This chapter examines the nature of chemical products. It is motivated by the recent interest in ... more This chapter examines the nature of chemical products. It is motivated by the recent interest in the area of chemical product design. Recent advances in chemical product design follow the two approaches used in process design: (1) an optimal solution is obtained by searching among a collection of alternatives through mathematical optimization, and (2) systematic reduction of alternatives through heuristics. In retrospect, there is a consensus that the development of process engineering has passed through four eras: (1) industrial chemistry, (2) unit operations, (3) chemical engineering science, and (4) chemical systems engineering. The development of engineering sciences allows a better understanding of each unit operation, thereby identifying a better way to do process design. These aspects are important for the development of chemical product engineering—that is, divide the products to identify their constituent parts and their nature to achieve development in this area. The challenge of this chapter is to clarify the nature of chemical products, present the basic definitions related to a chemical product and examine the usefulness of these definitions for the classification, study, and design of chemical products.
... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHM... more ... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHMED A. IBRAHIM Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum ... Modem methods of calculation use equations of state (EOS) to predict YLE behavior in mixtures ...
Several chemicals are produced from brines by solar crystallization using solar ponds. The proces... more Several chemicals are produced from brines by solar crystallization using solar ponds. The process of salt harvest consists on mechanically retiring the salts precipitated in the solar evaporation ponds and to leave them in their respective stockpile. In an industrial operation several ponds are used for the salt crystallization, and hence the harvest planning can be a nontrivial task. Therefore,
... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHM... more ... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHMED A. IBRAHIM Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum ... Modem methods of calculation use equations of state (EOS) to predict YLE behavior in mixtures ...
Inorganic salts have wide applications in diverse fields. One of their major sources is salt lake... more Inorganic salts have wide applications in diverse fields. One of their major sources is salt lakes, and crystallization-based techniques have been utilized to extract the desired salts from the salt lake brine. For a feed with a given composition, the determination of which particular salt (or a mixture of salts) crystallizes under a specific set of operating conditions, and the development of the corresponding crystallization-based extraction process, requires knowledge of the solid-liquid equilibrium (SLE) phase behavior of the salt lake system and process design methods. Despite of the well establishment of phase-diagram based process synthesis procedures and process optimization methods, however, dealing with a salt lake system poses special challenges. The existence of a huge number of different species in a salt lake greatly complicates the representation, experimental determination and visualization of the thermodynamic data of such system, which thus causes difficulty in the...
In the last decade, there has been a remarkable advance in the development of biodiesel from raw ... more In the last decade, there has been a remarkable advance in the development of biodiesel from raw materials, highlighting various studies on the use of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and microalgae. A process flow sheet for biodiesel production from microalgae Botryococcus braunii under alkaline conditions on a commercial scale was developed. Detailed operating conditions and equipment designs for this process were obtained. A technological assessment of this process was conducted to evaluate the technical benefits and limitations. Parameters investigated in the sensitivity analysis were the selling price of biodiesel, oil prices fed, credit glycerin and discount rate, which proved to be the most significant variables affecting the economic viability of the process. These parameters were analyzed using statistical analysis with an experimental design. Economic evaluation of the transesterification process with a base catalysis from microalgae (75,000 tons/year) was performed....
ABSTRACT Process design is performed using deterministic values of input variables. However, thes... more ABSTRACT Process design is performed using deterministic values of input variables. However, these input variables may have uncertainties that can lead the designed process to unwanted conditions. This paper presents a methodology for determining critical variables to avoid unwanted responses in the designed process. The methodology proposed here consists of three stages: 1) deterministic process design, 2) elimination of non-influential input variables via the global sensitivity analysis method of Sobol’, and 3) determination and regionalization of critical variables with Monte Carlo Filtering. The proposed methodology was applied to the design of a mineral concentration circuit and to the design of a desalination plant. The results show that the methodology could be helpful in analyzing whether a deterministic design works adequately under uncertainties, identifying critical variables in large models, and regionalizing operating conditions and design variables.
ABSTRACT Caliche is a highly water-soluble mineral that is exploited in northern Chile for its va... more ABSTRACT Caliche is a highly water-soluble mineral that is exploited in northern Chile for its valuable content of iodine and nitrate, which are used in technological, medical, agriculture, dietary, and industrial applications. The processing of this mineral is through vat or heap leaching, where the species are dissolved using mainly fresh water and intermediate solutions. Since the deposits are located in zones with scarce water availability, one of the challenges for this industry is the search for new sustainable sources of water to face the process requirements. The use of groundwater sources by the mining industry has affected the domestic water supply for the nearest populations, increasing the need for new water alternatives as desalination of seawater by reverse osmosis (RO). A disadvantage of this method is the generation and discharge of highly concentrated brines to sea. In this work, the feasibility to use RO brine for caliche leaching was empirically proved through column-leaching experiments, which showed high recoveries of iodine and nitrate. Therefore, the use of RO brines may be an interesting option, on one side, for covering the increasing demand of processing water and, on the other side, to diminish the negative impact of brine disposal to the sea.
