Page 334 - Chemical engineering design

CHAPTER 8

Design Information and Data

8.1. INTRODUCTION

Information on manufacturing processes, equipment parameters, materials of construction,
costs and the physical properties of process materials are needed at all stages of design;
from the initial screening of possible processes, to the plant start-up and production.
Sources of data on costs were discussed in Chapter 6 and materials of construction in
Chapter 7. This chapter covers sources of information on manufacturing processes and
physical properties; and the estimation of physical property data. Information on the types
of equipment (unit operations) used in chemical process plants is given in Volume 2, and in
the Chapters concerned with equipment selection and design in this Volume, Chapters 10,
11 and 12.
When a project is largely a repeat of a previous project, the data and information
required for the design will be available in the Company’s process files, if proper detailed
records are kept. For a new project or process, the design data will have to be obtained
from the literature, or by experiment (research laboratory and pilot plant), or purchased
from other companies. The information on manufacturing processes available in the
general literature can be of use in the initial stages of process design, for screening
potential process; but is usually mainly descriptive, and too superficial to be of much use
for detailed design and evaluation.
The literature on the physical properties of elements and compounds is extensive, and
reliable values for common materials can usually be found. The principal sources of
physical property data are listed in the references at the end of this chapter.
Where values cannot be found, the data required will have to be measured experi-
mentally or estimated. Methods of estimating (predicting) the more important physical
properties required for design are given in this chapter. A physical property data bank is
given in Appendix C.
Readers who are unfamiliar with the sources of information, and the techniques used for
searching the literature, should consult one of the many guides to the technical literature
that have been published; such as those by Lord (2000) and Maizell (1998).

8.2. SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON MANUFACTURING
PROCESSES

In this section the sources of information available in the open literature on commercial
processes for the production of chemicals and related products are reviewed.

309