Wills

Examples of main programs calling subroutines FLASH and ELIPS for vapor-liquid and liquid-liquid separation calculations, respectively, are described in this Appendix. These are intended only to illustrate the use of the subroutines and to provide a means of quickly evaluating their performance on systems of interest. It is expected that most users will write their own main prograns utilizing FLASH and ELIPS, and the other subroutines presented in this monograph,to suit the requirements of their separation calculations. 

The programs DRFLA for vapor-liquid and DRELI for liquid-liquid calculations are written in FORTRAN IV source language for the CDC 6400 of the Computer Center, University of California, Berkeley. Minor modifications, mostly with regard to input and output, will be required for implementation on most other computer systems. 

The program storage requirements will depend somewhat on the computer and FORTRAN compiler involved. The execution times can be corrected approximately to those for other computer systems by use of factors based upon bench-mark programs representative of floating point manipulations. For example, execution times on a CDC 6600 would be less by a factor of roughly 4 than those given in the tcible and on a CDC 7600 less by a factor of roughly 24. 

Execution times for the higher level subroutines FLASH and ELIPS will be highly dependent on the problems involved. The times required per iteration can be estimated from times for lower level subroutines and the descriptions given for FLASH and ELIPS. Computation times for two specific cases calculated with FLASH and one case claculated with ELIPS are included in Table J-1 to show approximate magnitudes required. 

This text will attempt to develop an understanding of the concepts required at each stage during the creation of a chemical process design. 

Our attempt to develop a methodology will be helped if we have a clearer picture of the structure of the problem. If the process requires a reactor, this is where the design starts. This is likely to be the only... 

Most processes are catalyzed where catalysts for the reaction are known. The strategy will be to choose the catalyst, if one is to be used, and the ideal characteristics and operating conditions needed for the reaction system. Decisions must be made in terms of reactor... 

The following example will help to clarify the distinctions between these three parameters. 

In describing reactor performance, selectivity is usually a more meaningful parameter than reactor yield. Reactor yield is based on the reactant fed to the reactor rather than on that which is consumed. Clearly, part of the reactant fed might be material that has been recycled rather than fresh feed. Because of this, reactor yield takes no account of the ability to separate and recycle unconverted raw materials. Reactor yield is only a meaningful parameter when it is not possible for one reason or another to recycle unconverted raw material to the reactor inlet. By constrast, the yield of the overall process is an extremely important parameter when describing the performance of the overall plant, as will be discussed later. 

But what is the correct choice a byproduct reaction calls for a continuous well-mixed reactor. On the other hand, the byproduct series reaction calls for a plug-flow reactor. It would seem that, given this situation, some level of mixing between a plug-flow and a continuous well-mixed reactor will give the best... 

If any change in the conditions of a system in equilibrium causes the equilibrium to be displaced, the displacement will be in such a direction as to oppose the effect of the change. 

Having considered reactor temperature and pressure, we are now in a position to judge whether the reactor phase will be gas, liquid, or multiphase. Given a free choice between gas- and liquid-phase reactions, operation in the liquid phase is usually preferred. Consider the single reaction system from Eq. (2.19) ... 

The secondary reactions are parallel with respect to ethylene oxide but series with respect to monoethanolamine. Monoethanolamine is more valuable than both the di- and triethanolamine. As a first step in the flowsheet synthesis, make an initial choice of reactor which will maximize the production of monoethanolamine relative to di- and triethanolamine. 

It should be emphasized that these recommendations for the initial settings of the reactor conversion will almost certainly change at a later stage, since reactor conversion is an extremely important optimization variable. When dealing with multiple reactions, selectivity is maximized for the chosen conversion. Thus a reactor type, temperature, pressure, and catalyst are chosen to this end. Figure 2.10 summarizes the basic decisions which must be made to maximize selectivity. ... 

In principle, extractive distillation is more useful than azeotropic distillation because the process does not depend on the accident of azeotrope formation, and thus a greater choice of mass-separating agent is, in principle, possible. In general, the solvent should have a chemical structure similar to that of the less volatile of the two components. It will then tend to form a near-ideal mixture with the less volatile component and a nonideal mixture with the more volatile component. This has the effect of increasing the volatility of the more volatile component. 

If the solvent is volatile, there will be some loss with the vapor. This should be avoided if the solvent is expensive and/or environmentally harmful by using a condenser (refrigerated if necessary) on the vapor leaving the absorber. 

No attempt should be made to optimize pressure, reflux ratio, or feed condition of distillation in the early stages of design. The optimal values almost certainly will change later once heat integration with the overall process is considered. 

The recycling of material is an essential feature of most chemical processes. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the main factors which dictate the recycle structure of a process. We shall start by considering the function of process recycles and restrict consideration to continuous processes. Later the scope will be extended to include batch processes. 

The three recycle structures shown in Fig. 4.2 also can be used with this case. Because the BYPRODUCT is now being formed by a secondary reaction which is reversible, its formation can be inhibited by recycling BYPRODUCT as shown in Fig. 4.3a. In Fig. 4.3a, the BYPRODUCT formation is inhibited to the extent that it is effectively stopped. In Fig. 4.36 it is only reduced and the net BYPRODUCT formation removed. Again, the separation configuration will change between different processes as the order of volatility between the components changes. 

The reactor effluent is thus likely to contain hydrogen, methane, benzene, toluene, and diphenyl. Because of the large differences in volatility of these components, it seems likely that partial condensation will allow the effluent to be split into a vapor stream containing predominantly hydrogen and methane and a liquid stream containing predominantly benzene, toluene, and diphenyl. 

The liquid stream can be separated readily into pure components by distillation, the benzene taken ofif as product, the diphenyl as an unwanted byproduct, and the toluene recycled. It is possible to recycle the diphenyl to improve selectivity, but we will assume that is not done here. 

The normal boiling points of the materials are given in Table 4.6. Synthesize a continuous reaction, separation, and recycle system for the process, bearing in mind that the process will later become batch. 

Large heat loads will cause high vapor rates, and these require large column diameters. 

The output from the turbine might be superheated or partially condensed, as is the case in Fig. 6.32. If the exhaust steam is to be used for process heating, ideally it should be close to saturated conditions. If the exhaust steam is significantly superheated, it can be desuperheated by direct injection of boiler feedwater, which vaporizes and cools the steam. However, if saturated steam is fed to a steam main, with significant potential for heat losses from the main, then it is desirable to retain some superheat rather than desuperheat the steam to saturated conditions. If saturated steam is fed to the main, then heat losses will cause excessive condensation in the main, which is not desirable. On the other hand, if the exhaust steam from the turbine is partially condensed, the condensate is separated and the steam used for heating. 

In general, the final network design should be achieved in the minimum number of units to keep down the capital cost (although this is not the only consideration to keep down the capital cost). To minimize the number of imits in Eq. (7.1), L should be zero and C should be a maximum. Assuming L to be zero in the final design is a reasonable assumption. However, what should be assumed about C Consider the network in Fig. 7.16, which has two components. For there to be two components, the heat duties for streams A and B must exactly balance the duties for streams E and F. Also, the heat duties for streams C and D must exactly balance the duties for streams G and H. Such balemces are likely to be unusual and not easy to predict. The safest assumption for C thus appears to be that there will be one component only, i.e., C = 1. This leads to an important special case when the network has a single component and is loop-free. In this case, ... 

Equation (7.12) is derived in App. C. Practical designs will be limited to some fraction of P ax, that is,... 

Preliminary process optimization is greatly simplified, as will be seen in the next chapter. 

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