This chapter examines the nature of chemical products. It is motivated by the recent interest in ... more This chapter examines the nature of chemical products. It is motivated by the recent interest in the area of chemical product design. Recent advances in chemical product design follow the two approaches used in process design: (1) an optimal solution is obtained by searching among a collection of alternatives through mathematical optimization, and (2) systematic reduction of alternatives through heuristics. In retrospect, there is a consensus that the development of process engineering has passed through four eras: (1) industrial chemistry, (2) unit operations, (3) chemical engineering science, and (4) chemical systems engineering. The development of engineering sciences allows a better understanding of each unit operation, thereby identifying a better way to do process design. These aspects are important for the development of chemical product engineering—that is, divide the products to identify their constituent parts and their nature to achieve development in this area. The challenge of this chapter is to clarify the nature of chemical products, present the basic definitions related to a chemical product and examine the usefulness of these definitions for the classification, study, and design of chemical products.
... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHM... more ... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHMED A. IBRAHIM Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum ... Modem methods of calculation use equations of state (EOS) to predict YLE behavior in mixtures ...
Several chemicals are produced from brines by solar crystallization using solar ponds. The proces... more Several chemicals are produced from brines by solar crystallization using solar ponds. The process of salt harvest consists on mechanically retiring the salts precipitated in the solar evaporation ponds and to leave them in their respective stockpile. In an industrial operation several ponds are used for the salt crystallization, and hence the harvest planning can be a nontrivial task. Therefore,
... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHM... more ... Ingenierla en Industrializacion, Universidad de La Serena, Casilla 554, La Serena (Chile) AHMED A. IBRAHIM Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum ... Modem methods of calculation use equations of state (EOS) to predict YLE behavior in mixtures ...
Inorganic salts have wide applications in diverse fields. One of their major sources is salt lake... more Inorganic salts have wide applications in diverse fields. One of their major sources is salt lakes, and crystallization-based techniques have been utilized to extract the desired salts from the salt lake brine. For a feed with a given composition, the determination of which particular salt (or a mixture of salts) crystallizes under a specific set of operating conditions, and the development of the corresponding crystallization-based extraction process, requires knowledge of the solid-liquid equilibrium (SLE) phase behavior of the salt lake system and process design methods. Despite of the well establishment of phase-diagram based process synthesis procedures and process optimization methods, however, dealing with a salt lake system poses special challenges. The existence of a huge number of different species in a salt lake greatly complicates the representation, experimental determination and visualization of the thermodynamic data of such system, which thus causes difficulty in the...
In the last decade, there has been a remarkable advance in the development of biodiesel from raw ... more In the last decade, there has been a remarkable advance in the development of biodiesel from raw materials, highlighting various studies on the use of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and microalgae. A process flow sheet for biodiesel production from microalgae Botryococcus braunii under alkaline conditions on a commercial scale was developed. Detailed operating conditions and equipment designs for this process were obtained. A technological assessment of this process was conducted to evaluate the technical benefits and limitations. Parameters investigated in the sensitivity analysis were the selling price of biodiesel, oil prices fed, credit glycerin and discount rate, which proved to be the most significant variables affecting the economic viability of the process. These parameters were analyzed using statistical analysis with an experimental design. Economic evaluation of the transesterification process with a base catalysis from microalgae (75,000 tons/year) was performed....
ABSTRACT Process design is performed using deterministic values of input variables. However, thes... more ABSTRACT Process design is performed using deterministic values of input variables. However, these input variables may have uncertainties that can lead the designed process to unwanted conditions. This paper presents a methodology for determining critical variables to avoid unwanted responses in the designed process. The methodology proposed here consists of three stages: 1) deterministic process design, 2) elimination of non-influential input variables via the global sensitivity analysis method of Sobol’, and 3) determination and regionalization of critical variables with Monte Carlo Filtering. The proposed methodology was applied to the design of a mineral concentration circuit and to the design of a desalination plant. The results show that the methodology could be helpful in analyzing whether a deterministic design works adequately under uncertainties, identifying critical variables in large models, and regionalizing operating conditions and design variables.
ABSTRACT Caliche is a highly water-soluble mineral that is exploited in northern Chile for its va... more ABSTRACT Caliche is a highly water-soluble mineral that is exploited in northern Chile for its valuable content of iodine and nitrate, which are used in technological, medical, agriculture, dietary, and industrial applications. The processing of this mineral is through vat or heap leaching, where the species are dissolved using mainly fresh water and intermediate solutions. Since the deposits are located in zones with scarce water availability, one of the challenges for this industry is the search for new sustainable sources of water to face the process requirements. The use of groundwater sources by the mining industry has affected the domestic water supply for the nearest populations, increasing the need for new water alternatives as desalination of seawater by reverse osmosis (RO). A disadvantage of this method is the generation and discharge of highly concentrated brines to sea. In this work, the feasibility to use RO brine for caliche leaching was empirically proved through column-leaching experiments, which showed high recoveries of iodine and nitrate. Therefore, the use of RO brines may be an interesting option, on one side, for covering the increasing demand of processing water and, on the other side, to diminish the negative impact of brine disposal to the sea.
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