Delhi Skill and

Entrepreneurship University

Diploma in
Petrochemical
Engineering

Syllabus Document

Effective From Academic Year 2024-25

Program Information

Introduction

A Diploma in Petrochemical Engineering provides an intensive and focused education in the science
and technology behind the petrochemical industry as well as chemical industry. This program is
designed for the students who are interested in understanding the processes involved in the
extraction, production and refinement of petroleum and natural gas into valuable chemical products.
This diploma serves as a gateway to a dynamic and vital industry, offering numerous opportunities
for career advancement and professional growth.

Program Vision

Diploma in Petrochemical Engineering covers key areas such as occurrence of petroleum, mining and
refining of petroleum, different petrochemical industries in India, chemical reaction engineering, process
design and safety protocols, integrating both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Students gain
hands on experience through laboratory work and industry placements, preparing them for roles in various
sectors including petrochemical plants, oil refineries, chemical industries and research laboratories.

Program Mission

1. Students will able to apply knowledge of basic chemistry, mathematics and engineering to solve the
broadly petrochemical engineering problems.
2. Hands- on training in laboratories and industry with real world experience in operating and
managing petrochemical equipment and technologies.
3. Students will able to apply knowledge, techniques, solve complex engineering problems.
4. Students gain a strong understanding of Petrochemical processes including extraction,
production, refinement of petroleum and natural gas.
5. The program develops critical thinking and problem solving skills essential for
troubleshooting and optimizing petrochemical processes.
6. Emphasis on industrial safety and environmental regulations ensures students to conduct
operations responsibly
7. Students are prepared for immediate employment in the petroleum refinery, petrochemical
and chemical sectors with skills.
8. The diploma opens up opportunities for further education and career progression within the
petrochemical and chemical engineering.
9. Students gain insights into related fields such as chemical engineering enhancing their
versatility and adaptability in the job market.
10. The program fosters strong communication and teamwork skills essential for effective
collaboration in multidisciplinary project environments..
 Semester I
Hours/week
Total
S. No. Course Code Course Name
L T O P Credits

Industrial Process
1 PCE1101 2 - - 4 4
Operation - I
Chemical Equation
2 PCE1102 3 - - - 3
Analysis
Energy Resource
3 PCE1103 3 - - - 3
Engineering

6
7
8
9
Total 10
SEMESTER - I
 PCE1101- Industrial Process Operation- I

Teaching Scheme
Lecture hours Tutorial Hours per Practical hours
Credits
per week week per week
2 0 4 4

Objectives:

Students will learn the basic concepts of Industrial process operations and the use of various
mechanical operations in various petrochemical and other chemical industries. The course gives a
glance of application of mechanical operations in petrochemical engineering.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the course the students will be able to:

● Understand the basic concept of size reduction and its equipment, crushing efficiency, calculation of
energy requirement by using different size reduction laws, properties and characteristics of solid
particles. Separation process by screening operation and size distribution analysis by using sieve
shaker machine.

Syllabus:

Unit Title Hours

UNIT 1 Introduction of Size Reduction 10

Definition of size reduction, importance and necessity of size reduction,

Applications in different chemical industries like mining, pharmaceuticals
and food processing.

UNIT 2 Principles of Size Reduction 10

Mechanisms of size reduction and use of different methods in chemical

Industries, theoretical considerations : energy consumption or crushing
efficiency.

UNIT 3 Laws of Comminution 10

Rittinger’s Law
Kick’s Law
Bond’s Law and Reduction Ratio
Comparison of the three laws and their applicability
 UNIT 4 Classification of Size Reduction Equipment 10

Different types of crushers, grinders, ultra-fine grinders and cutting

machines, ball mills, working and selection of roll crusher, working of
Ball mills, dry and wet grinding, open circuit and closed circuit operation.

UNIT 5 Material Separation ( Screening ) 10

Definition and purpose of screening, importance of screening in petrochemical

and chemical engineering processes, basic principles of screening, factors
affecting screening efficiency, different types of screening equipment, screening
Or size distribution analysis by Sieve shaker machine.

UNIT 6 Properties of Solids 10

Importance of understanding solid particles in petrochemical engineering, applications

In various industries, physical properties of solid particles, mechanical properties,
Chemical properties of solid particles, thermal properties, electrical and magnetic
Properties, optical properties of solid particles

LIST OF EXPERIMENTS

1. To study the working of Roll Crusher and calculate the size of the rolls where initial
and final diameter of the sample is given.
2. To determine the size of the product of given sample to be crushed by using roll
crusher. Also find the Reduction Ratio.
3. To determine the size distribution analysis for the given sample by using
Sieve shaker.
4. To study the working of ball mill for the given sample.

