Page 9 - APPLIED PROCESS DESIGN FOR CHEMICAL AND PETROCHEMICAL PLANTS, Volume 1, 3rd Edition

Preface to the Third Edition

This volume of Applied Process Design is intended to be a fied in terms of something that can be economically built
chemical engineering process design manual of methods or selected from the special designs of manufacturers and
and proven fundamentals with supplemental mechanical can by visual or mental techniques be mechanically inter-
and related data and charts (some in the expanded preted to actually perform the process function for which
Appendix). It will assist the engineer in examining and it was designed. Considerable emphasis in this book is
analyzing a problem and finding a design method and placed on the mechanical Codes and some of the require-
mechanical specifications to secure the proper mechani- ments that can be so important in the specifications as
cal hardware to accomplish a particular process objective. well as the actual specific design details. Many of the
An expanded chapter on safety requirements for chemi- mechanical and metallurgical specifics that are important
cal plants and equipment design and application stresses to good design practice are not usually found in standard
the applicable Codes, design methods, and the sources of mechanical engineering texts.
important new data. The chapters are developed by design function and not
This manual is not intended to be a handbook filled in accordance with previously suggested standards for
with equations and various data with no explanation of unit operations. In fact, some of the chapters use the
application. Rather, it is a guide for the engineer in apply- same principles, but require different interpretations that
ing chemical processes to the properly detailed hardware take into account the process and the function the equip-
(equipment), because without properly sized and inter- ment performs in the process.
nally detailed hardware, the process very likely will not Because of the magnitude of the task of preparing the
accomplish its unique objective. This book does not devel- material for this new edition in proper detail, it has been
op or derive theoretical equations; instead, it provides necessary to omit several important topics that were cov-
direct application of sound theory to applied equations ered in the previous edition. Topics such as corrosion and
useful in the immediate design effort. Most of the recom- metallurgy, cost estimating, and economics are now left to
mended equations have been used in actual plant equip- the more specialized works of several fine authors. The
ment design and are considered to be some of the most topic of static electricity, however, is treated in the chapter
reasonable available (excluding proprietary data and on process safety, and the topic of mechanical drivers,
design methods) that can be handled by both the inexpe- which includes electric motors, is covered in a separate
rienced as well as the experienced engineer. A conscious chapter because many specific items of process equip-
effort has been made to offer guidelines of judgment, ment require some type of electrical or mechanical driver.
decisions, and selections, and some of this will also be Even though some topics cannot be covered here, the
found in the illustrative problems. My experience has author hopes that the designer will find design tech-
shown that this approach at presentation of design infor- niques adaptable to 75 percent to 85t percent of required
mation serves well for troubleshooting plant operation applications and problems.
problems and equipment/systems performance analysis. The techniques of applied chemical plant process
This book also can serve as a classroom text for senior and design continue to improve as the science of chemical
graduate level chemical plant design courses at the uni- engineering develops new and better interpretations of
versity level. the fundamentals of chemistry, physics, metallurgical,
The text material assumes that the reader is an under- mechanical, and polymer/plastic sciences. Accordingly,
graduate engineer with one or two years of engineering this third edition presents additional reliable design
fundamentals or a graduate engineer with a sound methods based on proven techniques developed by indi-
knowledge of the fundamentals of the profession. This viduals and groups considered competent in their sub-
book will provide the reader with design techniques to jects and who are supported by pertinent data. Since the
actually design as well as mechanically detail and specify. first and second editions, much progress has been made
It is the author’s philosophy that the process engineer has in standardizing (which implies a certain amount of
not adequately performed his or her function unless the improvement) the hardware components that are used in
results of a process calculation for equipment are speci- designing process equipment. Much of the important and