Chapter 3 Large investment have been made by the
chemical process including to eliminating source
Design literature of pollution.
These resources provide helpful leads to specific These have increased the cost of manufacturing
problems, as well as information about related which in turn, have been transmitted to
products, thermophysical property and transport consumers through increased cost of end
data, possible flowsheets, equipment descriptions, products.
and process models. The following are singled out as being closely
related to the design and operation of chemical
Several literature resources are widely used by processes.
design team: a) Burning of fossil fuels for power generation
Stanford Research Institute (SRI) Design report and transportation
Encyclopedias Effluent gases from burners and fires contain
Handbooks and Reference books sizeable concentration of SO2, NOx, COx,
Indexes soot, ash and unburned hydrocarbon.
Patents Methods are sought to reduce their level,
GoogleTM, Google ScholarTM, Wikipedia such as separating the source from fuels,
adjusting combustion process, separating
soot, ash and noxious compound from
Energy Sources effluents gases, reacting effluent gases in
Throughout the industrial revolution and beyond, catalytic converter, or through the use of
the principal energy sources have been fossil algae to consume CO2.
fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. b) Handling of toxic wastes
These high-energy-density fuels that, when Large quantities of toxic wastes are produced
burned, release CO2 (greenhouse gases), soot and annually from chemical and nuclear power
NOx (in smog), and SO2 (which form sulfuric industries, which have threatened the health
acid in acid rain). of nearby resident and contaminate the
They are not renewable nor sustainable beyond underground water supply.
one or two centuries due to depletion. In process design, it is essential that facilities
be included to remove pollutants from
In 21th century, renewable energy sources,
wastewater stream or reduce the amount
including hydrogen fuels, biofuels, geothermal
through the design of mass exchange
sources, solar power etc. are expanding rapidly
networks (MENs).
as a result of environmental and sustainability
c) Bioaccumulated chemicals
issues become more widely recognized and the
The well-known cases of chemicals that have
energy grid expands.
been discovered to bioaccumulate in soil and
When selecting energy sources, it is important to
plant life are the pesticide.
recognize that decisions involving environmental
Although it effective for protecting crops and
impacts, the sustainability of natural resources,
plant life, toxic effect in animals and human
safety and profitability are critical to successful
are strongly suspected.
process design.
d) Toxic metal and minerals
Major changes in rules and regulation have
been taken place in response to the
Environmental Protection
discoveries of the toxic effects of lead,
Tighter environmental regulations have been mercury, cadmium and asbestos on human
legislated and enforced, resulted in noticeable and animals.
improvement in air quality, a reduction in water
pollution, and considerable progress in the Environmental factors in process design
remediation of waste dumps containing toxic
The need to retrofit existing plans and design
chemicals.
environmentally-sound new plant has become far
more proficient in accounting for gaseous pollutants in atmosphere. PM10 may
environmentally related factors. cause damage to the human respiratory
I. Reaction pathways to reduce byproduct toxicity system.
– the selection of reaction pathways to reduce ii. PM2.5 – Particulate materials less than 2.5µm
byproduct toxicity is a key consideration. When form in the same way as PM10, but it can
large quantities of toxic chemicals are penetrate deeper into respiratory system than
anticipated, other reaction pathways must be PM10.
sought. iii. O3 – Ozone is very reactive compound
II. Reducing and reusing waste – environmental present in stratosphere and troposphere.
concerns have place even greater emphasis on Present of ozone at ground level is a danger
recycling, not only unreacted chemicals but also to human health and contribute to the
product and byproduct chemicals. The process formation of other pollutants.
design need to anticipate the life cycles of their iv. VOCs – A VOC is any compound of carbon
products and byproducts, paying attention to the (excluding CO2, CO, H2CO3), which
waste markets, so as to select the appropriate participate in atmospheric photochemical
waste quality. It is important to plan on reaction for the formation of ground level
segregated wastes when they are desired by ozone and smog.
