Applied Chemical Process Design Applied Chemical Process Design FRANK AERSTIN AND GARY STREET Dow Chemical Midland, Michigan With a Foreword by K. D. Timmerhaus PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Aerstin, Frank. Applied chemical process design. Includes index. 1. Chemical processes. 2. Chemical engineering. I. Street, Gary, joint author. II. Title. TP 155.7 .A35 660.2'81 78-9104 ISBN-13:978-1-4613-3978-6 e-ISBN -13 :978-1-4613-3976-2 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4613-3976-2 First Printing-November 1978 Second Printing - May 1980 Third 'Printing - January 1982 Fourth Printing-October 1989 © 1978 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1978 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieYaI system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfJiming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher Contents Foreword ........................................... . vii Preface ............................................. . ix List of Figures ...................................... . xi List of Tables ....................................... . xv Conversion Tables ................................... . 1 1. Agitation and Mixing ................................ . 9 1.1. Agitators •.••••.•••.•••..••••••.•••••••••••.•..••.. 9 1.2. Motionless Mixers .•.•.••...•.•.•...•...•..•.•..•••.. 12 2. Cooling Towers ................... ~ ................. . 29 3. Decanters .......................................... . 35 4. Distillation .......................................... . 39 4.1. Basic Laws ••..••••••.••••••.••••••.•••••••••..•••• 39 4.2. Shortcut Method-Optimum Trays and Optimum Reflux Ratio •..••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••••. 39 4.3. Flash Vaporization •..•••..•.•.•.••••••.•.•••.•.•.•.•. 47 4.4. Selection of Internals •.•••••••••••••••..••••.••.•.•••• 49 4.5. Tray Column Diameter ••••••••••.•••••••.••••.•••..••• 49 4.6. Tray Overall Efficiency ••••••.••••••••••••••••••••..••• 50 51 4.7. Packed Column Design •••••.••••••••..••••••••.••.••• 4.8. Packed Column Diameter and Pressure Drop ..••.••••.....• 53 5. Economic Evaluation ................................ . 57 6. Fluid Flow .......................................... . 65 6.1. Fluid Flow-Single Phase ••••.•••.••••••.•.•••••••.•••• 65 6.2. Fluid Flow-Two Phase ••••••••••••••••.•••••••••.•••. 92 6.3. Flow through Orifices 96 7. Gas-Solid Separations .................. , ............ . 105 8. Heat Transfer ....................................... . 111 111 8.1. Heat Transfer Coefficients •••••••••.•••..•••••.•••.•••• 121 8.2. Heat Losses from Tanks •.••..• : .•••.•...••..........•. 8.3. Heating of Process Piping and Vessels-Heat Losses from Insulated Pipelines •••••..•••.••••.•.•••••••.••••• 121 8.4. Heating of Process Piping and Vessels-Steam 121 Tracing •••••.••••••••••.•••.•.•••••••••.•••..••.•. V vi CONTENTS B.5. Heating of Process Piping and Vessels-Dowtherm SR-1 Tracing ••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 124 B.6. Double Pipe Exchangers •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 128 B.7. Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers ...•..•••••.••••.•.•••• 132 B.B. Heat Transfer Coefficient in Agitated Vessels ••••••.•..••. 144 B.9. Falling Film Coefficients ...•....................•...•. 145 B.10. Reboilers and Vaporizers ..••••......••••••..•..••.••• 146 B.11. Condensers ••••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 154 B.12. Air-Cooled Heat Exchangers •••••••••.••••••••••.•••••• 158 B.13. Unsteady-State Heat Transfer ••••••••••••••••••••••••• 170 9. Hydroclones ......................................... 181 10. Materials ............................................ 185 11. Physical Properties ................................... 189 12. Dimensions and Properties of Piping ................... 231 13. Pump Sizing ......................................... 235 14. Safety Relief Valves and Rupture Disks .....•....•..... 243 15. Steam Ejectors for Vacuum Service .................... 257 16. Tank Capacity ........................................ 269 17. Dimensions and Properties of Steel Tubing.... ......... 275 18. Vapor-Liquid Separators .............................. 277 19. Vessel Design ........................................ 283 Index ........................................... 291 Foreword Development of a new chemical plant or process from concept evaluation to profitable reality is often an enormously complex problem. Generally, a plant-design project moves to completion through a series of stages which may include inception, preliminary evaluation of economics and market, data development for a final design, final economic evaluation, detailed engineering design, procurement, erection, startup, and pro duction. The general term plant design includes all of the engineering aspects involved in the development of either a new, modified, or expanded industrial plant. In this context, individuals involved in such work will be making economic evaluations of new processes, designing individual pieces of equipment for the proposed new ventures, or developing a plant layout for coordination of the overall operation. Because of the many design duties encountered, the engineer involved is many times referred to as a design