Process flow diagram examples

Industrial examples of phase-transfer catalysis are numerous and growing rapidly they include polymerisa tion, substitution, condensation, and oxidation reactions. The processing advantages, besides the acceleration of the reaction, include mild reaction conditions, relatively simple process flow diagrams, and flexibiHty in the choice of solvents. 

Base equipment includes all equipment within the battery limits whose cost is as significant as the cost of a pump. For example, storage tanks, knockout drums, accumulators, heat exchangers, and pumps are classed as main-plant items (MPl). Early in the development of the process-flow diagram, it is advisable to increase the estimated (MPl) cost by 10 to 20 percent to allow for later additions. When the scope of the process has been well defined, (MPl) costs should be increased by 1 to 10 percent. 

The next step is to connect the individual unit operations in a block diagram, creating a process flow sheet. Figure 1 is an example of a simplified process flow diagram for a pattem-etch process for a printed wiring-board operation. There are... 

The most common application of carbon adsorption in municipal water treatment is in the removal of taste and odor compounds. Figure 12 provides an example of a process flow diagram for a municipal water treatment plant. In this example water is pumped from the river into a flotation unit, which is used for the removal of suspended solids such as algae and particulate matter. Dissolved air is the injected under pressure into the basin. This action creates microbubbles which become attached to the suspended solids, causing them to float. This results in a layer of suspended solids on the surface of the water, which is removed using a mechanical skimming technique. Go back to Chapter 8 if you need to refresh your memory on air flotation systems. 

Figure 10-16. Example process flow diagram of centrifugal compressor.

Figure 2 shows a simplified process flow diagram for halogenated aliphatic acid production facilities [8]. Halogenated aliphatic acids include chlorinated aliphatic acids and their salts, for example, TCA, Dalapon, and Fenac herbicides. Chlorinated aliphatic acids can be prepared by nitric acid oxidation of chloral (TCA) or by direct chlorination of the acid. The acids can be sold as mono- or dichloro acids, or neutralized to an aqueous solution with caustic soda. The neutralized solution is generally fed to a dryer from which the powdered product is packaged. 

Based upon the process flow diagram and the investment costs, the product manufacturing costs or the necessary yield in the micro structured reactor plant to reach an overall profit of, for example at least 20%, will be calculated. 

Many consumer products are produced, at least in part, using chemical processes. A characteristic chemical process involves a chemical and/or physical transformation of raw materials into products or intermediates that are then further processed. Process flowsheets or process flow diagrams are used by process engineers to depict the flow of process streams through the basic unit operations involved in a chemical manufacturing process. A unit operation typically refers to a vessel where a chemical or physical transformation occurs. Examples include chemical reactors and distillation columns. 

Example 1. An example will make the methodology clearer. Figure 1 depicts an outline process flow diagram for a distillation plant recovering acetone (CH3COCH3) from a 50% by weight aqueous solution. 

Example 3 Degrees of freedom for styrene process. Determine the degrees of freedom for the styrene process using the process flow diagram, Fig. 4-5. 

Example 4 Computational order for styrene process. A styrene process flow diagram is shown in Fig. 4-5. From this flow sheet it is apparent that there are two recycle streams in this simple process the unreacted ethylberizene is recycled and mixed with the fresh feed and the reactor effluent is recycled back to the heat exchanger. 

Fig. 2 Example of a process flow diagram for preparing a ceramic component by a powder processing route.

The system has been applied to the agricultural chemical production complex in the lower Mississippi River corridor, and the process flow diagram of plants in this complex is shown in Fig. 10 and is called the base case of existing plants. There are 11 production units plus associated utilities for power, steam and cooling water, and facilities for waste treatment. A production unit contains more than one plant for example, the sulfuric acid production unit contains five... 

Several companies have commercialized lubetreating processes that they now offer for licensing by others. For example, Bechtel offers a process based on the solvent n-methyl-2-pyrrolodine. In their literature, they offer the process flow diagram shown in Fig. 1. Most of the process equipment in Fig. 1 is downstream of the extraction tower, illustrating the effort involved in recovering product and clean solvent for recycle. A major part of the expense associated with this and most solvent-refining processes is the energy... 

The section gives three examples of synergistic integration (see Fig. 5.39). In Subsect. 5.5.2 the process-centered process flow diagram tool, called FBW (subproject BI, see Sect. 3.1), is connected to the reactive management system AHEAD (subproject B4, see Sect. 3.4) via an integrator (subproject B2,... 

For small or uncomplicated jobs, a simple template may be preferred. A customized template is not usually needed for replacing or revamping a couple of vessels or a small piping system, or for a unit involving only a few, if any, corrodents. A rubber stamp template, with a process flow diagram, may be used to quickly create a materials selection diagram, as illustrated in Example 21.1. 

An example of reverse osmosis seawater desalination for industrial purposes is the system installed in a thermoelectric power plant in Venezuela in 1980.17 The original segment of the plant is designed to produce 800,000 GPD of boiler feedwater and potable water. A process flow diagram for this system is shown in Figure 4.18. 

A real Process Flow Diagram (PFD) must be translated in a scheme compatible with the software capabilities and with the simulation goals. The flowsheet scheme built up for simulation purposes will be called in this book Process Simulation Diagram (PSD). PSD is in general different from PFD. For example, some simple units, as for pressure or temperature change, may be lumped in more complex units (from simulation viewpoint). Contrary, complex units, as distillation columns or chemical reactors, may need to be simulated as small flowsheets. Hence, a preliminary problem analysis is necessary. The steps in defining a simulation problem are ... 

As shown in Chapter 2, the above Process Flow Diagram (PFD) has to be translated in a Process Simulation Diagram (PSD). This example has been worked out with ASPEN Plus , but the approach is similar with other packages. The problem analysis takes into account the following aspects ... 

Figure 7-78. Example. Figure 78a shows process flow diagram and 78b shows the piping configuration. 

The waste-disposal flow diagram illustrates the waste streams for which there is no further economic use in the plant (see Section 1.3) and indicate their flow numbers from the process flow diagram. Precise information should be given on the toxicity, degradability, water danger, flash point, ignition temperature, MAK, odor threshold, etc. of the individual components, their mass flows, and the state of aggregation of the flow (viscosity, sediment content, etc.). This information makes it possible to specify the type of waste disposal required with consideration of site-specific and economic factors, for example ... 

One of the many possible routes from coal to methanol is illustrated by a process flow diagram, and a material and energy balance is compiled for this typical example. 

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