills and a systematic view the activity of process design. Design application developed by groups of 4-6 students under supervision (including tutorial meetings and periodical presentations).

Evaluation: design task + report + presentations.

Learning Outcomes

This curricular unit addresses the integration of knowledge and competences acquired throughout the curriculum, creating an opportunity for the students to work in detail a concrete problem related to the design of an industrial unit for the production of a given chemical product. Typically, the work to be developed includes four components: i) evaluation of a business opportunity and market study, ii) selection of the basis technology, iii) technical chemical engineering design (synthesis and analysis of the process diagram and dimensioning of the main units), iv) economic analysis. This design exercise also aims at improving the capabilities of team work, and interaction with technical experts in several areas. In parallel with these demands, the students are also exposed to a set of Process Systems Engineering topics, to provide the design activity with more systematic answers.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Decision methodologies in the design of industrial chemical processes. Hierarchic (systematic) methods fo the synthesis of chemical processes. Synthesis of specific subsystems (reaction and separation). Design of discontinuous processes. Interactions between design and scheduling. General methodologies of scheduling and optimization of discontinuous processes (RTN, STN). Economic analysis in the design of chemical processes. Estimates of investment and operating costs. Economic feasibility analysis. Layout of industrial processes. Integration of industrial plant safety concepts. Elaboration of detailed process diagrams and other design deliverables. Integration between design and supervision. Specification of supervision strategies. Plantwide control.

Head Lecturer(s)

Nuno Manuel Clemente de Oliveira

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Resolution Problems: 5.0%
Project: 95.0%

Bibliography

- Turton, R.; Bailie, R. C.; Whiting, W. B.; Shaeiwitz, J. A. Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes, 3ª ed., Prentice Hall International, Upper Saddle River, 2009.

- Biegler, L. T.; Grossmann, I. E.; Westerberg, A.W. Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1997.

- Douglas, M. Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1988.

- Seider, W. D.; Seader, J. D.; Lewin, D. R. Product & Process Design Principles: Synthesis, Analysis, and Evaluation, 4ª ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2017.

- Smith, R., Chemical Process Design and Integration, 2ª ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2016.