waste market, and avoid overmixing the waste v. SOx – Oxides of Sulphur (SO2, SO3) are
streams. formed in the combustion of fuels containing
III. Avoiding non-routine events – to reduce the sulphur and as by product of chemical
possibilities for accidents and spills, processes production.
are often designed to reduce the number of vi. NOx – Oxides of nitrogen (NO, NO2) are
transient operations, clean-up periods and formed in the combustion processes and as by
catalyst regeneration cycles. Thus, to design a product of chemical production.
process that is easily controlled at or near the vii. CO – Carbon monoxide formed by the
nominal steady state, with reliable controllers, incomplete combustion of fuel.
and effective fault detection sensors. viii. CO2 – Carbon dioxide formed principally by
IV. Materials characterization – to maintain low the combustion of fuel.
concentration of toxic chemical below the limit
of environmental regulation, it is important to use There are 4 main problems associated with
effective and rapid methods for measuring or atmospheric emissions.
deducing their concentration. a. Urban smog – Commonly found in modern
V. Design objective, constrained and optimization – cities especially where air is trapped in a
Economic objective functions normally involve basin. It is observed as brownish colored air.
profitability measures, but the value of reduced Formation of urban smog is through complex
pollution is not easily quantified by economic photochemical reactions:
measure. Thus, mixed objective functions are 𝑉𝑂𝐶𝑠 + 𝑁𝑂𝑥 + 𝑂2
formulated that attempt to express environmental ℎ𝑓
→ 𝑂3 + 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠
improvements in financial term. Besides,
Ozone and other photochemical pollutants
optimization of an economic objective function
harmful effect on living organism
over constrain/boundary on the concentration of
(respiratory problem) and on building
the solutes in waste stream.
structure.
b. Acid rain – Human activity can reduce the pH
Atmospheric pollution
very significantly down to range 2-4 in
There are many types of emissions to extreme cases, mainly cause by emission of
atmosphere, and these can be characterized as SOx. Problem associated with acid rain:
particulate (solid or liquid), vapor and gaseous. o Damage to plant life
Industrial emissions of major concern are as o Acidification of water
listed below: o Corrosion of building
i. PM10 – Particulate materials less than 10µm c. Ozone layer destruction – Ozone in upper
diameter is formed as byproduct of level of atmosphere is essential as it absorbs
incomplete combustion and reaction between
considerable amount of ultraviolet light. The (iii)Level 3 – measure facility effects (e.g.
destruction of ozone is catalyzed by NOx and acidification potential, percent of workers who
halocarbons. The result of ozone layer report complete job satisfaction)
destruction increase the ultraviolet light (iv) Level 4 – measure the supply-chain and product
reaching Earth surface and potentially life cycle (e.g. the percent of products design for
increasing skin cancer and endanger polar disassembly, reuse, or recycling)
species. (v) Level 5 – measure system effect (e.g. ecological
d. The greenhouse effect – Gases such as CO2, cumulative energy consumption)
CH4 and H2O, reduce the Earth’s emissivity All indicator are express in percentage basis:
and reflect some of the heat radiated by the 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 − 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑡
Earth. This results in the increase of global 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 = 𝑥100%
𝐵𝑒𝑠𝑡 − 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑡
temperature, leading to melting of polar ice where Best is 100% sustainability, Worst is 0%
caps and glaciers, rising sea levels, sustainability.
desertification of areas etc. With appropriate weighting factors, wi , i = 1,…
and overall sustainability index SI can be defined
Sustainability 𝑁𝐼
A sustainable product is one that meets the needs 𝑆𝐼 = ∑ 𝑤𝑖 𝑥 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑖
of society while respecting the anticipated needs 𝑖=1
of future generations, and also avoid harming the where NI is the number of sustainability indicators
environment. included.
