Page 10 - Applied Process Design For Chemical And Petrochemical Plants Volume II

Preface to the Third Edition

The techniques of process design continue to improve sound knowledge of the fundamentals of the profession.
as the science of chemical engineering develops new and From this background the reader is led into the tech-
better interpretations of fundamentals. Accordingly, this niques of design required to actually design as well as
third edition presents additional, reliable design methods mechanically detail and spec$. It is my philosophy that
based on proven techniques and supported by pertinent the process engineeer has not adequately performed
data. Since the first edition, much progress has been made his/her function unless the results of a process calculation
in standardizing and improving the design techniques for for equipment are specified in terms of something that
the hardware components that are used in designing can be economically built, and which can by visual or men-
process equipment. This standardization has been incor- tal techniques be mechanical& interpreted to actually per-
porated in the previous and this latest edition, as much as form the process function for which it is being designed.
practically possible. Although most of the chapters have This concept is stressed to a reasonable degree in the mr-
been expanded to include new material, some obsolete ious chapters.
information has been removed. Chapter 8 on Distillation As a part of the objective, the chapters are developed by
has incorporated additional multicomponent systems the design function of the designing engineer and not in
information and enlarged batch separation fundamentals. accordance with previously suggested standards for unit
The variety of the mechanical hardware now applied to operations. In fact some chapters use the same principles,
distillation separations has greatly expanded, and Chapter but require different interpretations when recognized in
9 has been significantly updated to reflect developments relation to the process and the function the equipment per-
in the rapidly expanding packed tower field. References forms in this process.
are also updated.
Due to the magnitude of the task of preparing such
The many aspects of process design are essential to the material in proper detail, it has been necessary to drop
proper performance of the work of chemical engineers, several important topics with which every designing engi-
and other engineers engaged in the process engineering neer must be acquainted, such as corrosion, cost estimat-
design details for chemical and petrochemical plants. ing, economics and several others. These are now left to
Process design has developed by necessity into a unique the more specialized works of several fine authors. Recog-
section of the scope of work for the broad spectrum of nizing this reduction in content, I’m confident that in
chemical engineering.
many petrochemical and chemical processes the designer
The purpose of these 3 volumes is to present tech- will find design techniques adaptable to 75-80 percent of
niques of process design and to interpret the results into his/her requirements. Thus, an effort has been made to
mechanical equipment details. There is no attempt to pre- place this book in a position of utilization somewhere
sent theoretical developments of the design equations. between a handbook and an applied teaching text. The
The equations recommended have practically all been present work is considered suitable for graduate courses in
used in actual plant equipment design, and are consid- detailed process design, and particularly if a general
ered to be the most reasonable available to the author, and course in plant design is available to fill in the broader fac-
still capable of being handled by both the inexperienced tors associated with overall plant layout and planning. Also
as well as the experienced engineer. A conscious effort has see Volumes 1 and 3 of this series.
been made to offer guidelines to judgment, decisions and I am indebted to the many industrial firms that have so
selections, and some of this will be found in the illustrative generously made available certain valuable design data and
problems.
information. This credit is acknowledged at the appropn-
The text material assumes that the reader is a graduate ate locations in the text, except for the few cases where a
or equivalent chemical or related engineer, having a specific request was made to omit this credit.

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