Process schemes

Hydrorefining can substitute for extraction processes such as furfural where it integrates perfectly into the conventional process scheme. 

Before designing a process scheme it is necessary to know the specification of the raw material input (or feedstock) and the specification of the enc/procfucf desired. Designing a process to convert fluids produced at a wellhead into oil and gas products fit for evacuation and storage is no different. The characteristics of the well stream or streams must be known and specifications for the products agreed. 

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. 

A signal processing scheme to enhance the signal to noise ratio,... 

After development of a new process scheme at laboratory scale, constmction and operation of pilot-plant faciUties to confirm scale-up information often require two or three years. An additional two to three years is commonly required for final design, fabrication of special equipment, and constmction of the plant. Thus, projections of raw material costs and availabiUty five to ten years into the future become important in adopting any new process significantly different from the current technology. 

Numerous patents have been issued disclosing catalysts and process schemes for manufacture of acrylonitrile from propane. These include the direct heterogeneously cataly2ed ammoxidation of propane to acrylonitrile using mixed metal oxide catalysts (61—64). 

Because of the large price differential between propane and propylene, which has ranged from 155/t to 355 /1 between 1987 and 1989, a propane-based process may have the economic potential to displace propylene ammoxidation technology eventually. Methane, ethane, and butane, which are also less expensive than propylene, and acetonitrile have been disclosed as starting materials for acrylonitrile synthesis in several catalytic process schemes (66,67). 

Figure 8 illustrates one of the processing schemes used for separating various components in a hydrocarbon-containing plant. Acetone extraction removes the polyphenols, glycerides, and sterols, and benzene extraction removes the hydrocarbons. If the biomass species in question contain low concentrations of the nonhydrocarbon components, exclusive of the carbohydrate and protein fractions, direct extraction of the hydrocarbons with benzene or a similar solvent might be preferred. 

Decomposition of Zircon. Zircon sand is inert and refractory. Therefore the first extractive step is to convert the zirconium and hafnium portions into active forms amenable to the subsequent processing scheme. For the production of hafnium, this is done in the United States by carbochlorination as shown in Figure 1. In the Ukraine, fluorosiUcate fusion is used. Caustic fusion is the usual starting procedure for the production of aqueous zirconium chemicals, which usually does not involve hafnium separation. Other methods of decomposing zircon such as plasma dissociation or lime fusions are used for production of some grades of zirconium oxide. 

Thermal Process. In the manufacture of phosphoric acid from elemental phosphoms, white (yellow) phosphoms is burned in excess air, the resulting phosphoms pentoxide is hydrated, heats of combustion and hydration are removed, and the phosphoric acid mist collected. Within limits, the concentration of the product acid is controlled by the quantity of water added and the cooling capabiUties. Various process schemes deal with the problems of high combustion-zone temperatures, the reactivity of hot phosphoms pentoxide, the corrosive nature of hot phosphoric acid, and the difficulty of collecting fine phosphoric acid mist. The principal process types (Fig. 3) include the wetted-waH, water-cooled, or air-cooled combustion chamber, depending on the method used to protect the combustion chamber wall. 

Coal-Based Partial Oxidation Processes Two commercially establislied processes utilising coal feeds are the Lurgi process (32) and the Koppers-Tot2ek process (33) the process schemes are shown ia Figures 6 and 7, respectively. 

A typical process scheme for the direct hydration of propylene is shown ia Figure 2. Turnkey plants based on this technology are available (71,81). The principal difference between the direct and iadirect processes is the much higher pressures needed to react propylene direcdy with water. Products and by-products are also similar, and refining systems are essentially the same. Under some conditions, the high pressures of the direct process can increase the production of propylene polymers. 

