Chapter 5

Input-Output Structure of the Flowsheet

Level 2 Input-Output Structure

We merely draw a box around the total process.

Thus, focus our attention on what raw materials are
fed to the process and what products and byproducts
are removed.

Almost every flow sheet has one of the two structures

shown below:
Rule of thumb:
It is desired to recover more than 99% of all valuable materials.

Order of magnitude: Complete recovery and

recycle of all valuable reactants. Thus,

Fig (a) shows no reactant leave the process but, if
water or air are reactants it might be cheaper to
lose them than recovering and recycling them
back. In those cases reactants will leave the process.

Fig (b) is when either gaseous feed impurity or
gaseous byproduct exist.

We distinguish between Fig (a) & (b) because in case
of (b) we have one more degree of freedom in design.

We must make following decisions in order to fix the

input-output structure of the flowsheet

In this level of design, means input-output structure,

there are six main and important questions to be
answered. In addition, the sequence of these
questions also should be considered.
The questions are as follows

1. Should we purify the feed streams before they inter the

process?
2. Should we remove or recycle a reversible byproduct?
3. Should we use a gas recycle and purge stream?
4. Should we not bother to recover and recycle some reactants?
5. How many product streams will there be?
6. What are the design variables for the input-output structure,
and what economic trade-offs are associated whit these
variables?
So we have to answer all these questions in this level of design
before we proceed the next level
Q.1- Should we purify the feed streams before they inter
the process?

a) If a feed impurity is not inert and is present in significant

quantities, remove it.
b) If a feed impurity is presented in a gas feed, as a first guess,
do not purify the feed.
c) If a feed impurity in a liquid feed stream is also a byproduct
or a product component, usually it is better to feed the
process through separation system (purify the feed in
separation section of the process).
d) If a feed impurity is present in large amounts, remove it
(purify the feed).

e) If a feed impurity is present as an azeotrope with

reactant often it is better to process the impurity (do not
purify the feed).

f) If a feed impurity is inert but is easier to separate from

the product than the feed, it is better to process the
impurity (do not purify the feed).

g) If a feed impurity is a catalyst poison, remove it (purify

the feed).

These guidelines are not quantitative so we may have to base
our design only on our best judgment.

If we are not certain that our decision is correct we list the

opposite decision as a process alternative. With this approach,
we have a systematic way to generate a list of process
alternatives.

The trade-off which exist for purifying the feed stream is

between building a preprocess separation system and
increasing the cost of process because we are handling the
increased flow rates of inert materials.
Q.2- Should we recover or recycle reversible byproduct?
Toluene + H2 Benzene + CH4
2Benzene Diphenyl + H2

Diphenyl can be recycled and let be accumulated in a recycle

loop. The trade-off is between high recycle cost of Diphenyl and
over sizing all the equipment in the loop and loosing some raw
materials to Diphenyl in case that we remove the Diphenyl.

This is a trade-off between two important operating costs thus,

there is no guideline for decision therefore we generate an
alternative.
Q.3- Should we use a gas recycle and purge stream?

If we have a light reactant an either a light feed impurity

or a light byproduct, use a gas recycle and a purge stream.

Light = boils at lower than propylene (-55F, -48C)
Propylene is a breakpoint because lower components
can not be condensed at reasonably high pressure with
cooling water and refrigeration and high pressure is
needed.

A membrane separation process also should always be
considered.
Q.4- Should we not bother to recover and recycle some
reactants?

Materials such as air and water are very cheap and we normally
should not bother to recover and recycle them. Of course we
can try to feed them to the process so that they would be
completely converted. Often they are used in excess to force
some more valuable reactant to complete conversion.

The greater amount of excess air for combustion the closer to
complete conversion. However the capital and operating costs
of the blower as well as preheating and cooling costs increase.
Therefore there is an optimum amount of excess that should be
used.
 Q.5- How many product streams will there be?

