Conceptual Design

The course aims at the learning and application of the new principles in analyzing
and designing the conceptual design of a process. Achievement of knowledge of
the structure of chemical processes. Awareness of the important conversion
processes.

Detailed description of topics: The course deals with chemical technology and
process industry in an integral way. Raw materials, and energy, base chemicals,
different routes syngas, coal gasification, oil technology, steam cracking, capita
selecta from conversion processes in bulk chemical industry, ammonia
syntheses, methanol syntheses, homogeneous catalyses biotechnology, fine
chemicals and scale-up. New concepts in process technology.

Plant Design: Course and Project

The objective of the Plant Design Course (followed by the design project) is to
enable the participants to develop their design skills in chemical plant design.
Course discusses: Design basis, conceptual design, mass and energy balance,
process flow diagrams, safety and HAZOP of chemical plants and finally the
economic evaluation of the chemical plant.

Plant Design Project is executed in a team (2-3 members). The group as a whole
is responsible for the final outcome of the project. In turn, each member of the
group will be assigned the group leadership. The participants are forced to use
their deepened skills of unit operations and acquired design skills in an integrated
way. Also they are made aware of other engineering disciplines in the areas
between conceptual design and an operational plant.

Generally three reports are written during the project, for example:
- Report 1: Scope and basis of design
- Report 2: Results of conceptual design (incl. Process Flow Diagrams,
balances)
- Final report: Evaluation of the design and final conclusion
The project is concluded with an oral presentation of the results and conclusions
on behalf of the principal.

The participants manage their own planning and implementation of the project;
during the project the supervisors act solely as consultants, after completion they
review the results.

Progress and consult meetings are scheduled on a regular basis and are
attended by the participants and supervisors (at least every three weeks, often
more frequent.
Techno-Economical Evaluation in the Process Industry

Companies in the Chemical Process Industries spend large amounts of money

on the development of products and processes and the design and construction
of manufacturing plants. The competency to identify attractive business
opportunities in term of processes and products and to appraise investment
projects is therefore vital to the company’s long-term success. To this end
companies need process engineers capable of evaluating both the technical and
economic feasibility of processes and projects.

Many projects are driven by the demands of markets. It is the process

engineers’ task to propose processes and design plants that meet these needs
effectively and efficiently. On the other hand, new technologies or new
combinations of existing technologies may offer good perspectives from an
economic point of view. The process engineer is central to evaluating and
developing such opportunities in the phase of cost constraints and helping to
translate them into commercial practice. Managing process technology as a
resource in increasingly part of the process engineers’ job.
The course Technology Management: Economical Evaluation in the Process
Industry offers an ideal preparation for process engineers wishing to deepen their
expertise in the above field. It develops an understanding of a broad range of
economic, financial, strategic and marketing issues and examines the
characteristics and working of the process industry business in general and of
the development, design and construction pipeline in particular. The course
covers best practise in capital and operating cost estimating and assessing
project profitability in life-cycle terms. It also offers an introduction to financial for
non-accountants in which a company’s financial performance is discussed in the
light of its Financial Statements.
The course has been developed specifically for postgraduate engineers and
researchers wishing to pursue a career in process development and design in a
manufacturing or engineering/construction environment. At the same tine, it is
also geared to the needs of those already working in industry for some years.
Being able to determine and evaluate investment costs is of vital importance for
the process industry. The participant of course will learn to think in non-technical
terms as costs and market share. The course consists of three parts. In the first
part of the course, structure and characteristics of the process industry are
analysed. Next attention is paid to organisation and layout of projects and the
role of economics. The second part aims at methods for the determination of
investment costs, annual costs and profitability. The third part deals with the
evaluation financial situation of a company as a whole. Also attention is paid to
strategic aspect of investment decisions. In concordance with the course
participants other subject can be dealt with (for example “Porter Industry
Analysis} en Mergers & Acquisitions”).
The course starts with interactive lectures combined with workshops. The
workshops comprise of exercises and case studies. The course is concluded with
an assignment in which the economic feasibility of an actual project is assessed.
This part is performed in co-operation with the collective design project.
Course Outline:

Part 1 - Introduction - Industry / Economy General - Process (Chemical) Industry

Business - Case Study - Project Organisation - Economic Evaluation /
Investment appraisal

Part 2 - Capital Cost Estimating - Course project - Case Studies - Manufacturing

Cost Estimating - Case Studies - Evaluation Profitability / Discounted Cash Flow
(DCF) Analysis
Part 3 - Cost of Capital, Risk & Uncertainties - Finance and Accounting
Fundamentals - Case Study - Finance and Accounting Fundamentals (cont'd) -
Management Accounting - Case Study / Project.
A Unified Approach to Mass Transfer

Textbooks on mass transfer start with binary mixtures... and stop there. However,
there are few processes where only binary mass transfer occurs. Even distillation
usually has more components. In membrane processes, the simplest cases
involve three species: the two to be separated and the membrane itself. Most
engineers do not realise, that multicomponent mixtures have properties quite
different from those of binary mixtures. For example, that it is possible for
diffusion in a multicomponent mixture to run against a concentration gradient. Or
for the ‘Height Equivalent to a Theoretical Plate’ (HETP) to be negative.

