WACHEMO UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering
&Technology
Department of Chemical Engineering
Plant Design and Economics

By: Naol Bekele

Agust 2023
 Course Outline
1. Introduction to Chemical plant Design 3. Equipment Selection and Materials
• General design considerations of Construction, Material Handlings
• Types of design • Equipment categories
• Nature and function of design • Materials of Construction
• Source of design data, patents and diagrams
• Material handling principles
2. Process Design Development
4. Plant layout, location and Site
• Project conception and definition
Development
• Flow sheet synthesis and development
• Plant layout
• Material and energy balance
• Factors for selecting plant location and
• Comparison of different alternative technologies
site development
• Optimization in process design
• SHE considerations in Process Design
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 Course outline Cont’d
5 . Plant Design Economic Evaluation 7. Process Plant Construction, Start
• Overview of plant costs and estimation up, Operation and waste
Minimization
• Capital investments and its components
• Plant construction and Early equipment
• Cash flow for industrial operations
management
• Interest and Investment Cost
• Operations and management
• Depreciation and values of plant assets
• Plant waste managements
6. Profitability Analysis and Alternative Investments
(minimization, recycling and disposal)
• Profitability Standards
• Measures of Profitability (pay back period,

Net present value, Internal rate of return)

• Selection of feasible investment option
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 Literatures
A. Text Book(s):
• Max S. Peters Klaus & D. Timmerhaus, Plant design and Economics for Chemical Engineers; 5 th Edition
• Gavin towler, Ray sinnott, Chemical engineering design principles, practice and economics of plant and
process design; 4th Edition
B. Reference Books
1. Warren D. Seider ,Product and Process Design Principles, synthesis, Analysis and Evaluation, 3rd Edition
2. Chemical Engineering Design Project A Case Study Approach by M.S. Rayn and D.W. Johnston, Volume 6
3. CHEMICAL PROCESS ENGINEERING Design and Economics by Harry Silla
4. Process Plant Layout and Piping Design/Ed Bausbacher, Roger Hunt
5. Ernest Ludwig, applied process design for chemical and petrochemica1 plants Volume 2, Third Edition
6. Piping Design for Process Plants, Howard F Rase

Powered By: Naol B December 10, 202

4
 Golden Rules
How I run My Interactive and Productive Class
I will treat you with respect ,
so you will know how to treat
me.
Feel free to do any thing that
doesn’t cause a problem for
any one else.
I f you cause a problem, I will
ask you to solve it
If you can’t solve the problem or choose not
to , I will do some thing.
What I do, will depend on the special
person, and the special situation
If you feel something is unfair, whisper to
me, “ I am not sure that is fair,” and we
will talk.

Powered By: Naol December 10, 202

4
 CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction to Chemical plant

Design
General design considerations
Types of design
Nature and function of design
Source of design data, patents and
diagrams December 10, 202
4
 Introduction
 The purpose of this course is to assist students
in making the transition from solving well-posed
problems in a specific subject to integrating all
the knowledge that they have gained in their
undergraduate education and applying it to
solving open-ended process problems.

Plant design is an integration or assembly of

all subject or the knowledge that you as a
chemical engineer or Industrial chemistry have
gained in your undergraduate education
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Plant as assembly of process
Equipment

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 Plant Design
 Plant/Process design includes all engineering
aspects involved in the development of either
a new, modified, or expanded industrial plant.

 In this development, the chemical engineer or

industrial chemistry will be designing
process equipments, developing a plant
layout and making general economic/financial
evaluations of processes/plants. Because of
these many design duties, the chemical
engineer or industrial chemistry is many times
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 Plant Design Cont’d
A chemical engineer specializing in the
economic/financial aspects of the design is often
referred as a cost engineer.

 Process engineering is used in connection with general

process works, economic evaluation and general
financial analyses of industrial processes, while
process design refers to the actual design of the
equipment and facilities necessary for carrying out the
process.

 Similarly, the meaning of plant design focuses on

items related directly to the complete plant, such as
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 Design as a creative activity
 Design should be viewed as the focal point of chemical
engineering practice in establishing new plants and
products .
 Far more than the development of a set of specifications
for a new chemical plant, design is that creative activity
through which engineers continuously improve the
operation of facilities to diversify products that enhance
the quality of life.
 Whether developing the new plant, proposing and
guiding process modifications, or troubleshooting and
implementing operational strategies for existing
equipment, engineering design requires a broad
spectrum of knowledge and intellectual skills to be able
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 Nature and Function of Design
.
 Plant design is the conversion of ideas or data
in the form of needs to data in the form of
designed plant (process & technical systems) by
sciences, and engineering knowledge in the
most suitable manner and the target is
achieved

