Inorganic Industries Engineering

‫هندسة الصناعات غريالعضويه‬

Lecture 1
Dr.: Sameh Araby El-Mekawy
 Chemical engineering is that branch of engineering
concerned with the development and application of
manufacturing processes in which chemical or certain
physical changes of materials are involved. These processes
may usually be resolved into a coordinated series of unit
physical operations and unit chemical processes.

 The work of the chemical engineer is concerned primarily

with the design, construction, and operation of equipment
and plants in which these unit operations and processes are
applied. Chemistry, physics, and mathematics are the
underlying sciences of chemical engineering, and economics
its guide in practice
Classification of Industries
On the basis of natural raw materials sources and the chemistry
involved, we find it easier to study industrial inorganic and industrial
organic chemistry separately,

 Inorganic Industries
 In the top ten basic inorganic chemicals (BIC) , almost all the time, sulphuric
acid, nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia, lime, sodium hydroxide, phosphoric acid and
chlorine dominate.
 The reason sulphuric acid is always number one is because it is used in the
manufacture of fertilizers, polymers, drugs, paints, detergents and paper. It is
also used in petroleum refining, metallurgy and in many other processes. The
top ranking of oxygen is to do with its use in the steel industry.
Expectations & Suggestions
Aspects of Industrial Chemical Processes
Products
Types of process
Flowsheets
Mass balances
Energy balances
Heat transfer and heat exchangers
Reactor design and operation
Separation and purification processes
 Classification of chemical products
Bulk chemicals e.g. sulphuric acid
Fine chemicals e.g. ‘ibuprofen’
Speciality chemicals e.g. adhesives
Inorganic/organic
Bulk chemicals (Commodity chemicals) are characterised by a
combination of two parameters – large volume production, which is
supported by market demand, and lower unit costs, where the principle
of economy of scale is important.
Specialty Chemicals (performance chemicals) High-value adding
involves the production of small quantities of chemical products for
specific end uses. Such products are called specialty chemicals. These
are high value-added products produced in low volumes and sold on the
basis of a specific function. They are judged by performance and
efficiency. Enzymes and dyes are performance chemicals. Other
examples of specialty chemicals include personal care products,
surfactants and adhesives.
Fine chemicals are produced on a relatively smaller scale in more
versatile (less dedicated generally) production units using batch
operations. Product specifications may be more exacting and unit cost is
relatively higher. Fine chemicals may be used as ingredients in
formulations or as intermediates in the production of more complex
chemicals. For example bulk pharmaceuticals.
The Chemical Process Industry
 Industrial chemistry as the branch of chemistry which applies
physical and chemical procedures towards the transformation of
natural raw materials and their derivatives to products that are of
benefit to humanity.

Typical chemical process structure

 Raw materials
 Industrial chemistry procures raw materials from natural
environments to convert them into intermediates, which
subsequently serve as base materials to every other kind of industry.
There are four sources of natural environment:
a. The earth's crust (lithosphere)
b. The marine and oceanic environment (hydrosphere)
c. The air (atmosphere)
d. The plants (biosphere)
 Raw materials
Raw materials from the lithosphere
The vast majority of elements are obtained from the earth’s crust in
the form of mineral ores, carbon and hydrocarbons. Coal, natural gas
and crude petroleum besides being energy sources are also converted
to thousands of chemicals.

Raw materials from the hydrosphere

Ocean water which amounts to about litres contains about 3.5

percent by mass dissolved material. Seawater is a good source of
sodium chloride, magnesium and bromine.
Raw materials from the atmosphere

The atmosphere is the field above ground level. It is the source

of air from which six industrial gases namely N2, O2, Ne, Ar, Kr
and Xe are manufactured. The mass of the earth’s atmosphere is
approximately tons and therefore the supply of the gases
is virtually unlimited.

Raw materials from the biosphere

Vegetation and animals contribute raw materials to the so-called

agro-based industries. Oils, fats, waxes, resins, sugar, natural
fibres and leather are examples of thousands of natural products.
 Because every industrial chemical process is designed to
economically produce a desired product from a variety of raw
materials. The economical extraction and use of exploitable
raw materials are the essential prerequisites for a chemical
industry. These raw materials usually have to be pretreated.
They may undergo a number of steps involving physical
treatment, chemical reactions, separation, and purification
before their conversion into a desired product.
Types of changes in chemical industries
crushing of wood burning of wood
Physical Changes Chemical Changes

Something
Physical and Chemical New is
Changes Formed

Changes: Size, shape or state

 Chemical process is combination of unit processes and Unit
operation.
 Unit process involves principle chemical conversions leading to
synthesis of various useful product and provide basic information
regarding the reaction temperature and pressure, extent of chemical
conversions and yield of product of reaction nature of reaction
whether endothermic or exothermic, type of catalyst used.
 Unit operations involve the physical separation of the products
obtained during various unit processes.
Unit Processes in Chemical Process Industries
Unit Operations in Chemical Process Industries
Classification of Unit Operations in Chemical Process Industries
1) Mechanical Unit Operations
2) Thermal Unit Operations
3) Electromechanical Unit Operations