References/ Suggested Readings:

(a) McCabe, W.L. Smith, “ Unit operations of Chemical Engineering” McGraw-Hill.

(b) Genakoplis, C.J. “ Transport processes and Separation Process Principles” Prentice Hall

(c) Principles of Unit Operation, Foust, A.S. Wenzel, L.A, Clump, C.W, Maus.

(d) K.A. Gavhane, Unit Operation-I

 PCE1102- Chemical Equation Analysis

Teaching Scheme
Lecture hours Tutorial Hours per Practical hours
Credits
per week week per week
3 - - 3

Objectives:
The objective of the course is to introduce students to the basic principles and calculation
techniques used in the petrochemical industries and to acquaint them with the fundamentals of the
material and energy balances as applied to petrochemical engineering processes. It will expose
them to solve the problems in material and energy balances that arise in relation to the problems
involving in different chemical process units. It also will introduce them to numerical methods used
to solve the problems. The course will introduce in simple language and ample of examples so that
it will encourage learners to get used to the course.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this course students will be able to:

 Appreciate the importance of material and energy balance calculations
 Perform material and energy balance analysis for chemical and petrochemical processes
 Be industry ready to analyze real working chemical and petrochemical systems

Syllabus:

Unit 1 Units and Dimensions 7 Hours

Fundamental Quantities: Length, Mass, Time, Temperature, Mole and their SI units. English
units of important quantities. Mole and Molecular weight Prefixes: pico, nano, micro, milli, kilo,
mega, giga, tera. Quantities involving two or more fundamental quantities and their
interconversions: mole, mass and volumetric flow, Heat and work, Heat and work flow, Force,
stress and pressure, molar and mass density, molar, mass and volumetric flux. Molar and mass
concentration. Molarity and Molality. ppt, ppm and ppb by mole, mass and volume. Wt%, mol% and
vol%.

Unit 2 Material Balance Calculations for non-reactive non-recycle systems 5 Hours

Law of conversion of mass. Definition of Open and closed systems. Definition of

Continuous and batch Processes. Definition of control volume and control surface. Material
balance equation for open and closed systems. Concept of overall and component material
balance. Material balance around Mixers and splitter. Average Molecular weight and average
density of mixtures. Definition of degree of freedom of systems.
 Unit 3 Chemical Reactions and stoichiometry 5 Hours

Introduction to chemical reactions. Representation of chemical reactions as chemical

equations.Balancing of chemical equations and Stoichiometry. Exothermic and Endothermic
Reactions with common examples. Combustion reactions of various hydrocarbons like
methane, propane, butane and pentane. Theoretical Air, Excess air and air – fuel ratio
calculations. Determination of Limiting and excess reactant. Yield of a process and extent of a
reaction.

Unit 4 Material Balance Calculations for reactive non-recycle systems 5 Hours

Block diagram representation of chemical processes. Steady vs unsteady state. Transient

process. % recovery of a separation process. Brief Introduction to reactors. Overall material
balance around reactors. Element balance around reactors. Example problems and
calculations of Material balance in reactive non-recycle systems.

Unit 5 Material Balance Calculations for non-reactive and recycle systems 5 Hours

Recycle and its importance in natural and man-made systems. Material Balance calculations in
recycle systems without reaction with examples. Bypass and purge streams and their
importance along with examples and problems.

Unit 6 Material Balance Calculations for reactive and recycle systems 5 Hours

Reactor separator systems and importance of recycle in reactor separator systems. Snowball
effect. Single pass conversion and overall conversion. Importance of purge and bypass in
reactive systems.Example problems from petrochemical industry.

Unit 7 Energy Balance 5 Hours

Law of conservation of energy with examples. Importance of energy in petrochemical industry.

Types of energy: Heat and work. Kinetic and potential energy. Electric work. Extensive and
intensive properties. Heat capacity. Latent Heat. Sensible heat. Calorimetry, Calorimetry
calculations of water. Energy balance for open systems.

Unit 8 Energy Balance for reactive systems 5 Hours

Enthalpy and internal energy. Heat of reaction. Heat of combustion. Heat of formation. Heat
of condensation. Heat of vaporization. Heat of fusion. Heat of sublimation. Thermo chemistry
and its applications, Hess Law, Energy Calculations involving combustion reactions. Higher
heating value (HHV). Lower heating Value (LHV). Energy recycle.

Unit 9 Psychrometry 5 Hours

Humidity and its importance. Relative and absolute humidity. Dry and wet butemperature. Wet-Bulb
Line. Adiabatic Cooling Line. Humid volume. Readingand interpretation of psychrometric chart.
 References/ Suggested Readings:

(a) McCabe, W.L. Smith, “ Unit operations of Chemical Engineering” McGraw-Hill.

