Process future plants

Figure 1.28 Illustration of a future plant using process-intensification equipment, aiming at giving the corresponding shape or perception. Compared with today s plants, a reduction in size is predicted [25].

We see some similarities between the major life processes in plants (growth and differentiation) and the major life processes in animals and humans (proliferation and differentiation). We expect in future to relate this concept to animal production and to human health, to be able to cross the bridge from soil to plant to animal and finally human health. For example, the development in medicine of differentiation therapy in which vitamin A-derivates are used to treat human cancer cells in vitro (De Luca el al., 1995). Cancer is defined by too much uncontrolled growth of cells without enough differentiation. Using treatment with vitamin A-derivatives - a product of differentiation processes in the plant - undifferentiated cancer cells change into differentiated more healthy ones. 

Quantitative failure frequency data are difficult to obtain for multipurpose batch plants in the way that they are often used in the fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. Moreover, a quantitative assessment requires detailed knowledge of the control instruments, which may not be available during process development Therefore, a semi-quantitative approach is proposed, providing the required reliability for future plant equipment. 

To verify the technical feasibility of the SRC-II process in full-size equipment and establish a design basis for future plants. 

The energy consumption involved could represent a substantial constituent of the future plant operating costs. The quality of the fluid flow can also have a profound effect on the efficiency of the various pieces of equipment operating in the process plant. For instance, the efficiency of heat transfer is strongly dependent on the characteristics of the flow within the heat exchanger involved. In distillation and absorption colunms effective mass transfer depends on the characteristics of the fluid flow within the equipment. 

While membrane technologies will not provide the solution to every problem in the near future, their specific properties and advantages (compactness, modularity, microstructures, improved functionalities, easy control and, most of the time, an isothermal use without requirement for the addition of chemical additives) will allow broader fields of application. The following examples testify to their huge potential, as expected from laboratory experiments, while showing also the root of their unexpected but practical use in present day industrial processes and plants. 

The future is unpredictable, but prudent men and women plan ahead to exploit new opportunities and to avoid or minimize threats. The CPI is capital intensive and require sophisticated processes 3-10 years may elapse between the conception of a process and plant start-up. A plant may be expected to be productive for 10-25... 

Recent developments are related to both batch and continuous processes, including environmental monitoring (see Chapter 18). Applications in relatively inaccessible zones such as explosive, nuclear or high-temperature containments require new specific components and a control organization, revealing the considerable repercussions on the structure of future plants. This section attempts to summarize the most significant research of the past few years on remote control of chemical processes. The new concepts, multi-point measurement techniques, associated components, and aspects of real-time measurement techniques are also examined. 

The first part comprising three chapters deals with nuclear power as the primary energy source for producing electricity and process heat / steam which could be utilized for hydrogen production. Chapter 2 treats the design of nuclear power plants for process heat application and the components required. Safety considerations described in chapter 3 concentrate on the aspects that are peculiar to nuclear process heat plants. International activities on using nuclear power to be utilized in process heat applications, for example for hydrogen production in the past, present, and future are listed in chapter 4. 

For the introduction of nuclear process heat into the energy market, the estimation of present and future industrial demand for process steam needs to be made first as well as establishing how nuclear power fits into the energy needs profile [19]. Inevitable fluctuations in industrial process heat/steam demand have to be expected. Also the consumer circle for secondary energy is limited for industrial plants compared with public power plants, thus smaller units would be preferable. On the other hand, nuclear units are economically operated only at a certain minimum capacity. Units of 500 MW(th) are thought in [7] to allow economic use of the nuclear option. A more recent study from 1990 [19] takes plants of 2 100 MW(th) as a minimum into consideration increasing the industrial potential of nuclear plants. Table 2-1 summarizes the number of process steam plants, sites, and steam production capacity in Germany valid for the year 1987 [19]. 

On the other hand, the six-carbon unit of glucose is one of the most prominent components in biomasses, is easy to produce, and represents one of the most attractive building blocks for the preparation of a variety of chemical intermediates. Thus, glucose will play a central role in feeding the so-called biorefinery, a future plant where chemical and biochemical processes are advantageously employed for the synthesis of intermediates and fine chemicals as an alternative to fossil-derived chemicals (Figure 21.1). 

Industry observers generally expect the majority of the nuclear power industry to remain heavily unionized after deregulation, as did the U.S. aviation and rail industries. For example. Miller (1998, pg. 27), in an article about the process of plant acquisition, states that Operating non-union is almost never an option for the buyer, since the seller typically has gained workforce and community support by requiring a union-fiiendly transaction. Similarly, Public Utilities Fortnightly associate editor Schuler (1999, pg. 56) states that Nearly all [of the utility vice presidents that he surveyed] recognize the roles of unions in the future employee mix. Thus, unions will undoubtedly continue to be players in the industry. 

All processes still require use of oxygen for pasava-tion in the synthesis loop. Metallurgical advances have reduced the amount required. Snamprogetti now utilizes a bimetallic zirconium/25-22-2 (Ni, Cr, Mo) tube in its stripper. The corrosion rate for zirconium in urea service is nil. Toyo utilizes a duplex alloy (ferrite-austenite), which requires less ojqjgen. Stamicarbon working with the Swedish steel producer Sandvik, has patented a proprietary material called Saferex, which requires very little oxygen future plants wnll use this new material,... 

Instrumentation, and more particularly the associated methods of information presentation and processing and plant control, have probably developed more rapidly than any other facet of plant engineering in the latter part of the twentieth century. At the time of writing there seems to be just as much scope for rapid future development, with particular regard to increased electronic intelligence. And yet many of... 

Process engineering benefits are not as well investigated and proven as their reaction engineering counterparts, as the latter deal with pilot processes and plants, usually performed at an industrial site, which are less frequent and rarely reported in detail. Process engineering occurs at a later stage of the value-added chain and is more complex in information and more difficult to quantify (not by using just one property) (4). Hence it remains to future investigations to provide more information here. 

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