Process Design Equipment

Proprietary equipment is provided off the shelf in limited sizes and capacities. Special sizes that would fit particular applications more closely often arc more expensive than a larger 

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Having defined and gathered data adequate for an initial reserves estimation, the next step is to look at the various options to develop the field. The objective of the feasibility study is to document various technical options, of which at least one should be economically viable. The study will contain the subsurface development options, the process design, equipment sizes, the proposed locations (e.g. offshore platforms), and the crude evacuation and export system. The cases considered will be accompanied by a cost estimate and planning schedule. Such a document gives a complete overview of all the requirements, opportunities, risks and constraints. 

Predictive hazard evaluation procedures may be required when new and different processes, designs, equipment, or procedures are being contemplated. The Dow Fire and Explosion Index provides a direct method to estimate the risks in a chemical process based upon flammability and reactivity characteristics of the chemicals, general process hazards (as exothermic reactions, indoor storage of flammable liquids, etc.) and special hazards (as operation above the flash point, operation above the auto-ignition point, quantity of flammable liquid, etc.). Proper description of this index is best found in the 57-page Dows Fire and Explosion Index, Hazard Classification Guide, 5 th ed., AIChE, New York, 1981. 

To attain efficient, effective, and practical noise control, it-is necessary to understand the individual equipment or process noise sources, their acoustic properties and characteristics, and how they interact to create the overall noise situation. Table 11 presents typical process design equipment providing high noise levels and potential solutions to this problem. 

For some volumes there are no equivalent comprehensive surveys available in English. Thus, a valuable service has been fulfilled to workers in the fields of process design, equipment development, custody transfer, and safety. 

In Section 10.0, we have discussed process design and processing equipment rather than the layout oi production facilities. Once a process scheme has been defined, the fashion in which equipment and plant is located is determined partly by transportation considerations (e.g. pipeline specifications) but also by the surface environment. 

Special safety constraints apply to equipment selection, design, and operation in nuclear reprocessing (269). Equipment should be reHable and capable of remote control and operation for long periods with minimal maintenance. Pulsed columns and remotely operated mixer—settlers are commonly used (270). The control of criticaHty and extensive monitoring of contamination levels must be included in the process design. 

Process calculations for traditional unit-operations equipment can be divided into two types design and performance. Sometimes the performance calculation is caHed a simulation (see Simulation and process design). The design calculation is used to roughly size or specify the equipment. EoUowing the... 

Spreadsheet Applications. The types of appHcations handled with spreadsheets are a microcosm of the types of problems and situations handled with fuU-blown appHcation programs that are mn on microcomputers, minis, and mainframes and include engineering computations, process simulation, equipment design and rating, process optimization, reactor kinetics—design, cost estimation, feedback control, data analysis, and unsteady-state simulation (eg, batch distillation optimization). 

Generalized Correla.tions. A simple and rehable method for the prediction of vapor—Hquid behavior has been sought for many years to avoid experimentally measuring the thermodynamic and physical properties of every substance involved in a process. Whereas the complexity of fluids makes universal behavior prediction an elusive task, methods based on the theory of corresponding states have proven extremely useful and accurate while still retaining computational simplicity. Methods derived from corresponding states theory are commonly used in process and equipment design. 

Numerous other methods have been used to predict properties of gases and Hquids. These include group contribution, reference substance, approaches, and many others. However, corresponding states theory has been one of the most thoroughly investigated methods and has become an important basis for the development of correlation and property estimation techniques. The methods derived from the corresponding states theory for Hquid and gas property estimation have proved invaluable for work such as process and equipment design. 

While process design and equipment specification are usually performed prior to the implementation of the process, optimization of operating conditions is carried out monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, or even eveiy minute. Optimization of plant operations determines the set points for each unit at the temperatures, pressures, and flow rates that are the best in some sense. For example, the selection of the percentage of excess air in a process heater is quite critical and involves a balance on the fuel-air ratio to assure complete combustion and at the same time make the maximum use of the Heating potential of the fuel. Typical day-to-day optimization in a plant minimizes steam consumption or cooling water consumption, optimizes the reflux ratio in a distillation column, or allocates raw materials on an economic basis [Latour, Hydro Proc., 58(6), 73, 1979, and Hydro. Proc., 58(7), 219, 1979]. 

The process hazards analysis is conducted by an experienced, multidisciplinary team that examines the process design, the plant equipment, operating procedures, and so on, using techniques such as... 

At the heart of a leaching plant design at any level—conceptual, pre-liminaiy, firm engineering, or whatever—is unit-operations and process design of the extraction unit or hne. The major aspects that are particular for the leaching operation are the selection of process and operating conditions and the sizing of the extrac tion equipment. 

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