 Plant design is the application of stock of

various knowledge that converts ideas or needs
into useful, marketable and profitable products
and services. December 10, 2
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 Nature and Function of Design
 Plant design is a multidisciplinary subject
Fundamental Sciences

Environmental Science
Marketa
Plant ble
Social Science Design Product

Economics and Finance Work

Engineering/Technology
knowhow and skill

Engineering Sciences

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 Nature and Function of Design
 Plant/Process design is a creative activity that does do
not exist at the start or beginning of the work. The
design leads to the formation of new products and
services that was not present before.
 It has a beginning and an end. The designer starts
with a specific objective in mind, a need, and by
developing and evaluating possible designs, arrives at
what he considers the best way of achieving that
objective; be it a better chair or for the chemical
engineer, a new chemical product or a stage in the
design of a production process.
 Plant/Process design is not an exact science and hence
comprises full of intelligent assumption
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 Plant design
 constraints
When considering possible ways of achieving the objective, the
designer will be constrained by many factors, which will narrow
down the number of possible designs. These constraints are
classified in to internal and external constraints.
External constraints: They are fixed, invariable & are outside the
designer's influence
 physical laws,
government regulations, and
 standards & Codes.
Internal constraints: less rigid, and are within the designer's
influence
 Raw materials & inputs
 Process & equipment choice
 Process Conditions [Temperature,Pressure /Concentration &
Others] December 10, 2
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PLANT DESIGN CONSTRAINTS & ITS
SCREENING FACTORS

Feasible design = f(
Finance/economics,Environment)
Optimum design= f(process,
Financce/economics,Environment
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 Economic Benefits VS Eng’g
 Special Principles
emphasis is placed both on the economic and
engineering principles involved in the design of chemical plants
and equipment.
 An understanding of these principles is a prerequisite for any
successful chemical engineer, no matter whether the final
position is in direct design work or in production,
administration, sales, research, development, or any other
related field.
 The life of plant design is determined by the Birr or the dollar
sign ($ € £ ¥) and these fact must always be kept in
mind when carrying out the design of a plant.
 The theoretical and practical aspects of economic and
engineering principles are important, of course; but, in the
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 Standards and Codes in Plant
Design
Standards are generally for sizes, compositions, etc. CODE is reserved for
a code of practice covering a recommended design or operating procedure.
Almost all countries have national organizations for standards and codes
Eg American National Standards Institute (ANSI), American Society for Testing
Materials (ASTM), British Standards Institution (BSI). Ethiopian Standards
Authority ,American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE),Ethiopian Society of
Chemical Engineers (ESChE)
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) coordinates the
publication of international standards.
African standards Organization coordinates the publication of African
standards.

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 Standards and Codes in Plant Design

 Standards are part of modern industries and trade.

 Standards provide interchangeability between different
manufacturers. Pumps, Spare parts,
 Modern standards cover a much wider function than the
interchange of parts, they cover:
 Materials, properties and compositions.
 Testing procedures for performance, compositions, quality.
 Preferred sizes; e.g tubes, plates, sections.
 Design methods, inspection, fabrication.
. Codes of practice, for plant operation & safety.
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 Standards and Codes in Plant Design
 Standard designs saves time and money as it avoids routine
and repetitious works whenever practicable. Equipment
manufacturers also work to standards to produce standardized
designs and size ranges for commonly used items; such as
electric motors, pumps, pipes and pipe fittings.
 For the designer, the use of a standardized component size
allows for the easy integration of a piece of equipment into the
rest of the plant. For example, if a standard range of centrifugal
pumps is specified the pump dimensions will be known, and this
facilitates the design of the foundations plates, pipe connections
and the selection of the drive motors
 It is clearly more economic to produce range of standard sizes
than to have to treat each order as a special job.

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 Standards and Codes in Plant Design

 For an operating company, the standardization of

equipment designs and sizes increases
interchangeability and reduces the stock of spares that
have to be held in maintenance stores.

 Though there are clearly considerable advantages to be

gained from the use of standards in design, there are
also some disadvantages.
Standards impose constraints on the designer. The
nearest standard size will normally be selected on
completing a design calculation(rounding-up) but this will
not necessarily be the optimum size; though as the
standardize will be cheaper than a special size, it will
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 Design
 Design factors
is not an exact art but inexact art with various
errors, uncertainties, approximations and assumption
necessary in design calculations. To this end,design
factor“ is put to ensure that the design specification is
met.
 Design factor is included, to give a margin of safety in
the design so that the equipment will not fail to perform
satisfactorily and safely with out causing a hazard..

