TABLE OF CONTENTS Key Learning Objectives
How to obtain the chemical and physical properties needed for design calculations
How commercial process simulators predict properties for compounds when little or no data are available
How to select a suitable phase equilibrium model
Information on manufacturing processes, equipment parameters, materials of construction, costs, and the physical properties of process materials are needed at all stages of design, from the initial screening of possible processes to the plant startup and production.
Sources of data on costs were discussed in Chapter 6 and materials of construction in Chapter 7. This chapter covers sources of information on manufacturing processes and physical properties, and the estimation of physical property data. Information on the types of equipment (unit operations) used in chemical process plants is given in Chapters 10, 11, and 12, which are concerned with equipment selection and design.
When a project is largely a repeat of a previous project, the data and information required for the design will be available in the company's process files, if proper detailed records are kept. For a new project or process, the design data must be obtained from the literature, or by experiment (research laboratory and pilot plant), or purchased from other companies. The information on manufacturing processes available in the general literature can be of use in the initial stages of process design, for screening potential processes, but is usually mainly descriptive and too superficial to be of much use for detailed design and evaluation.
The literature on...
