Chemical Engineering Plant Design

(CHE 441)

Dr. Imran Hassan

Assistant Professor

Optimum Design
There are several alternative methods for the given process or operation
encountered by a chemical engineer. It is the responsibility of the chemical
engineer to choose the best process and to incorporate into the design the
equipment and methods that will give the best results.
Optimum economic design
If there are two or more methods for obtaining exactly equivalent final
results, the preferred method is the one involving the least total cost. This is
the basis of an optimum economic design.

Optimum operation design

Many processes require specific conditions of temperature, pressure, contact
time, or other variables if the best results are to be obtained. It is often possible
to make a partial separation of these optimum conditions from direct economic
considerations. In case of this type, the best design is designed as the optimum
operation design.
The chemical engineer must be able to combine many separate units or pieces of
equipment into one smoothly operating plant. The design of equipment,
therefore, is an essential part of a plant design.
The engineer developing a process design must accept the responsibility of
preparing the specifications for individual pieces of equipment and should be
acquainted with methods for fabricating different types of equipment.
The importance of choosing appropriate materials of construction in this
fabrication must be recognized. Many of the machine-design details are handled
by the fabricators, but the chemical engineer must supply the basic design
information.

HAZOPS Study
The hazard and operability study, commonly referred to as. the HAZOP study, is a
systematic technique for identifying all plant or equipment hazards and operability
problems. In this technique, each segment (pipeline, piece of equipment, instrument, etc.)
is carefully examined and all possible deviations from normal operating conditions are
identified. This is accomplished by fully defining the intent of each segment and then
applying guide words to each segment as follows:
No or not-no part of the intent is achieved and nothing else occurs (e.g.,
no flow)
More-quantitative increase (e.g., higher temperature)
Less-quantitative decrease (e.g., lower pressure) ,
As well as-qualitative increase (e.g., an impurity)
Part of-qualitative decrease (e.g., only one of two components in mixture)
Reverse-opposite (e.g., backflow)
Other than-no part of the intent is achieved and something completely
different occurs (e.g., flow of wrong material)
These guide words are applied to flow, temperature, pressure, liquid level,
composition, and any other variable affecting the process.

Fault tree Analysis

To design systems that work correctly we often need to
understand and correct how they can go wrong.
Dan Goldin, NASA Administratior,2000
FTA identifies, models and evaluates the unique
interrelationship of events leading to:
Failure
Undesired Events
Unintended Events
Top-Down Approach
Root cause-Deductive Analysis

History
H. Watson of bell labs, along with A.Mearns, developed the technique for the Air
Force for the evaluation of the launch control system, 1961.
First major use when applied by Boeing on the entire system for safety evaluation
(1964-1967, 1968-1999)
The fault-tree analysis (FTA) is primarily a means of analyzing hazardous events after
they have been identified by other techniques such as HAZOP. The FTA is used to
estimate the likelihood of an accident by breaking it down into its contributing
sequences, each of which is separated into all of its necessary events. The use of a
logic diagram or fault tree then provides a graphical representation between certain
possible events and an undesired consequence.
The sequence of events forms pathways on the fault tree, provided with logical
And and Or gates.
Probabilities of the various events are expressed as a yearly rate. For example, a 1 X
10-3 chance occurrence per year would represent an event that average-wise would
occur only once every 1000 years. Estimation of failure rates with any precision is
generally difficult because of the limited prior data. In such cases, information from
various sources is used and then revised to incorporate information that is sitespecific.

Once a fault-tree analysis has been completed, it becomes

rather easy to investigate the impact of alternative
preventive measures. For example, in the development of a
FTA for Fig. 3-1 and its associated HAZOP study presented in
Table 4, Ozogt has determined that the most probable event
is a liquid release from the storage tank (Event 6) due to
overfilling. However, by adding an independent high-level
shutoff (V-5) to the tank-truck unloading pump, the
probability of a liquid release by this event is significantly
reduced and Events 12 or 13 (PV-2 closed) become the
most probable events. The probability of these events, in
turn, could be reduced by the installation of an independent
low-pressure alarm to the tank. This process of reducing the
probability of the most probable event could be continued
until an overall acceptable risk level is eventually achieve.

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis:

The failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is generally applied to a specific
piece of equipment in a process or a particularly hazardous part of a larger
process. Its primary purpose is to evaluate the frequency and consequences of
component failures on the process and surroundings. Its major shortcoming is
that it focuses only on component failure and does not consider errors in
operating procedures or those committed by operators. As a result, it has limited
use in the chemical process industry.

WRITING A THESIS/ DISSERTATION/ PROJECT REPORT

Introduction to FYDP
Report Writing
Thesis Structure
Formatting
Binding
Submission

THESIS
Refers to a documented report of the process followed and

the results of original research conducted by a student in

fulfilment of the requirements for a (graduate) degree.
The thesis should be presented in a manner that will reflect

credit on the student, the faculty, and the University.

The term thesis refers to doctoral and masters theses and

dissertations as well as bachelor degree project report.

3 Sections: Preliminary Pages; Text; References

PRELIMINARY PAGES
Blank paper
Declaration of the Status of Thesis
Letter regarding status classification of thesis (conditional)
Supervisors declaration
Declaration on cooperation (conditional)
Certification of examination
Title page
Declaration of originality and exclusiveness
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Table of Contents

TEXT
A thesis must be divided into chapters.
A title must be given and it should reflect its content.
A new chapter must begin on a new page. A chapter must

be divided into sections. These sections must be given

appropriate titles and numbered.
Texts must be written in paragraphs. Long paragraphs

should be avoided. Each paragraph must describe an

issue or subject.
There must be continuity between paragraphs.

