HEAT EXCHANGER

PRESSURE
DROPAND PUMPING
POWER.
CHAPTER 4
HEAT EXCHANGER PRESSURE DROP
AND PUMPING POWER.
HEAT EXCHANGERS: SELECTION, RATING, AND THERMAL
DESIGN, FOURTH EDITION

ADHIKARI AMIT
KARKI KAMAL
JOHNSON JULIAN
SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
PANKAJ R. CHANDRA, PH.D. P.E.
12/02/2014

Contents
I.

Executive Summary............................................................................................. 3

II.

Body of Report..................................................................................................... 4
A.

Introduction....................................................................................................... 4

B.

Reaction Process............................................................................................... 5

C. Previous Work................................................................................................... 5
D. Project Importance............................................................................................ 5
E.

Project Background........................................................................................... 6

F.

Equipment......................................................................................................... 7
a.

Reactor.......................................................................................................... 7

b.

Neutralizer:.................................................................................................... 8

c.

Evaporator:.................................................................................................... 8

d.

Crystallizer:.................................................................................................... 9

e.

Dryer:............................................................................................................. 9

III.

Recovery Process.............................................................................................. 9

IV.

Economic Analysis.......................................................................................... 10

V.

PFD..................................................................................................................... 13

VI.

Assumptions.................................................................................................... 14

VII.

Error................................................................................................................ 14

VIII.

Conclusion....................................................................................................... 15

IX.

Appendix......................................................................................................... 15

A.

Computer Programs Used............................................................................... 15

B.

References:..................................................................................................... 15

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

I.

Executive Summary

This project involves the design of a new plant that produces the
Pentaerythritol. The desired plant capacity is 60 tons of technical-grade
Pentaerythritol per month. For economic purposes all equipment are
assumed to be purchased new. The facility is an expansion to an existing
anhydrous ammonia plant in Louisiana, Missouri. The base design for this
plant is based on the Industrial Engineering Project by Siddharth Maity and
the US Patent 3410915. All of the data required for the Material and Energy
Balance were collected from Bhageria Dye-Chem Ltd (Manufacturers of Dye
Intermediates and Dyes) by Siddharth Maity in December 2009. The total
equipment cost for this Plant without installation is $600,000. The total
installation cost is $300,000. The total capital investment for this plant is
around 3 Million Dollars, and has a break even period of 2 years. The plant
operates 12 hours a day and 23 days in a moth.

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

II.

Body of Report

A. Introduction
The Pentaerythritol Production plant was designed to produce 60 tons of
Pentaerythritol per month. The plant operated 23 days per month for 12
hours a day. To achieve the desired production rate, 4745 kg of
Pentaerythritol in a day must be produced. The product Pentaerythritol was
made from formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the presence of sodium
hydroxide/calcium hydroxide and water.

Sodium hydroxide was preferred

over calcium hydroxide because sodium ions directly combined with formate
ions from formic acid to give sodium formate which was easily removed
through the process of centrifuge. The yield in this process was 85 to 90%,
and 89% yield was assumed for this design. Sodium formate was the main
byproduct along with dipentaerythritol and tripentaerythritol. The byproducts
were formed due to the side reactions of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde
reacting with each other.
SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

B. Reaction Process
4HCHO + CH3CHO

C5H9O + CHO2Na

This reaction is completed in two different steps. First, formaldehyde

combine with acetaldehyde to give pentaerythritose; and subsequent
reaction of pentaerythritose with sodium hydroxide and formaldehyde give
pentaerythritol solution.

C. Previous Work
This case was designed on the basis of Industrial Engineering Project by
Siddharth Maity, and the US Patent 3410915, Process for continuous
manufacture of Pentaerythritol. The data was collected from two different US
patents: US 2532253 A, Separation of Pentaerythritol and formic acid, and US
5741956 A, Process for the preparation of Pentaerythritol.