An excess of crotonaldehyde or aUphatic, ahcyhc, and aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives is used as a solvent to produce compounds of molecular weights of 1000—5000 (25—28). After removal of unreacted components and solvent, the adduct referred to as polyester is decomposed in acidic media or by pyrolysis (29—36). Proper operation of acidic decomposition can give high yields of pure /n j ,/n7 j -2,4-hexadienoic acid, whereas the pyrolysis gives a mixture of isomers that must be converted to the pure trans,trans form. The thermal decomposition is carried out in the presence of alkaU or amine catalysts. A simultaneous codistillation of the sorbic acid as it forms and the component used as the solvent can simplify the process scheme. The catalyst remains in the reaction batch. Suitable solvents and entraining agents include most inert Hquids that bod at 200—300°C, eg, aUphatic hydrocarbons. When the polyester is spHt thermally at 170—180°C and the sorbic acid is distilled direcdy with the solvent, production and purification can be combined in a single step. The solvent can be reused after removal of the sorbic acid (34). The isomeric mixture can be converted to the thermodynamically more stable trans,trans form in the presence of iodine, alkaU, or sulfuric or hydrochloric acid (37,38). 

The Claus process is the most widely used to convert hydrogen sulfide to sulfur. The process, developed by C. F. Claus in 1883, was significantly modified in the late 1930s by I. G. Farbenindustrie AG, but did not become widely used until the 1950s. Figure 5 illustrates the basic process scheme. A Claus sulfur recovery unit consists of a combustion furnace, waste heat boiler, sulfur condenser, and a series of catalytic stages each of which employs reheat, catalyst bed, and sulfur condenser. Typically, two or three catalytic stages are employed. 

Downstream Processing. In addition to extraction, various downstream operations are often carried out on the BTX product to produce products in proportions to fit the market demand. A typical aromatics processing scheme is shown in Eigure 8 in which ben2ene, xylene, and o-xylene are the products. 

Table 7 shows the yield distribution of the C isomers from different feedstocks with specific processing schemes. The largest yield of butylenes ... 

The oxychl orin a tion of propylene to aHyl chloride, using hydrogen chloride and oxygen, has also been demonstrated. However, with inferior yields, less than satisfactory catalyst life, and a complex processing scheme, (11—20) this route to aHyl chloride is not utilized commercially. 

The SRC-II process, shown in Figure 2, was developed in order to minimise the production of soHds from the SRC-I coal processing scheme. The principal variation of the SRC-II process relative to SRC-I was incorporation of a recycle loop for the heavy ends of the primary Hquefaction process. It was quickly realized that minerals which were concentrated in this recycle stream served as heterogeneous hydrogenation catalysts which aided in the distillate production reactions. In particular, pyrrhotites, non stoichiometric iron sulfides, produced by reduction of iron pyrite were identified as being... 

Fig. 4. General processing scheme for fluid imitation dairy products.

A number of other syntheses were discussed by Takeuchi and Furusaki and the most common involved reaction of hydroxylamine with selected a,/3-unsaturated ketones to give isoxazolidine-3- or -5-ols, which exist in equilibrium with an open-chain counterpart (77AHC(21)207). A similar equilibrium was observed in the reaction of a,/3-unsaturated ketones with N-hydroxyurea. The geometric orientation of the ring substituents was studied as a dynamic process (Scheme 158) (75TL2337). 

FIG. 22-86 Process scheme for protein extraction in aqueous two-phase systems for the downstream processing of intracellular proteins, incorporating PEG and salt recycling. RepHnted from Kelly and Hatton in Stephanopoulos (ed), op. cit. adapted from Qre-oe and Kula, op. cit.]... 

As illustrated in Fig. 3.41, several laser schemes can be used to ionize elements and molecules. Scheme (a) in this figure stands for non-resonant ionization. Because the ionization cross-section is very low, a very high laser intensity is required to saturate the ionization process. Scheme (b) shows a simple single-resonance scheme. This is the simplest but not necessarily the most desirable scheme for resonant post-ionization. Cross-... 

There are numerous applications in solvent recovery processes where evaporation equipment are employed. Figure 14 provides an example of a process scheme for toluene-di-isocyanate recovery. This is an example of continuous vacuum evaporation of distillation residues. 

Another example in the polymers industry is illustrated in Figure 17, which is a process aimed at the batch drying of waste residue with solvent recovery. In this application liquid or viscous waste solutions are pumped into a batch dryer where they are dried under vacuum to a solid granular residue. Vaporized water and solvent are recovered by condensation and then separated by gravity. The process scheme is flexible, offering a range of temperatures and vacuum levels for treating... 

Develop a detailed process scheme for decolorizing recycle water used in a fabric dyeing operation. Assume the operation to be continuous. Develop a detailed list of all parameters that impact on the operation of a carbon filter. 

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