TEXT
An introduction and background on the study or

research. It also includes problem statement, objective,

scope and thesis outline (UG + PG)
A detailed description of the study or research which
include theories, models, and materials and methods
used (UG + PG)
Referred to as Literature Review
Process design (UG)
Data collection and analysis techniques (PG)

Referred to as Material & Methods

Preliminary design (UG)

TEXT
Results and discussions (PG)
Equipment design (UG)
Instrumentation and process control methodology (UG)
Material of construction (UG)
Cost estimation (UG)
HAZOP study (UG)
Conclusions and recommendations (UG + PG)
References; Appendices (UG + PG)

CONCLUSIONS

The conclusions section should contain short

and precise concluding remarks arising out of

the investigation.
This section should reinforce the originality of
the work presented.
Only the very important points should be
included in this section.
It is the concrete achievement/findings of the
work Should highlight the achievements of
objectives

REFERENCES
The list of references must contain full details of each

reference cited in the manuscript.

The citation details must include the initials and

surnames of each author, the full title of the article and

the full citation details i.e. title of the journal,
volume/issue number, inclusive pages, year of
publication (journal)
For conference papers the title of the conference, venue,

inclusive pages, and the year of the conference need to

be given.

REFERENCES

Books
Journal
Patents
Proceedings
Thesis (PhD and Masters)
Report
Internet
Personal communications

REFERENCE STYLE

Harvard
Numbering
IEEE
Endnote (Software)

APPENDIX

Any appendices need to be of similar level of

presentation quality of the manuscript itself.

Appendices provide opportunities to present
additional materials (Excess data, tables,
Figures, Equation, Programming code, sample
calculation, questionnaire) which are
inappropriate for inclusion in the main body of
the manuscript.
However the length must not be excessive.
27

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PLAGIARISM

VERY VERY IMPORTANT POINT!!!!

Plagiarism is one of the most serious misconduct in the

publishing world.
As a general guideline, any material/information used
from other peoples work must be cited.
Otherwise if detected the paper containing plagiarized
material will be formally retracted exposing author (s) to
the learned community.

29

COMMON TYPES OF PLAGIARISM

Cut & Paste Plagiarism
Whenever you take an entire sentence or significant phrase from a
source, you must use quotation marks and reference the source.
Word Switch Plagiarism
If you take a sentence from a source and simply change around a few
words, it is still plagiarism.

Style Plagiarism
If you follow a Source Article sentence-by-sentence or paragraph-byparagraph, it is plagiarism, even though none of your sentences is exactly
like those in the Source article or even in the same order. You are copying is
the author's reasoning style.
Metaphor Plagiarism
Metaphors are used to make an idea clearer than by giving a plain
description of the object or process. Metaphors, are an important part of an
author's creative style and if you use the metaphor in the Source Article,
give the author credit for it.
Idea Plagiarism
If the author of the source article expresses a creative idea or suggests a
solution to a problem, these must be clearly attributed to the author. This
is different from public domain information, which is any idea or solution
accepted as general knowledge. For example, what a black hole is and how
it is defined is general knowledge. You do not need to reference a general

COMMON TYPES OF PLAGIARISM

Paraphrasing without giving credits to the

original source
Quoting less than what has been copied
Creating a paper by cutting and pasting phrases,
sentences, or paragraphs from other publications
Working on an individual assignment with a
partner and turning in identical answers
Based on Robert A. Harris Plagiarism Handbook: Strategies for Preventing, Detecting, and
Dealing with Plagiarism. Los Angeles, CA: Pyrczak Publishing, 2001.

DESPERATE TYPES OF PLAGIARISM

Copy an entire article from the Web

or a subscription online database
Download a free research paper from the Web
Buy a paper from a commercial paper mill
Fake a citation to get by so as to meet the deadline
Use a paper with permission from a friend who took the
same course or chose the same research topic

Based on Robert A. Harris Plagiarism Handbook: Strategies for Preventing, Detecting, and
Dealing with Plagiarism. Los Angeles, CA: Pyrczak Publishing, 2001.

REDUCING PLAGIARISM?

Check your current works using web searches

Google/Lycos etc.
Include an annotated bibliography as well as

a reference list
How did you find it?
What were the big ideas?
What evidence did the person use?
Does the argument follow from the evidence?

LIST OF PLAGIARISM DETECTION SOFTWARE

Turnitin (www.turnitin.com)
Scan Essay (http://www.scanmyessay.com)
Ithenticate (http://www.ithenticate.com)
PlagirismFinder (http://www.plagiarismfinder.de)
CopyScape (http://copyscape.com)
SafeAssign
(http://wiki.safeassign.com/display/SAFE/Home)
Plagiarismdetect (http://www.plagiarismdetect.com)
CopyDetect (http://copydetect.sps.utm.my)

TURNITIN

FORMATTING

Paper and Size

White simile 80 gram high quality A4 size papers (210

297 mm) should be used.

Margin
All pages should be set with the same margin. The left
margin should be 4 cm (for binding purposes) and 2.5
cm for the top, right and bottom margins.
Pagination
Numbering the Chapters and Sub-sections
Typing
Spacing and Format

36

MAXIMUM LIMITS
The maximum number of pages for a project

report/dissertation/thesis are as follows:

Bachelor Degree Project Report : 150 pages
Masters Report/Dissertation/Thesis : 200 pages
Doctorate Thesis
: 300 pages
These limits include tables, figures and other illustrations

in the text but do not include appendices.

BINDING
A thesis must be bound properly. A thesis should be

temporarily bound for the purpose of examination.

A thesis for final submission must be permanently bound
with hard cover.
A thesis submitted to the University must be permanently
bound. A Buckram type cover must be used and written
with golden ink for the lettering. The minimum size of the
letters should be 18 point.
Binding Colour
Doctorate Maroon
Masters
Dark Brown
Bachelors Navy Blue