To achieve sustainability while producing high-
quality products, it is desirable to use small Example:
amounts of raw materials and energy and to A typical efficiency indicator would be Reaction
produce small amount of waste. Yield:
Decisions to take advantages of today’s cheap 𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑
𝑌𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 =
prices and easily accessibility may result in 𝑚𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑
expensive and inaccessible raw materials for
future generations. Beginning with a process flowsheet, the
It also become common to consider the full life associated materials and energy balances, cost
cycle when designing a chemical product. estimates, environmental impact indicators and
safety indices are evaluated, and life cycle and
Sustainable indicators economic analyses are carried out.
These indicators are intended to help identify
aspects of potential process designs that should Life cycle analysis
be revised to achieve more sustainable chemical For a chemical product, the analysis begins with
processes. the selection of raw materials and their
GREENSCOPE (Gauging Reaction harvesting techniques. Then, it moves to
Effectiveness for the Environmental manufacturing processes that produce the
Sustainability of Chemistries with a multi- product, and then disposed of or recycled.
Objective Process Evaluator) methodology to Throughout the life cycle, energy is consumed
evaluate process with 140 different indicators at and waste and emission are generated.
5 different levels
(i) Level 1 – measure facilities compliance/
conformance indicators (involving costs Safety considerations
associated with environmental, health and safety Another principal objective in design and
compliance) operation of chemical process is to maintain safe
(ii) Level 2 – measure materials use and performance condition for operating personnel and inhabitants
(i.e. material use, energy use, and rate of who live in the vicinity of the plants. To avoid
customer complaints and returns.) this, all companies have extensive safety policies
and procedures to administer them.
Two safety issues are singled out as they must be Ensure the plant is well ventilated, to reduce
confronted in the design of chemical plants and the possibilities of creating flammable
in other plants in which exothermic reactions and mixtures that could ignite.
operation occur at elevated pressures. Sprinkler systems are installed to provide
a) Fires and explosions rapid response to fires and means to contain
o It is not uncommon for sizable concentration
them effectively.
of flammable chemicals to accumulate in
2. Relief devices
air/pure oxygen with the possibilities of
ignition or even explosions Installation of relief devices, such as safety
o Few properties for flammable chemical to be valves, knock-out drums, rupture disc etc, to
considered: provide a method for relieving pressure.
I. Lower flammability limit (LFL) 3. Hazards identification and risk assessment
II. Upper flammability limit (UFL) Conduct a Hazard and Operability (HAZOP)
**Any concentration within LFL and UFL, study, to identify all the possible paths and
flames and explosion can occur. sources of accidents or hazards.
III. Autoignition temperature – temperature 4. Materials safety data sheets
at which it will ignite spontaneously in
Prepare a materials safety data sheets for
air, without any external source if ignition
every chemical appearing in the process,
IV. Flash point – lowest temperature at which
a liquid give off enough vapor to form an which contain the safety and hazard
ignitable mixture with air. information. Physical and chemical
b) Toxic release and dispersion model characteristic, and precautions on safe
In chemical processing plant, it is desirable to handling and use of the chemicals.
avoid working with chemicals (raw materials, 5. Safety risk analysis
intermediate, and byproduct) that are toxic, Installation of alarms and safety system to
through consideration of alternative reaction alert operating personnel and protect the
paths. process from consequences of abnormal
If it is avoidable, the potential for the release of events, when plantwide control systems are
toxic materials during emergency/accident must unable to maintain normal operating
be considered. conditions.
I. Identify the possible ways in which
release can occur
II. Select protective devices and processing
units, and asses their potential of failure
III. Model the spread of toxic materials into
surrounding
Design approaches toward safe chemical plants:
1. Technique to prevent fires and explosion
Addition of an inert gas to reduce the oxygen
concentration below the minimum oxygen
concentration.
Avoid buildup of static electricity which can
results in a spark and serve as ignition source
through installation of grounding devices or
the use of antistatic additives.
Installation of explosion proof equipment and
instrument, to absorb the shock and prevent
the combustion from spreading beyond the
enclosure.