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

D. Project Importance
Pentaerythritol has a wide area of application. Some of the areas of
application are:
1) Raw materials for paint industry. Pentaerythritol is used to make the
alkyd resin which is the raw material for the paint.
2) Lubricating Oil: It is used in lubricating oil. An ester of Pentaerythritol is
useful for high temperature lubrication (US 2961406 A).
3) Explosives: PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) is best known as
explosive. PETN is the nitrate ester of Pentaerythritol.
4) Sodium Formate: Sodium formate is the main byproduct in the
production of Pentaerythritol. Sodium formate is used in the production
of hydro, nickel format and in leather industry

E. Project Background
Pentaerythritol was produced from formaldehyde and acetaldehyde in the
presence of sodium hydroxide. This design consisted of nine different stages,
and Pentaerythritol is recovered in fifth and ninth stage. Nine different stages
were:
1) Reactor
2) Neutralizer
3) Evaporator
SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

Crystallizer
Dryer
Recovery Unit
Centrifuge
Chiller
Filter

88% (4940 out of 5551 kg/day) of pentaerythritol formed in the reactor was
recovered from the dryer. 12% of the pentaerythritol along with the sodium
formate and water was fed to the recovery unit which helped to recover the
rest 12% of pentaerythritol. The pentaerythritol produced will be of technical
grade.

F. Equipment
a. Reactor
Reactor had to produce 4743 kg of pentaerythritol in a day to produce 60
tons of pentaerythritol in a month. According to the US patent 3410915, a
six-stage CSTR would be the best option for the reaction of formaldehyde
and acetaldehyde to produce pentaerythritol. Residence time goes on
decreasing as the number of the stages go on increasing in the CSTR.
Example 1 of the US patent 3410915 used five-stage reactor, which had a

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

residence time of 1.5 hours, and example 2 of the US patent 3410915 used
six stage reactor, which had a residence time of 1 hour. The reactor operated
at the temperature of 250C. It was an exothermic reaction, and it generated
888,064.34 kcal of heat per day. The cooling jacket was used outside the
reactor to maintain the temperature at 250C.

b. Neutralizer:
The products of the reactor were the inputs for the neutralizer. Formic acid
was added to neutralize the excess alkali. PH of the solution was reduced to
6-8 from 10-11. The temperature of the product from the reactor was 25 oC,
and it was stored in the holding tank to heat the product approximately to
90oC before sent to the neutralizer. Sodium formate was formed in the
neutralizer. The total energy needed to heat the reactor products to the
desired temperature was 937,503 kcal/day. Residence time in the neutralizer
was 0.77 m3/hr., and the diameter of the neutralization tank was 0.84m.

c. Evaporator:
The products from the neutralizer consisted of formaldehyde which was
removed from the evaporator along with some amount of water. The product
SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

coming out from the evaporator was known as slurry which consists of
pentaerythritol, sodium formate and water. Specific gravity of slurry was
around 1.3. Total cost to run the evaporator was around 600 dollars per day.

d. Crystallizer:

The crystallizer separated the pentaerythritol from sodium formate. Around

88% of the pentaerythritol was recovered from this process and remaining
pentaerythritol along with sodium formate was sent to the recovery unit. The
crystallizer functioned as centrifuge. The crystallizer created the centripetal
force which separated the sodium formate from the slurry along with some
pentaerythritol and water.

e. Dryer:
The pentaerythritol from crystallizer was sent to the dryer to remove the
water from pentaerythritol crystals absorbed in the crystallizer. The final
pentaerythritol

crystal

contains

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

0.25%

of

water

in

it.

4940

kg

CREATED BY:
AMIT

of

10

pentaerythritol out of 5551 kg was recovered from the dryer. Remaining

pentaerythritol which contained of sodium formate and water was sent to the
recovery unit

III. Recovery Process

610 kg of pentaerythritol along with sodium formate and water was fed to
the recovery unit. 1321 kg of water was extracted from the recovery unit,
and it was sent to the centrifuge. Recovery unit increased the temperature of
the solution before it was sent to the centrifuge. Centrifuge created the
centripetal force that extracted the 95% of sodium formate from the solution.
The product from the centrifuge was liquid. It needed to be crystallized which
was done by the chiller. 89% of the liquid pentaerythritol was crystallized in
the chiller. The product from the chiller was sent to the filter where crystals
of pentaerythritol were separated from the liquid pentaerythritol along with
sodium formate and water.