First we list all the components that are expected to leave the
reactor, order them in boiling point order. Then group them
as shown in next table.

The number of all groups except the recycle streams is the

number of product streams. It is never advantageous to
separate two streams and then mix them together.
 Example: HDA process

Component NBP (C) Stream

H2 -253 Recycle and Purge

CH4 -161 Recycle and Purge

Benzene 80 Primary Product

Toluene 111 Recycle

Diphenyl 253 Byproduct (fuel)

Therefore the Input-Output structure for HDA process
is as follows and there is three product streams.
Q.6- What are the design variables?

To calculate the material balance we should know the
degree of freedom or design variables. Then we can
develop the material balance and stream costs in terms
of the unknown design variables and look for
economic optimum values of these design variables.

Following parameters normally can be considered as degree
of freedom or design variables:
Reactor conversion of limiting reactant
Molar ratio of reactants
Reactor temperature, and/or reactor pressure
concentration of light reactant in gas recycle and purge

We usually try to correlate the conversion against the space
velocity in order to estimate the reactor size.

For preliminary design we assume that the reactor
configuration used in the process is the same as that used by
the chemist (a batch reactor is equivalent to a plug flow
reactor).

There is no rule of thumb for fixing design variables.

Important design variables for HDA process
reactor conversion
composition of H2 in recycle stream
Material Balance for HDA Process

PB
Fresh Toluene feed: FFT =
s
1 s PB 1 s
Diphenyl byproduct: PD = FFT ( )= ( )
2 s 2
yFH = composition of H2 in make up gas stream (FG)
yPH = composition of H2 in purge gas stream (PG)
H2 in make up gas:
PB P 1 s
FG y FH = + PG y PH B ( )
s s 2
Reacted purged produced
CH4 in purge:
PB
F G (1 y FH ) + = PG (1 y PH ) (A)
s
Methane in feed produced

Adding these two equations:

PB PB P 1 s
FG y FH + FG FG y FH + = + PG y PH B ( ) + PG PG y PH
s s s 2
P 1 s PB 1 s
FG = PG B ( ) or PG = F y
G PH + ( )
s 2 s 2
Substituting for PG in equation (A) and solving for FG then
(1 s )
PB 1 (1 y PH )
2
FG =
s ( y FH y PH )
Material balances in term of extent of reaction

Toluene + H2 Benzene + CH4

2Benzene Diphenyl + H2

1 moles of toluene reacts with 1 moles of H2 and produce 1

mole of benzene and 1 moles of CH4. Also 22 mole of benzene
produce 2 mole of diphenyl and 2 mole of H2.

Net benzene produced = 1 -22

Methane produced = 1
Diphenyl produced = 2
Toluene consumed = 1
Hydrogen consumed = 1 2
 moles of benzene produced 1 2 2
selectivity ( s) = =
moles of toluene converted 2
PB
Toluene consumed 1 =
s
Moles of benzene produced = 1-22 = PB 22 = 1 PB
1 PB PB 1 s
Diphenyl produced 2 = ( PB ) = ( )
2 s 2 s
Economic potential (EP) in level 2
EP2 = Products value + Byproducts values Raw Material Costs
For HDA process:
EP2 = Benzene value + Fuel Value of Diphenyl + Fuel value of purge
Toluene cost Make up gas cost
The annualized capital and operating cost of a feed compressor
should also be subtracted if one is needed.

Cost data for HDA process is given in Table 5.2-3 .

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000
EP2 ($/yr)

1,000,000
yPH
0 0.1
0.7
-1,000,000 0.9

-2,000,000

-3,000,000

-4,000,000
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Conversion x

At high conversion the process is not profitable !

Alternatives which can be generated for HDA so far:

1- Purify the Hydrogen stream.

2- Recycle the Diphenyl to extinction.
3- Purify the H2-recycle stream.

We complete one base case design and then evaluate other

alternatives.
Homework

Due time: two weeks

Chapter 5:

All problems except 1