Mechanical Unit Operations

Ex.
 Transportation of fluids
 Size reduction
 size enlargement
 Mixing
 Filtration
 Centrifugation
 Screening
 Sedimentation
Types of chemical process in industry
1. Batch process:
The feed materials are placed into the system (reactor, mixer,
filter,….etc) at the beginning of the process. These materials are
held for a period of time known as "residence time" or " retention
period" during which the required physical and/or chemical changes
are occurred. The products are removed all at once after this time.
No masses crossed the system boundary during this time. Batch
process fall into the category of closed systems.
The basis used in such processes is usually "one batch", and the
material balance for physical batch processes in which there is no
chemical reaction can be written as:
In other words:
 In batch reactions, the reactant chemicals are added to the
reactor (reaction vessel) at the same time and products are
emptied completely when the reaction is finished. The reactors
are made of stainless steel or glass-lined carbon steel and range
in size from 200 to several thousand liters. Batch reactors are
provided with a stirrer to mix the reactants, an insulating jacket,
and the appropriate pipes and valves to control the reaction
conditions .
 Batch processes generally are used for small-scale production.
These processes are easier to operate, maintain, and repair. The
batch equipment can be adapted to multiple uses.
 In batch reactors, uniform composition everywhere in reactor
but changes with time
 Advantages of batch processes
 Good for small amounts of speciality chemicals and manufacture of expensive
products
 Make a range of products using same equipment
 Can schedule maintenance & inspections to equipment in between batches
 Good for developing new products and useful for testing new processes and
conditions
 Easier to scale up from lab scale
 Generally cheaper set up costs
 Employees understand the process well
 Disadvantages of batch processing
 Frequent start up and shutdown of equipment ( DOWNTIME!!)

 Cleaning time between batches

 Not good for bulk chemical production
2. Semi-batch process:
 In this type, all quantity of one reactant is initially put in the
reactor, and then other reactants are continuously fed. Only
flows enter the systems, and no leave, hence the system is an
unsteady state. This arrangement is useful when the heat of
reaction is large. The heat evolved can be controlled by
regulating the rate of addition of one of the reactants.
 By their nature, batch and semi-batch processes are unsteady
state operations since the concentration within the closed system
is continuously changed with time
 In Semi-batch process, which is an open process, materials
enters the process during its operation but none leaves.
Similarly, some soup is made by successively placing the
necessary ingredients in the pot over time while the cooking
occurs.
3. Continuous process:
 In continuous processes, the reactants are added and products are
removed at a constant rate from the reactor, so that the volume of
reacting material in the reactor (reaction vessel) remains constant.
This type of processes can be classified as "steady state" and
"unsteady state" processes.
a- Steady state process:
The steady state process can be defined as that process in which all
the operating conditions (temperature, pressures, compositions, flow
rate,…..etc.) remains constant with time. In such process there is no
accumulation in the system, and the equation of material balance can
be written as: Input=Output
Steady state system
b- Unsteady state process:
For an unsteady state process, not all of the operating conditions
in the process (e.g., temperature, pressure, compositions, flow
rate,… etc.) remain constant with time, and/or the flows in and
out of the system can vary with time, hence the accumulation of
materials within can be written as follows:
Input - Output = Accumulation

N.B:
Batch processes are commonly used for small scale processes in
which relatively small quantities of a product are to be produced,
while continuous process is better suited to large production rates.
Advantages of Continuous Processing
• Good for large volumes (bulk chemicals)
• Fewer start up and shutdowns – UPTIME!!
• Potentially greater yields (>20 million pounds/yr product)
• Potentially easier to maintain quality or spot out of specification product sooner

Disadvantages of Continuous Processing

• Requires periodic shutdown of whole plant for inspection and maintenance
• May rely on critical pieces of equipment which have the potential to stop production on
whole plant
• Higher initial costs
• Employees knowledge of the process is limited
Industrial Expressions
Upstream
 processes that put the raw materials in a form in which they can be reacted
chemically

Downstream
 Downstream in manufacturing refers to processes that occur later on in a
production sequence or production line. Any process occurring after another is
considered to be downstream.
 Downstream processes put the product in a form which is suitable for
the market
Recycle Stream
 Recycle stream is a term denoting a process stream that returns material from
downstream of a process unit back to the process unit.i.e Recycle is fed back
from a downstream unit to an upstream unit
 Because of the relatively high cost of industrial feedstocks, when chemical
reactions are involved in a process, recycle of unused reactants to the reactor
can offer significant economic savings for high-volume processing systems. Heat
recovery within a processing unit (energy recycle) reduces the overall energy
consumption of the process.
Bypass Stream
 Bypass stream is a stream that skips one or more stages of the process and goes
directly to another downstream stage.
 A bypass stream can be used to control the composition of a final exit stream
from a unit by mixing the bypass stream and the unit exit stream in suitable
proportions to obtain the desired final composition.
Purge Stream
Purge stream is a stream bled off to remove an accumulation of inerts or
unwanted material that might otherwise build up in the recycle stream.