IV. Economic Analysis

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

11

The equipment cost for each of the equipment was calculated, and the table
6-9 from Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers was used to
calculate the direct plant cost, indirect plant cost along with the working
capital. The total capital investment was around 3 million dollars. The
following table shows the direct and indirect plant cost along with the
working capital.

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

12

Direct Plant Cost

Purchase Equipment Cost
Installation
Instrumentation
Piping
Electrical Systems
Builidings
Yard
Services
Total Direct Plant Cost

$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$

587,926.76
229,291.44
152,860.96
182,257.30
58,792.68
170,498.76
70,551.21
323,359.72
1,775,538.81

Percentage
1.00
0.39
0.26
0.31
0.10
0.29
0.12
0.55

Direct Plant Cost

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

13

Indirect Plant Cost

Engineering
Construction
Legal Expenses
Contractor's Fee
Contingency
Total Indirect Plant Cost

$
$
$
$
$
$

188,136.56
199,895.10
23,517.07
111,706.08
217,532.90
740,787.72

Cost Factor
0.32
0.34
0.04
0.19
0.37

Indirect Plant Cost

$250,000.00
$200,000.00
$150,000.00
$100,000.00
$50,000.00
$-

Total Capital Investment

Working Capital
Total Capital Investment
Total Capital Investment in MM

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

$
$

440,945.07
2,957,271.60
$
2.96

Cost
Factor
0.75

CREATED BY:
AMIT

14

V.

PFD

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

15

VI.

Assumptions

1. Cooling jacket around the reactor helped to maintain the temperature

of the reactor around 25 degree Celsius.
2. The temperature only raised by 10-15 degree Celsius despite being
exothermic reaction.
3. Formic acid neutralized the effect of alkaline in the solution. It reduced
the PH from 10-11 to 6-8.
4. Holding tank before the neutralizer increased the temperature of the
solution to 90 degree Celsius.
5. Crystallizer had the yield of 89%.
6. Evaporator evaporated almost 81% of water.

VII. Error

The yield of the crystallizer was assumed to be 89% for this design, and it
was used to calculate the required feed flow rate for the production of the
desired product. If the required yield was plus/minus 5% then total capital
investment would be plus/minus 25%. If evaporator did not evaporate the
89% of water, more energy would required in the recovery unit that would
make the total capital investment go high. The equipment cost were
calculated from the graph which might be different than the actual market

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

16

price. The total capital investment cost calculated in this design is plus/minus
50% because there are many assumptions

VIII. Conclusion
A new plant that produces 60 tons of pentaerythritol was designed. A plant
operates 12 hours a day for 23 days in a month. The cost of the plant can be
reduced by operating the plant 24 hours a day. The raw materials price are
relatively low compared to the selling price of pentaerythritol. The demand of
pentaerythritol is high and it supposed to go up by 10% in future.

IX.

Appendix

A. Computer Programs Used

MS word was used to write the report and MS excel was used to calculate
the total investment cost for the plant. The excel program is embedded in
this report.

Case 4.xlsx

B. References:

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT

17
1. Process for Continuous Manufacture of Pentaerythritol. Montedison Spa,
assignee. Patent US 3410915A. 12 Nov. 1968.
2. Separation of Pentaerythritol and Formic Acid. Trojan Powder Co, assignee.
Patent US 2532253A. 28 Nov. 1950.
3. Process for the Preparation of Pentaerythritol. Patentes Y Novedades,
assignee. Patent US 5741956A. 21 Apr. 1998.
4. Peters, Max S., Klaus D. Timmerhaus, and Ronald E. West. Plant Design and
Economics for Chemical Engineers Fifth Edition.

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
ADHIKARI
MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY
DR. J.R.BORDEN
12/02/2014

CREATED BY:
AMIT