Integrating Project

Recommended Prerequisites

Chemical Thermodynamics, Fluid Dynamics, Mass and Energy Balances, Heat Transfer, Mass Transfer, Introduction to Reaction Engineering; Chemical Reactors, Solid-Liquid Operations, Separation Processes, Modeling, Simulation and Optimization.

Teaching Methods

Traditional (more expositive) lectures, development of case studies, usage of computational tools, encouragement of problem solving skills and systems view of products and processes, project developed by groups of 4-5 students under supervision (meetings and presentations). Evaluation: individual test (40%), project (60%).

Learning Outcomes

The objectives of this curricular unit are: understand the scope of the design discipline in chemical engineering; recognise the different components of a chemical plant; know how to read a process flow diagram and understand its structure; understand some systematic methods of chemical process design, namely of integrated analysis of process flow diagrams; understand the usefulness of process design heuristics, namely those regarding sizing of equipment; understand basic topics of design and scheduling of batch processes; known the main steps of product conceptual design; develop a process design solution in a pre-delimited domain (perform mass balances on a given process diagram, design 2 to 3 units), with industrial and commercial relevance. 

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1. Design in chemical engineering: process and product. Synthesis and analysis. Design steps. 2. Industrial facilities. Process units and auxiliary facilities. Industrial safety. 4. Process flow diagrams: block diagrams, PF and P&ID. Reading and drawing. 4. Structure and synthesis of chemical processes. The Douglas’s method. 5. Integrated analysis of process diagrams. Linear mass balances. Rigorous simulation. The Aspen Plus simulator. 7. Heuristics to analyse process diagrams and size equipment. 8. Design and scheduling of batch processes. Gantt diagrams. 8. Chemical product design: needs, performance specifications, generation/selection of product concepts. 9 Project developed by groups of 4-5 students (analysis of given process diagram and design of 2-3 units). 10. Interaction with labs/companies in the context of point 9 or other more specific topic, in particular “Instituto Pedro Nunes” and “Centro Tecnológico da Cerâmica e do Vidro”.

Head Lecturer(s)

Fernando Pedro Martins Bernardo

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Frequency: 40.0%
Project: 60.0%

Bibliography

- Turton R, Shaeiwitz JA, Bhattacharyya D, Whiting WB. Analysis, Synthesis and Design of Chemical Processes. 5th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall; 2018.

- Douglas JM. Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1988.

- Biegler LT, Grossmann IE, Westerberg AW. Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design. London: Prentice-Hall; 1997.