engineer. If the latter specializes in the economic aspects of the design, the individual may be referred to as a cost engineer. On the other hand, if he or she emphasizes the actual design of the equipment and facilities necessary for carrying out the process, the individual may be referred to as a process design engineer. The material presented in this book is intended to aid the latter in developing rapid chemical designs without becoming unduly involved in the often complicated theoretical underpinnings of these useful notes, charts, tables, and equations. The authors have attempted to emphasize those areas most often encountered in chemical process design, namely heat transfer, mass transfer, fluid flow, and mixing. Other design areas considered, but to a lesser extent, include cooling towers, liquid-liquid separations, gas-solid separations, vapor-liquid separations, pumps, safety valves and rupture disks, steam ejectors, and vessel design. These design procedures are sup plemented with information on the thermal and transport properties of many materials and chemicals needed in the design of such process equip ment, the mechanical properties of a host of metals commonly used in their construction, and the dimensions and properties of steel piping and tubing. In addition, two measures of economic profitability have been included to assist the process design engineer in justifying a specific design or process to management. vii Preface Applied Chemical Process Design was prepared to give the chemical process engineer a ready reference that can be used at the office, in the field, or while on business travel. After spending several years in the chemical industry, we had found that each of us had a rather scattered collection of useful notes, charts, tables, articles, etc. The need to organize and consolidate these references was obvious. This book has been intentionally kept concise, to maintain its useful ness while in the field. Theory has been virtually eliminated. However, the material presented is adequate to solve many design and/or plant problems. Those wishing to learn more of the background or theory behind the meth ods presented should consult the references and selected readings given at the end of each chapter. The areas given the highest priority are those encountered most often: agitation, distillation, heat transfer, and fluid flow. The book is intended to help students, process design engineers, pilot plant engineers, and production engineers. It is hoped that it will be of particular value to younger engineers in bridging the gap between theory and application. Acknowledgments We would like to express our thanks to our colleagues at Dow Chemical, USA, whose constructive comments have been very helpful. In partic ular, the help of Lanny Robbins, Bruce Lovelace, Clarence Voelker, James Huff, Gerald Geyer, Douglas Leng, Thomas Tefft, Leo Schick, Jay Bleiweiss, James May, Paul Handt, and Kenneth Coulter has been appreciated. We would also like to thank Dr. James Pfafflin (Stevens Institute of Technol ogy) and Dr. Harold Donnelly (Wayne State University) for their comments and help. Finally, we would like to thank the department secretaries (Susan Krantz, Erna Nash, Barbara Talicska, Anne Marie Duranczyk, and Nancy Roop), whose patience and perseverance have been greatly appreciated. Frank Aerstin Gary Street IX Figures Figure 1.1. Tank and agitator dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Figure 1.2. Turbine power correlations .................... 11 Figure 1.3. Power correlations for glassed steel agitators ....... 12 Figure 1.4. "A" factor vs. Reynolds number in the laminar flow region ..................................... 15 Figure 1.5. "E" factor vs. Reynolds number in the turbulent flow region ..................................... 15 Figure 1.6. Darcy's friction chart ......................... 17 Figure 1.7. LPD laminar flow ............................ 19 Figure 1.8. ISG laminar flow ............................ 20 Figure 1.9. LPD turbulent flow .......................... 21 Figure 1.10. ISG turbulent flow ........................... 22 Figure 1.11. Parameters for pressure drop in liquid-gas flow ..... 23 Figure 2.1. Cooling tower performance curves ............... 30 Figure 2.2. Induced draft cooling tower sizing curve .......... 31 Figure 2.3. Typical parts and framing for a crossflow cooling tower ..................................... 32 Figure 3.1. Decanter piping ............................. 36 Figure 3.2. Sizing discharge piping from gravity decanters ...... 36 Figure 3.3. Liquid-liquid gravity decanter with circular overflow weirs and adjustable interface position ............ 37 Figure 4.1. Fenske equation for minimum plates ............. 41 Figure 4.2. Relation between optimum-to-minimum ratio and Fenske separation factor of aavg values ........... 41 Figure 4.3. Optimum-minimum reflux ratio relationship to the column's feed, distillate, and bottoms composition .. 42 Figure 4.4. Underwood's (J vs. key ratios in feed ............. 43 Figure 4.5. Underwood's (J vs. (a - (J)/a for a in range of 1.01-1.11 .................................. 44 Figure 4.6. Underwood's (J vs. (a - (J)/a for a in range of 1.05-3.00 .................................. 