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Unmsm/Fqiq/Epiq/Daadp/Inglés TÉCNICO/EF4/2020-I: Chapter 4. Chemical Product Design What You Will Learn

The document discusses the differences between process design and product design in chemical engineering. It notes that while process design, which focuses on manufacturing commodity chemicals, has traditionally been the domain of chemical engineering, product design is increasingly important. Product design involves creating new specialty chemicals, technologies, or devices, and focuses on innovation rather than large-scale production. The document suggests that product design may represent the future of chemical engineering as an area where engineers can develop new and innovative chemical products.

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37 views

Unmsm/Fqiq/Epiq/Daadp/Inglés TÉCNICO/EF4/2020-I: Chapter 4. Chemical Product Design What You Will Learn

The document discusses the differences between process design and product design in chemical engineering. It notes that while process design, which focuses on manufacturing commodity chemicals, has traditionally been the domain of chemical engineering, product design is increasingly important. Product design involves creating new specialty chemicals, technologies, or devices, and focuses on innovation rather than large-scale production. The document suggests that product design may represent the future of chemical engineering as an area where engineers can develop new and innovative chemical products.

Uploaded by

JuanLopezTrujillo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNMSM/FQIQ/EPIQ/DAADP/INGLÉS

TÉCNICO/EF4/2020-I
Chapter 4. Chemical Product Design

What You Will Learn


• There is a difference between process design and product design.
• There is a strategy for chemical product design.

The subject of most of this book is chemical process design, the traditional capstone experience in
chemical engineering curricula. For most of the history of chemical engineering, graduates have
gone to work in chemical plants that manufacture commodity chemicals. Commodity chemicals
are those manufactured by many companies in large quantities, usually in continuous processes like
those illustrated in this textbook. There is little or no difference in commodity chemicals produced
by different companies. The price for which a commodity chemical can be sold is essentially the
same for all producers, and, because most raw materials are also commodity chemicals, the price of
raw materials is also the same for all producers. For the most part, innovations regarding
manufacture of commodity chemicals have occurred a long time in the past. Therefore, the only real
way to be more profitable than a competitor is to have lower ancillary costs, such as a favorable
union contract, better deal on the costs of different sources of energy, superior automation, a better
catalyst, and so on.

Before a chemical became a commodity, it was probably a specialty. A specialty chemical is one
made in smaller quantities, often in batch processes, usually by the company that invented the
chemical. Perhaps the best examples of specialty chemicals evolving into commodity chemicals are
polymers. Polymers such as nylon, Teflon, and polyethylene were specialties when they were
invented in the first half of the twentieth century, and they were seen only in selected applications.
Now, they are ubiquitous commodities.

The chemical industry has also become more global. At one time, chemicals and products from
chemicals for the entire world were manufactured in the centers of the chemical industry: the
United States and Western Europe. This meant that a large, rapidly growing chemical industry in the
United States and Western Europe was needed to serve the needs of developing countries. Now
chemicals are manufactured all over the world, closer to where they are used, as are the raw
materials for these chemicals. Therefore, the traditional commodity chemical industry is not in a
growth phase in places such as the United States and Western Europe. Existing chemical processes
continue to operate, and chemical engineers trained to understand and work with continuous,
commodity chemical processes are still needed.

It has been suggested that the future of chemical engineering—that is, the place where chemical
engineers can innovate—is in chemical product design [1, 2]. This is also the place where more and
more chemical engineers are being employed [2]. It could be argued that the future is identical to
the past. Since the 1970s, most large, commodity chemical companies have trimmed their longrange
research, focusing instead on support for the global growth of commodity chemical production. They
believed this to be a necessary shift of emphasis as chemicals that were once specialties evolved into
commodities.
What is a chemical product? One possibility is a new specialty chemical. A new drug is a chemical
product. A new catalyst or solvent for use in the commodity chemical industry is a chemical product.
Post-it Notes are a chemical product. A fuel cell is a chemical product. A device for indoor air
purification is a chemical product. Technologies employing chemical engineering principles could be
considered to be chemical products. Even the ChemE Cars that many students build as part of the
AIChE competition could be considered chemical products.

In this chapter, an introduction to procedures used for chemical product design is provided. It will be
seen that there are similarities to chemical process design; however, the focus of this chapter is on
the differences between process and product design.

1. (10 Points) Translate to Spanish the highlighted text


La industria química también se ha vuelto más global. Hubo un tiempo en que se fabricaban
químicos y productos de químicos para todo el mundo en los centros de la industria química:
Estados Unidos y Europa Occidental. Esto significaba que se necesitaba una gran industria química
de rápido crecimiento en los Estados Unidos y Europa occidental para atender las necesidades de
los países en desarrollo. Ahora los productos químicos se fabrican en todo el mundo, más cerca de
donde se utilizan, al igual que las materias primas para estos productos químicos. Por lo tanto, la
industria tradicional de productos químicos básicos no se encuentra en una fase de crecimiento en
lugares como Estados Unidos y Europa Occidental. Los procesos químicos existentes continúan
operando, y aún se necesitan ingenieros químicos capacitados para comprender y trabajar con
procesos químicos básicos continuos.
Se ha sugerido que el futuro de la ingeniería química, es decir, el lugar donde los ingenieros
químicos pueden innovar, está en el diseño de productos químicos. Este es también el lugar donde
se emplean cada vez más ingenieros químicos [ 2 ]. Se podría argumentar que el futuro es idéntico
al pasado. Desde la década de 1970, la mayoría de las grandes empresas de productos químicos
básicos han recortado su investigación a largo plazo, centrándose en cambio en el apoyo al
crecimiento global de la producción de productos químicos básicos. Creían que se trataba de un
cambio de énfasis necesario a medida que los productos químicos que alguna vez fueron
especialidades que evolucionaron hacia productos básicos.

Read the text and response in English:

2. (2,5 points) What are nylon, Teflon, and polyethylene?


Nylon, Teflon and polyethylene are specialized polymers that are transformed into basic chemicals.

3. (2,5 points) Why do you need to understand and work with continuous, commodity chemical
processes?
Because these processes still continue to operate, in addition most large commodity chemical
companies support global growth of commodity chemical production.

4. (2,5 points) Why is the chemical product design so important to chemical engineering?
It is important because it is the future of chemical engineering, and also, it is where chemical
engineers can innovate.
5. (2,5 points) How do you get lower costs in chemical processes?
Lower costs are achieved by having lower ancillary costs, such as a favorable union contract, a
better deal with the costs of different energy sources, superior automation, a better catalyst, etc.

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