CHEE 2404

Unit Operations and Unit Process

Equipment
Dr. A. Ghanem

 Lets look at the overall process flow of a

modern oil refinery:

The overall process is broken down

into individual subsets:
Physical
Distillation
Solvent extraction
Propane deasphalting
Solvent dewaxing
Blending

Chemical
Thermal
Visbreaking
Delayed coking
Flexicoking

Catalytic
Hydrotreating
Catalytic reforming
Catalytic cracking
Hydrocracking
Catalytic dewaxing
Alkylation

With their own flow arrangement:

Distillation

Fluid Catalytic Cracking

We notice..
The number of individual processes is large,
each one can be broken down into a series of
steps that appear in process after process
The individual steps have common techniques
and are based upon the same scientific
principles

Fluid Dynamics
Heat Transfer
Evaporation
Humidification
Gas absorption
Solvent Extraction
Adsorption
Distillation
Drying

Mixing
Classification
Fluidization
Filtration
Screening
Crystallization
Centrifugation
Comminution
Materials handling

 Fluid dynamics:
a study of the behaviour of fluids
In Chemical processes fluid streams flow from
one process to another through pipes and
ducts.
Process fluids are moved by pumps and
compressors
Fluid flowrates must be monitored by meters
and are controlled by valves.

 Heat Transfer:
process fluids may need to be heated up to a certain
temperature
heat from a process stream may be recovered
This can be done by contacting two streams in a heat
exchanger.

 Evaporation:
A special case of heat transfer, where a phase change takes
place.
Concentrate a solution consisting of a nonvolatile solute and a
volatile solvent
The volatile solute evaporates leaving a more concentrated
solution.

 Humidification:
Transfer of material between a pure liquid phase and
a fixed gas phase that is nearly insoluble in the liquid
Example: Water vapour is added to a air, cooling
tower to decrease water temperature

 Gas absorption
Also known as stripping or desorption
a mass transfer operation
A soluble vapour is absorbed from its mixture with an
inert gas by means of a liquid in which the solute gas
is more soluble.
Example: the removal of CO2 and H2S from natural
gas or syngas by adsorption into amines or alkaline
salts

 Leaching or Liquid extraction

Solid extraction involves the dissolving of soluble
matter from its mixture with an insoluble solid
Liquid extraction is the separation of two miscible
liquids by the use of a solvent that preferentially
dissolves one of them.
LE an alternative to distillation for difficult separations
Example: penicillin is separated from fermentation
broth by extraction with butyl acetate

 Distillation
Production of a vapour by boiling the liquid mixture to
be separated and then condensing the vapours
without returning any to the still. (flash distillation)
Return part of the condensate to the still under
conditions where it can be in contact with the vapours
on their way to the condenser. (rectification)
Either operation may be done in batch or continuous
mode.

 Adsorption
a separation process where the fluid is contacted with
small particles of a porous solid which selectively
adsorbs or complexes with certain components of the
feed.
The solid adsorbent is usually held in a fixed bed.

 Drying
Removal of water (usually small amounts) or other
liquid from a solid material to reduce the content of
residual liquid to an acceptable low value
Water may be removed by presses or centrifuge
(mechanical) or thermally by vaporization

 Agitation and Mixing

Induced motion of a material in a container
Random distribution into and through one another, of
two or more initially separate phases.

 Fluidization
Particle fluid interaction
When a gas or liquid is passed upward through a bed
of particles, at a certain velocity the particles will
become suspended in the fluid.

 Filtration
the removal of solid particles from a fluid by passing
the fluid through a filtering medium on which the
solids are deposited.

 Crystallization
The formation of solid particles within a homogenous
phase
Formation of solid particles in a vapour, solidification
from a liquid melt, or crystallization from liquid
solution
A variety of materials are marketed in crystallized
form.
Many are vacuum units where adiabatic evaporative
cooling induced supersaturation.

 Centrifugation
a given particle settles under gravitational force at a
fixed maximum rate
to increase the settling rate we replace the force of
gravity by a much stronger centrifugal force.
More effective than gravity separators because they
will separate fine drops and particles and are much
smaller in size for a given capacity.
Solids removal from gas: cyclones

 Materials handling
Classification:
characterization of solids by size and shape
Done in a series of standard screens or woven wire test
sieves arranged serially on a stack, with the smallest mesh
on the bottom and the largest on top.

Comminution
Size reduction of solid particles
For example, chunks of coke must be reduced to workable
size
Compression, impact, attrition (rubbing) or cutting
Crushers and grinders are good examples.

Unit Process: Reactors

While not a unit operation, reactors are
essential process operations
They are identified on flowsheets by the
type of vessel and their flow:
Batch reactor
Continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR)
plug flow or tubular reactor

 Batch reactor
A tank or vessel where reactants have
been placed and products are removed
There is no inflow or outflow of reactants
or products.

 Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR)

Run at steady state (ie no accumulation)
Very well mixed
Modelled as having no spatial variations in concentration,
temperature, pH or reaction rate in the vessel
T an C are identical everywhere in the vessel, they are the same
at the exit as in the tank.

 Plug Flow or Tubular Reactor

Consists of a cylindrical pipe
Assume the flow is highly turbulent and there
is no radial variation in concentration.