Process Flow Diagrams

Process Auxiliaries and utilities

3170516
OPEN ELECTIVE COURSE

Kaushik Nath
Department of Chemical Engineering
G H Patel College of Engineering & Technology
 Process Auxiliaries

All industrial plants requires auxiliary processes to

support the production process. These operations are for
example energy production and electricity, water and
waste water treatment, industrial building and facilities,
Health, Safety and Environmental issues and
digitalization.

auxiliary : adjective. 1 a : offering or providing help. b : functioning in a

subsidiary capacity.
 Process utilities

Utility Systems – Steam, Power, Hot Water and Chilling

Water. Process industries are typically served
by utility systems that provides the necessary energy to
carry out day-to-day operations. The most
common utility systems include steam, electricity and
water.
Similarly, refrigeration is important to maintain the
temperature in the process plant. Compressed air
and process air is used in processes and instrument air is
used in pneumatic devices and controls.

Air, water, steam, refrigeration, fuel, furnace, insulation etc., are the
common utilities used in Chemical Plants.
 Course Objective

Process auxiliaries and utilities involve the understanding

of designing the process plants or creating design layouts
of plant.

It also includes the fundamentals of chemical engineering

viz. development of flow diagrams, importance of various
design consideration, various utility systems, and key
selection considerations during the development and
design of any process.

This subject is intended to familiarize students with the

basics as well as advanced understanding of various
process auxiliaries and utilities used in chemical plant and
how they integrate with the process facilities and overall
operation.
 Course outcomes
To understand the importance of process
auxiliaries and utilities in a chemical industry.

To acquire an overview of key selection

considerations of plant utilities.

To understand how the utilities could be

integrated with the process facilities and overall
operations.

To understand basic calculation involved in the

steam generation, psychometric operation and
refrigeration.
 Chemical engineering Flow diagrams
A picture is
worth thousand
words!!

Flow diagram offers a very effective way of communicating

information about a process.
A flow diagram is a diagrammatic model of the process
that simplifies the visualization of manufacturing
procedure.
 What does a flow diagram convey?
The sequence of the equipment and the unit operations
involved in the process.

The stream connections, stream flow-rates and

compositions.

Energy flow
The Operating conditions
 All necessary auxiliary equipments (Pumps,
compressors etc.)
 Qualitative and quantitative

A qualitative flow diagram indicates the flow of materials ,

unit operations involved, equipment necessary and
special information of operating temperature and
pressure.

A quantitative flow diagram shows the quantities of

materials required for the process operations

The combined detailed type of diagram shows the

qualitative flow pattern and also equipment specifications,
quantitative data and sample calculations.
 Flow diagram: more classifications
Depending on the level of detail required , several types of
flow diagrams are used:

(i) Simplified Representation: Block Flow Diagram (BFD)

(ii) Pictorial representation: Equipments are drawn in a

stylized pictorial form

 Process Flow diagram (contain much detail information

than BFD)
 Piping & instrumentation diagram (P& ID): important for
control system design and safety (HAZOP) analysis.

P& I D is also known as Engineering flow-sheet or

Mechanical flow sheet.
 Block flow diagram (BFD)
A block flow diagram (BFD) represents the main processing
sections in terms of functional blocks. It is the simplest form
of flow diagram.

In BFD, each block can represent a single piece of

equipment or a complete stage in the process.

The stream flow-rates, compositions and the conditions at

each stage can be shown.

Useful for showing simple process. Limited use for complex

processes.
Block flow diagrams: Types
 Block flow diagram (BFD)

C7H6 +H2 C6H6 +CH4

conversion of Toluene : 75%
 Conversion of Toluene to Benzene
Toluene and hydrogen react to produce benzene and
methane. The non-condensable gases are separated and
discharged. The benzene product and unreacted toluene
are separated by distillation.Toluene is recycled back to the
reactor and the benzene is recovered in the product
stream.
 Block flow plant diagram
A block flow plant diagram is used for a complete chemical
complex. A plant may involve several processes and each
block in this diagram represents a complete chemical
process.

We may also draw a block flow process diagram for each

block in the block flow plant diagram.

Block flow plant diagram gives a complete picture of what

this plant does and how all the different processes interact.

To keep the diagram simple and easily readable, only

limited information is provided for each process unit.
A typical Block diagram
Process flow diagram(PFD)/Process flow-sheet

A PFD contains large amount of information and

engineering data necessary for the design of a chemical
process.

One company’s PFD may contain slightly different

information than the PFD for the same process from
another company. The symbols used may also vary
somewhat from organization to organization.

The process flow diagram is an authorized process

blueprint. This document is used to define, construct and
operate the chemical processes.
 PFD Characteristics
All the major pieces of equipments in the process will be
represented on the PFD along with a description of the
equipment.

Each piece of equipment will be assigned a unique

equipment number and a descriptive name.

All process flow-streams are shown and identified by a

number. A complete mass and energy balance of the
process showing the composition, flowrate and temperature
of every stream is usually included in a PFD.

All utility streams supplied to major equipments are shown.

 PFD Characteristics
A PFD also indicates the location of every control valve. Basic
control loops, illustrating the control strategy used to operate the
process during normal operations, will be shown. Specifications
of control valve helps in sizing of pumps and compressors.

A PFD usually does not include minor piping details (size,

specifications, rating), instrument details and minor bypass lines.

PFDs are usually drawn on large sheets of papers (size 24”

×36”) and several connected sheets may be required for
complex process.

By convention, flow is flow left to right with raw materials entering

from the left and the finished products or waste streams leaving
at the right.
 PFD Characteristics
The flow-sheet is oriented horizontally with equipment
elevations in the diagram resembling those in the real
process.
PFD Example
 PFD :Process streams
Diamond symbols located in flow lines
 Numerical identification (unique for that stream) inserted in
diamond.
 Flow direction shown by arrow on flow lines.
 Flow lines shown with arrows giving direction of flow.
 Flow goes from left to right whenever possible
 Light stream (gases) toward top with heavy stream (liquids
and solids) toward bottom.
 If lines cross, then the horizontal line is continuous and the
vertical line is broken.
PFD : Example: relook
PFD :Equipment Numbering
Equipment Numbering: Example
 PFD :Uses
The flow-sheet is drawn up from material and energy
balances made over the complete process and each
individual unit to determine the mass flows, the energy
flows and the service requirements.

Computer aided flowsheeting: Most calculations on PFD are

now carried out using commercial process simulation
software

PFD is a very important document for process design and

used for preparing:
Control scheme, piping & instrumentation diagram
 Plant layout, piping network design, equipment design
Operating manual and operators training.
Comparison of operating performance with design.
 PFD :Utility streams
Chemical plants require several utilities such as electricity,
compressed air, cooling water, refrigerated water, steam,
condensate return, inert gas for blanketing, chemical sewer,
wastewater treatment and flare

lps: Low pressure steam, 3-5 barg (sat)

mps: medium pressure steam 10-15 barg (sat)
hps: high pressure steam 40-50 barg (sat)
htm: heat transfer media (organic): to 400oC
cw: Cooling water (from cooling tower 30oC, returned at <45oC
wr: River water (from river 25oC, returned at <35oC
rw: refrigerated water (in at 5oC returned at <15oC)
ng: (natural gas)
fg: (fuel gas)
Examples of standard PFD symbols
Examples of standard PFD symbols
Examples of standard PFD symbols