(b) Richard Felder, Ronald W. Rousseau, Lisa G. Bullard “Elementary principles of chemical
processes” Wiley

(c) AIChE, “ChemE Calculations Formulas Definitions”

(d) David Himmelblau, James Riggs , “Basic Principles and Calculations in Chemical
Engineering”

(e) Don W. Green, Marylee Z. Southard, “Perry Chemical engineering Handbook”

PCE1103- Energy Resource Engineering

Teaching Scheme
Lecture hours Tutorial Hours per Practical hours
Credits
per week week per week
3 0 0 3

Objectives:

Energy is essential for Human civilization. Tapping various sources of energy for human use
economically is very important. In this course, students will learn about various sources of energy
and some technical and socioeconomic aspects of these sources of energy. The course gives an
overview right from the very conventional sources of energy to the most recent advances in
energy technology.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this course the student will be able to understand:

 Difference between renewable energy and non-renewable energy.
 Various fossil fuel based energy
 Problems associated with fossil fuel based energy
 Solar energy types and their working
 Other sources of renewable energy.
 Hydrogen as a major potential source for energy in future.
Syllabus:

Unit 1 Introduction 5Hours

Global and Indian energy scenario in terms of consumption breakup in major economies,
production breakup across various segments. Energy requirements of Industry and domestic
sectors. Energy Distribution Between Developed and Developing Countries. Energy
Conservation and its Importance. The Energy Conservation Act, 2001. Bureau of Energy
Efficiency(BEE). Renewable and Non-renewable sources of energy. Breakup of energy
production and utilization of various sectors.

Unit 2 Energy from Fossil fuels: Coal 5 Hours

Global and Indian coal reserves. Coal reserves in various states in India. Types of coals and
their calorific values. Coal fired power plants and their brief description and working.

Unit 3 Energy from Fossil fuels: Petroleum and natural gas 5 Hours

Global and Indian petroleum reserves and refineries. Fuels and oils produced
from refineries and their uses in industry and domestic sectors. Natural gas
and its properties. CNG and LNG. Global and Indian natural gas reserves.
Uses of natural gas as fuel in industrial and domestic sector.

Unit 6 Nuclear Energy 3 Hours

Einstein’s mass energy equivalence. Nuclear reactions and mass defect.

Nuclear reactions of U238 and U235 and their energy yield. Fission vs fusion.
Nuclear power plants in India and their capacity.

Unit 5 Solar energy 7 Hours

Introduction and working of solar cells. Types of solar cells: thin film, polycrystalline
and monocrystalline. Solar insolation on various parts of earth. Variation of solar
Insolation with latitude and time of the year. Major solar voltaic plants in India and World.
On grid and Off grid solar systems. Solar initiatives of Govt. of India. Introduction to
techniques of concentrating solar radiation to produce high temperature. Solar cooking
devices and their working. Parabolic trough power plant. Heliostat and Heliostat based
solar concentration power plants. Solar furnaces.

Unit 6 Energy Storage devices 5 Hours

Need for energy storage. Introduction to various energy storage techniques.

Mechanical storage devices: Dams and potential energy storage, Energy storage
Using flywheels and springs. Electrochemical energy storage. Working of batteries,
Introduction to lithium-ion batteries.
 Unit 7 Wind and Hydroelectric energy 5 Hours

Wind and Hydroelectric energy as a form of solar energy. Turbine types and terms
Working of Hydroelectric power Plant. Wind and hydroelectric power scenario in India.
Three Gorges Dam Hydroelectric facility.

Unit 8 Ocean and Geothermal Energy 5 Hours

Energy reserves in oceans tides and waves. Current world scenario of tidal
And wave energy. Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station. Structure of earth’s inside.
Earth’s inside as a source of energy. The Geysers Geothermal Complex.

Unit 9 Biomass and Hydrogen 5 Hours

Utilization of biomass for different energy needs. Direct combustion for heat.
Pyrolysis and its use. Biogas and its uses. Small scale biogas plants.
Water as a source of hydrogen. Photoelectrochemical water splitting.
Fuel cells.

References/ Suggested Readings:

(a) John Twindell and Tony Weir, Renewable Energy Resources

(b) Bright Mills, Renewable Energ

(c) Raj Singh Niranjan and Dr. Rajni Patel, Energy Laws in India

(d) Energy Technology by S.Rao and Dr. B.B. Parulekar

(e) Renewable Energy and Resources by Dr. Samyak Somgyan Sarangi, Dr. Aruno.M