Page 25 - Chemical Process Equipment - Selection and Design

2 INTRODUCTION
loor but an English version was started in 1984 and three volumes per

year are planned; this beautifully organized reference should be
Material
Commitment
most welcome.
The most comprehensive compilation of physical property data
Engineering / is that of Landolt-Bornstein (1950-date) (References, Section 1.2,
/ Manhours Part C). Although most of the material is in German, recent
volumes have detailed tables of contents in English and some
volumes are largely in English. Another large compilation,
Construction I somewhat venerable but still valuable, is the International Critical
Tables (1926-1933). Data and methods of estimating properties of
hydrocarbons and their mixtures are in the API Data Book
n
100 (1971-date) (References, Section 1.2, Part C). More general
% of Total Project Time treatments of estimation of physical properties are listed in
References, Section 1.1, Part C. There are many compilations of
Figure 1.1. Progress of material commitment, engineering special data such as solubilities, vapor pressures, phase equilibria,
manhours, and construction [Mufozzi, Oil Gas. J. p. 304, (23 March transport and thermal properties, and so on. A few of them are
1953)]. listed in References, Section 1.2, Part D, and references to many
others are in the References, Section 1.2, Part B.
10 I I 1 I I I I I I Information about equipment sizes and configurations, and
sometimes performance, of equipment is best found in manufac-
- turers’ catalogs. Items 1 and 2 of References, Section 1.1, Part D,
contain some advertisements with illustrations, but perhaps their
- principal value is in the listings of manufacturers by the kind of
equipment. Thomas Register covers all manufacturers and so is less
- convenient at least for an initial search. The other three items of
this group of books have illustrations and descriptions of all kinds of
- chemical process equipment. Although these books are old, one is
surprised to note how many equipment designs have survived.
I I
% of Total Project Time 1.5. CODES, STANDARDS, AND
RECOMMENDED PRACTICES
Figure 1.2. Rate of application of engineering manhours of various
categories. The area between the curves represents accumulated A large body of rules has been developed over the years to ensure
manhours for each speciality up to a given % completion of the the safe and economical design, fabrication and testing of
project [Miller, Chem. Eng., p. 188, (July 1956)]. equipment, structures, and materials. Codification of these rules
has been done by associations organized for just such purposes,
For a typical project, Figure 1.1 shows the distributions of by professional societies, trade groups, insurance underwriting
engineering, material commitment, and construction efforts. Of the companies, and government agencies. Engineering contractors and
engineering effort, the process engineering is a small part. Figure large manufacturing companies usually maintain individual sets of
1.2 shows that it starts immediately and finishes early. In terms of standards so as to maintain continuity of design and to simplify
money, the cost of engineering ranges from 5 to 15% or so of the maintenance of plant. Table 1.1 is a representative table of contents
total plant cost; the lower value for large plants that are largely of the mechanical standards of a large oil company.
patterned after earlier ones, and the higher for small plants or those Typical of the many thousands of items that are standardized in
based on new technology or unusual codes and specifications. the field of engineering are limitations on the sizes and wall
thicknesses of piping, specifications of the compositions of alloys,
1.4. SOURCES OF INFORMATION FOR PROCESS DESIGN stipulation of the safety factors applied to strengths of construction
materials, testing procedures for many kinds of materials, and so
A selection of books relating to process design methods and data is on.
listed in the references at the end of this chapter. Items that are Although the safe design practices recommended by profes-
especially desirable in a personal library or readily accessible are sional and trade associations have no legal standing where they have
identified. Specialized references are given throughout the book in not actually been incorporated in a body of law, many of them have
connection with specific topics. the respect and confidence of the engineering profession as a whole
The extensive chemical literature is served by the bibliographic and have been accepted by insurance underwriters so they are
items cited in References, Section 1.2, Part B. The book by widely observed. Even when they are only voluntary, standards
Rasmussen and Fredenslund (1980) is addressed to chemical constitute a digest of experience that represents a minimum re-
engineers and cites some literature not included in some of the quirement of good practice.
other bibliographies, as well as information about proprietary data Two publications by Burklin (References, Section 1.1, Part B)
banks. The book by Leesley (References, Section 1.1, Part B) has are devoted to standards of importance to the chemical industry.
much information about proprietary data banks and design Listed are about 50 organizations and 60 topics with which they are
methods. In its current and earlier editions, the book by Peters and concerned. National Bureau of Standards Publication 329 contains
Timmerhaus has many useful bibliographies on classified topics. about 25,000 titles of U.S. standards. The NBS-SIS service
For information about chemical manufacturing processes, the maintains a reference collection of 200,000 items accessible by letter
main encyclopedic references are Kirk-Othmer (1978-1984), or phone. Information about foreign standards is obtainable
McKetta and Cunningham (1976-date) and Ullmann (1972-1983) through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
(References, Section 1.2, Part B). The last of these is in German, A listing of codes and standards bearing directly on process