Product design case studies

In principle, problems related to chemical product design can be formulated and solved in many different ways. The objective here is to highlight some of those that have also been applied in the various product design case studies reported in chapters 2-15 of this book. These solution approaches may be classified under the following types ... 

Torres, A. I., Daoutidis, P., and Tsapatsis, M. (2010). Continuous production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from fructose a design case study. Energy Environ. Sci, 3, 1560-1572. 

HPC is relatively new in the construction market. More documentation on the design, production, and case studies should have been collected and disseminated to the construction community. 

Finally we presented several published real-world applications using IP models for network design. Case studies from a major consumer products company. Ford Motor Company, Procter and Gamble, Hewlett-Packard, BMW, AT T, and UPS were discussed. 

CACHE (Computer Aids for Chanical Engineering CACHE Corporation, 2016) Process Design Case Studies represents an outstanding resource of many case studies. These are covered in 11 different volumes that span Separation System for Recovery of Ethylene and Light Products from Naphtha Pyrolysis Gas Steam in Volume 1, all the way to Conceptual Design of an Aromatics Plant from Shale Gas in Volume 2. 

The case studies that follow have mainly come from live product development projects in industry. Whilst not all case studies require the methodology to predict an absolute capability, a common way of applying CA is by evaluating and comparing a number of design schemes and selecting the one with the most acceptable performance measure, either estimated Cp, assembly risk or failure cost. In some cases, commercial confidence precludes the inclusion of detailed drawings of the components used in the analyses. CA has been used in industry in a number of different ways. Some of these are discussed below ... 

This case study concerns the initial design and redesign of a security cover assembly for a solenoid. The analysis only focuses on those critical aspects of the assembly of the product that must be addressed to meet the requirement that the electronics inside the unit are sealed from the outside environment. An FMEA Severity Rating (S) for the assembly was determined as S = 5, a warranty return if failure is experienced. 

The press had been designed with a capacity to deliver 280 kN press force and to work at a production rate of 40 lids per minute. Calculations to determine the distribution of forming loads required indicated that the press capacity was adequate to form the family of steel lids to be produced on the machine. One of the major areas of interest in the design was the con-rod and pin (see Figure 4.66). The first option considered was based on a previous design where the con-rod was manufactured from cast iron with phosphor bronze bearings at the big and small ends. However, weaknesses in this approach necessitated the consideration of other options. The case study presents the analysis of the pin and con-rod using simple probabilistic techniques in an attempt to provide in-service reliable press operation. The way a weak link was introduced to ensure ease of maintenance and repair in the event... 

The use of CA has proved to be beneficial for companies introducing a new product, when an opportunity exists to use new processes/technologies or when design rules are not widely known. Design conformance problems can be systematically addressed, with potential benefits, including reduced failure costs, shorter product development times and improved supplier dialogue. A number of detailed case studies are used to demonstrate its application at many different levels. 

The industrial case study presented in this section is taken from the petrochemicals industry. The project is in the design phase and as such the design model will be used to determine the design which leads to the minimum capital cost, while using the PIS operational philosophy. For secrecy reasons the example has been modified and the names of the raw materials and products have been changed to the generic form. 

The second mathematical formulation presented, is a design model based on the PIS operational philosophy. This formulation is an MINLP model due to the capital cost objective function. The model is applied to a literature example and an improved design is achieved when compared to the flowsheet. The design model is then applied to an industrial case study from the phenols production facility to determine its effectiveness. The data for the case study are subject to a secrecy agreement and as such the names and details of the case study are altered. 

This chapter contains a discussion of two intermediate level problems in chemical reactor design that indicate how the principles developed in previous chapters are applied in making preliminary design calculations for industrial scale units. The problems considered are the thermal cracking of propane in a tubular reactor and the production of phthalic anhydride in a fixed bed catalytic reactor. Space limitations preclude detailed case studies of these problems. In such studies one would systematically vary all relevant process parameters to arrive at an optimum reactor design. However, sufficient detail is provided within the illustrative problems to indicate the basic principles involved and to make it easy to extend the analysis to studies of other process variables. The conditions employed in these problems are not necessarily those used in current industrial practice, since the data are based on literature values that date back some years. 

Chemical Product Design Toward a Perspective through Case Studies KM Ng, R Gani, K Dam-Johansen (Editors)... 

The case study from chapter 7 is concerned with the design and improvement of chemically-active ship bottom paints known as antifouling paints. A hybrid experiment-model based approach is employed here. Experiments and use of expert knowledge are employed to identify product alternatives, whose evaluation in terms of performance as a marine biofouling protector is verified through a model-based approach. 

It is important to collect information on various chemical product design applications in the form of case studies, as they can help to understand the issues and needs related to the development of more efficient and versatile methods and tools. Also, they serve as examples in teaching of chemical product design. 

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