45 Figure 4.7. Underwood's (J vs. (a - (J)/a for heavy key and heavier components .......................... 46 xi XII FIGURES Figure 4.8. Effect of thermal condition of feed on feed tray location ................................... 47 Figure 4.9. Capacity parameter for column diameter .......... 50 Figure 4.10. Tray overall efficiency ........................ 51 Figure 4.11. Generalized pressure drop correlation in packed towers .................................... 52 Figure 6.1. Correction for pressure drop due to viscosity and density .................................... 74 Figure 6.2. Pressure drop and flow velocity of water in plastic-lined pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Figure 6.3. Viscosity vs. minimum flow to produce turbulent flow ...................................... 75 Figure 604. Pressure drop for gas flow ..................... 78 Figure 6.5. Pressure drop for gas flow ..................... 79 Figure 6.6. Steam flow chart ............................ 80 Figure 6.7. Fanning friction factor for pipe flow ............. 82 Figure 6.8. Sizing chart for pipe handling liquids in vertical down flow .................................. 83 Figure 6.9. Basis for Lapp1e charts ........................ 86 Figure 6.10. Lapple charts for compressible flow .............. 87 Figure 6.11. Flow curves for Parshall flumes ................. 88 Figure 6.12. Composite sketch of small Parshall flume . . . . . . . . . . 89 Figure 6.13. Composite sketch of large Parshall flume .......... 90 Figure 6.14. Curves showing relation between 1>1> 1>g, Rio and Rg for all flow mechanisms ....................... 93 Figure 6.15. Flow coefficient for square-edged orifices ......... 96 Figure 6.16. Net expansion factor Y for compressible flow through nozzles and orifices .................... 97 Figure 7.1. Particle size classification ...................... 106 Figure 7.2. Particle classification and useful collection equipment vs. particle size .............................. 107 Figure 7.3. Efficiency curves for various types of dust-collecting equipment ................................. 108 Figure 704. Cyclone sizing ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 109 Figure 8.1. Flow of heat through tube walls .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 112 Figure 8.2. Effect of velocity on heat transfer rates ........... 113 Figure 8.3. Heat supplied by 150 psig steam tracer ........... 122 Figure 804. Heat supplied by Dowtherm SR-l tracer .......... 125 Figure 8.5. Tube side heat transfer ........................ 131 Figure 8.6. Shell side heat transfer curve for segmental baffles ... 137 Figure 8.7. Film coefficients for water in tubes .............. 138 xiii FIGURES Figure 8.8. Tube side friction factors ..................... . 139 Figure 8.9. Tube side and return pressure drop per tube pass ... . 140 Figure 8.1 O. Shell side friction factors for low-finned and plain tubes .................................... . 141 Figure 8.11. LMTD correction factor F, 1-2 exchangers ....... . 142 Figure 8.12. LMTD correction factor F, 2-4 exchangers ....... . 143 Figure 8.13. Natural circulation boiling and sensible film coefficients ................................ . 147 Figure 8.14. Vertical thermosiphon reboiler connected to tower .. 148 Figure 8.15. Condenser performance chart .................. . 155 Figure 8.16. Condensing film coefficients 156 Figure 8.17. Condensation in vertical tubes ................. . 156 Figure 8.18. Condenser for material low in light ends ......... . 157 Figure 8.19. Condensation curve for Figure 8.18 ............. . 157 Figure 8.20. Condenser for material with broad condensing curve . 157 Figure 8.21. Condensation curve for Figure 8.20 ............. . 158 Figure 8,.22. Service coefficient vs. outlet viscosity for natural gas and refinery liquid streams .................... . 159 Figure 8.23. Required surface area for air-cooled heat exchangers as a function of the number of rows, overall U, approach, and cooling range ................... . 161 tt Figure 8.24. Curve to find 2 /MMBtu/hr for example problem .. . 169 Figure 9.1. Cyclone design and flow patterns ............... . 182 Figure 11.1. Viscosities of liquids ......................... . 213 Figure 11.2. Viscosities of gases .......................... . 215 Figure 11.3. Refrigerant properties ....................... . 222 Figure 11.4. Specific heats of liquids ...................... . 226 Figure 11.5. Specific heats of gases at l-atm pressure .......... . 227 Figure 11.6. Latent heats of vaporization ................... . 228 Figure 13.1. Pump calculation sheet ....................... . 236 Figure 13.2. Viscosity correction chart (10-100 gpm) ......... . 238 Figure 13.3. Viscosity correction chart (100-10,000 gpm) ..... . 239 Figure 14.1. Conventional relief valve ...................... 244 Figure 14.2. Balanced bellows relief valve ................... 245 Figure 14.3. Comparison of a balanced bellows valve and a conventional valve ........................... 246 Figure 14.4. Cvs. specific heat ratio k ...................... 247 Figure 14.5. Variable or constant backpressure sizing factor Ky; 10% overpressure ............................ 249 Figure 14.6. Variable or constant backpressure sizing factor Ky; 20% overpressure ............................ 250