Tutorial 2.

1 Block flow diagram (BFD)

1. In the production of bean oil, beans containing 13.0 wt% oil and 87.0% solids are ground
and fed to a stirred tank (the extractor) along with the recycled stream of liquid n-hexane.
The feed ratio is 3 kg hexane/ kg beans. The ground beans are suspended in the liquid
and essentially all of the oil in the beans is extracted into the hexane. The extractor effluent
passes to a filter. The filter cake contains 75.0 wt% bean solids and the balance bean oil
and hexane, the latter two in the same ratio in which they emerge from the extractor. The
filter cake is discarded and the liquid filtrate is fed to a heated evaporator in which the
hexane is vaporized and the oil remains as a liquid. The oil is stored in drums and shipped.
The hexane vapor is subsequently cooled and condensed and the liquid hexane
condensate is recycled to the extractor.

2. Terephthalic acid (TPA), a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fiber, film and soft
drink bottles, is synthesized from p-xylene (PX). A fresh of pure liquid PX combines with
a recycle stream containing PX and a solution (S) of a catalyst (a cobalt salt) in a solvent
(methanol). The combined stream, which contains S and PX is fed to a reactor to convert
to TPA. A stream of air is also fed to the reactor. A liquid stream containing unreacted PX,
dissolved TPA, and all the S that entered the reactor goes to a separator in which solid
TPA crystals are formed are filtered out of the solution. The filtrate, which contains all the
S and PX leaving the reactor, is the recycle stream. A gas stream containing unreacted
oxygen, nitrogen and the water formed in the reaction leaves the reactor goes through a
condenser in which water is condensed. The uncondensed gas contains O2.

3. Methanol is synthesized from the carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the reaction. The
fresh feed to the system, which contains only CO and H2 is heated and compressed to a
certain temperature and pressure and fed to the reactor. The reactor effluent goes to a
separation unit where essentially all of the methanol produced in the reactor is condensed
and removed as product. The unreacted CO and H2 constitute the recycle stream blended
with fresh feed.

4. The fresh feed to an ammonia production process contains nitrogen and hydrogen, along
with an inert gas. The feed combined with a recycle stream containing the same three
species and the combined stream is fed to a reactor. The effluent flows to a condenser. A
liquid stBFDream containing essentially all of the ammonia formed in the reactor and a
gas stream containing all the inerts and the unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen leave the
condenser. The gas stream is split into two; one is removed from the process as a purge
stream and the other is the recycle stream combined with the fresh feed.

5. The Floods of Suds One-Day Laundry run a shirt-cleaning process. The shirts are soaked
in an agitated tub containing Whizzo, the Wonder Detergent, and are then wrung out and
sent to a rinse stage. The dirty Whizzo is sent to a filter in which most of the dirt is removed,
and the cleaned detergent is recycled back to join a stream of pure Whizzo, with the
combined stream serving as the feed to the washtub.

NKB10503 ENGINEERING DESIGN