 Design factors are also applied in process design to give

some tolerance in the design. the process stream
average flows calculated from material balances are
usually increased by a factor, typically 10 per cent, to
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 Design factors
Cont’d
 Where design factors are introduced it should be
clearly stated in the project documents (drawings,
calculation sheets and manuals). If this is not done,
there is a danger that each of the specialist design
groups will add its own "factor of safety"; resulting in
gross, and unnecessary, over-design.

 When selecting the design factor to use a balance has

to be made between the desire to make sure the
design is adequate and the need to design to tight
margins to remain competitive. The greater the
uncertainty in the design methods and data, the
bigger the design factor that must be used.
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 Safety Consideration in Design
 Any organization has a legal and moral obligation to safeguard the health and
Safety are of its employees and the general public. Good management
practices needed to ensure safe operation will also ensure efficient operation.
 Unsafe operation will not only limited to the cost of replacing damaged plant
and third-party claims, but also the loss of earnings from lost production and
lost sales opportunity. All manufacturing processes demands safe operation.
 The designer must be aware and ensure, through the application of sound
engineering practice, that the risks are reduced to acceptable levels.
1. Identification and assessment of the hazards.
2. Control of the hazards: for example, by containment of flammable and toxic
materials.
3. Control of the process. Prevention of hazardous deviations in process
variables(pressure, temperature, flow), by provision of automatic control
systems, interlocks, alarms, trips; together with good operating practices and
management.

4. Limitation of the loss. The damage and injury caused if an incident occurs:
pressure relief, plant layout, provision of fire-fighting equipment.
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 Types of Design

Depending on the accuracy and detail required, design engineers

generally classify process designs in the following manner:
i. Preliminary or quick estimate designs
ii. Detailed estimate designs
iii. Firm process or detailed designs.
Preliminary designs are ordinarily used as a basis for determining
whether further work should be done on the proposed process. The
design is based on
approximate process methods and rough cost estimates are prepared.
Few details are included and
the time spent on calculations is kept at a minimum.
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 Types of Design
The primary step in preparing the preliminary design is to establish the bases for design. The
basic items are;
 the properties of the product and the manufacturing process
 availability and quality of raw material
 annual operating factor
 energy requirements
 valuable by-products
The preliminary design must provide the following out put for detailed estimate design;
1. manufacturing process
2. material and energy balances
3. temperature and pressure ranges
4. raw material and product specifications
5. yields, reaction rates, time cycles, capacity
6. materials of construction
7. utility requirements
8. plant site

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 Types of Design
2. Detailed Estimate Design:
If the results of the preliminary design show that further work is justified, a detailed estimate
design may be developed. In this type of design,
• the cost and benefit potential of an established process is determined by detailed analysis
and calculations.
• However, exact specifications are not given for the equipment and drafting work is
minimized.
The Detailed estimate leads to the accurate estimation of
 required capital investment
 manufacturing costs
 potential profits

Based on these the following factors should be determined in detailed estimate design stage.
types of buildings, heating, ventilating, lighting, power supply, drainage, waste disposal, safety facilities
and
Powered instrumentation.
By: Eba
Email: December 10, 2
eba.adino@gmail.com 024
 Types of Design
3. Firm design or Detailed design
is prepared for purchasing and construction from a detailed-estimate design.
Detailed drawings are
made for the fabrication of special equipment, and specifications are
prepared for purchasing standard types of equipment and materials.
At this stage all detailed drawings are prepared and real investments are
determined.
• A complete plant layout (production lines, facilities etc), blueprints and
instructions for construction are developed.
• Specifications are given for warehouses, laboratories, guard-houses, fencing,
change houses, transportation facilities etc.
• MUST BE DEVELOPED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF PERSONS SKILLED IN
VARIOUS ENGINEERING FIELDS.

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 Source of Design Data
 The development of a design project is always initiated with the creation of one or more
potential solutions to meet a recognized societal or engineering need. In order arrive at one
or more of these solutions, reliable data source should be used.
 The development of a design project is always initiated with the creation of one or more
potential solutions to meet a recognized societal or engineering need: The common data
sources for chemical Eng’g plant design projects are
1. Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook (1997)
2. Chemical Processing Handbook (1993), Unit Operations Handbook (1993), Riegel's
Handbook of Industrial Chemistry (1992), JANAF Thermochemical Tables (1985), Handbook
of Reactive Chemical Hazards (1990), Standard Handbook of Hazardous Waste Treatment
and Disposed (1989), and Data for Process Design and Engineering Practice (1995).
3. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (1994), Ullman’s Encyclopedia of
Industrial Chemistry (1988), and Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design (1976).

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