Many mass transfer processes are driven by forces other than those due to
concentration gradients. In electrolysis and electrodialysis, transfer is due to
gradients of the electrical field. The centrifugal field dominates gas separations
by ultracentrifugation. Pressure gradients are important in many membrane
processes and in heterogeneous catalysis. It is not possible to include these
driving forces in a proper way in the traditional description of mass transfer.
In this course, you will learn a method which is applicable to all mass transfer
processes. The species are taken to move with respect to each other due to their
potential gradients. Their rate of movement is restricted by friction between the
species. The method links thermodynamics and transport phenomena in a way
which is easily understood by engineers. It has its origins in the works of Stefan
and Maxwell.
Distillation Absorption and Extraction

Objectives: The course deals with design and operation of the important
industrial multi-component separations: distillation, absorption and extraction. It
will provide you with state-of-the-art procedures on multi-component phase
equilibria, ideal and non-ideal hydrodynamics and mixing in trays and packings,
non-equilibrium multi-component stage calculation (based on thermodynamics of
irreversible processes) and dynamic behaviour. The emphasis will be on
fundamentals, although empirical correlations will be used where necessary.
Many of the exercises will make use of 'ChemSep', a multi-component non-
equilibrium distillation design program written by R.Taylor and H.Kooijman of
Clarkson University. The course represents a new development in Separation
Engineering. Our documentation is good and is still being improved.
 Thermodynamics for Process Engineers
For the design of industrial processes reliable values of the properties of the pure
components and mixtures which are involved in the process are very important.
Often experimental data are not or only partly available. This course handles
state of the art methods for description of thermodynamic properties; chemical
equilibria and phase equilibria. Advanced equations of state, models for the
calculation of interaction coefficients. Thermodynamic analyses of processes;
exergy analyses.
Oral presentation

At the end of the course students will be able to:

- Speak in public clearly and attractively without making beginner's errors;
- Introduce and thank a speaker and deal with questions and reactions from the
audience;
- Assess presentations;
- Show insight into theory and practice of speaking in public.
In job advertisements for engineers applicants are always required to possess
excellent communication skills. This means among other things that they should
be able to present their designs and research results fluently, for example during
meetings with clients or with managers in their own company. A persuasive
presentation does not only require thorough preparation of content, but also good
style. It takes quite a bit of skill to come across understandable for any particular
audience and to stay in control of the situation. For this purpose the course Oral
Presentation offers students the possibility to gain experience in giving
presentations under professional guidance in a small group.

Method: the first meeting will be used to discuss how to prepare a presentation.
The second, third and fourth meeting will be dedicated to practising presentation
skills. Students will be asked to prepare a short presentation for this purpose. For
the fifth, sixth and seventh meeting students will be asked to give an eight-minute
presentation about a subject that is related to their study. These presentations
will be evaluated by a panel of students and the teacher. All presentations will be
recorded on video. This will offer participants the possibility to evaluate their own
presentations. Attendance is compulsory; no more than one lesson may be
missed.

Assessment: a final mark will be based on the presentations. Students who fail,
like students who have missed a lesson, will be given the opportunity to
compensate for this by means of an assignment.
Reactive Separations: in Process Intensification

The course on Reactive Separations comprise of 40 hours of lectures and a

design project (assignment). Process intensification principles are presented with
the discussion of case studies from industrial processes. The individual design
project (following the course) involves the design of a reactive separation unit for
certain industrial application. The design project includes the use of the
simulation tool ChemSep in designing reactive separation column.
Industrial catalysis

This one-week course addresses new technologies, homogeneous and

heterogeneous catalysis, kinetics and deactivation, catalyst selection and
stability, novel reactor types such as autothermal, multifunctional and
microreactors, process intensification and reactor selection strategies. Different
industrial processes in which catalysis are extensively used and important are
presented and discussed in details. Reaction mechanisms, kinetics, design and
engineering of these industrial processes are studied.
Year Assignment: Thesis Project
Individual Design Project
The objective of the individual assignment is to design (part of) a process or a
piece of equipment. The necessary theoretical skills needed for this assignment
are assessed during the deepening phase of the course. The individual design
project aims for the (re-) design of processes or equipment. Other valid subjects
are the improvement of design methods and of knowledge on scale-up,
operational procedures and control. Each assignment generally contains design
as well as research and development aspects. In all cases the research and
development must be beneficial to the design; e.g. acquiring required knowledge
or experimental data. The design part must amount to at least 40%, leaving at
most 60% for the research and development part. The design task can be part of
a larger project; e.g. a process development/design project; the designer will
always interact with other project participants.

The subject is an industrially relevant problem. The work is generally carried out
on location in industry. The project is carried out under joint supervision of
academic and industrial staff. The participants are individually responsible for the
outcome of the project; the project is concluded with a report and a public oral
presentation of the design. The project starts with the definition of the objectives
and the basis of design. This is followed the synthesis of a pre-design. After the
analysis and evaluation of the pre-design, synthesis of an improved design is
carried out. Each project comprises an evaluation of the results with respect to
the cost, safety and environmental impact. The work-method is generally referred
to as "the design cycle". Every final report contains a number of characteristics:

· Identification of the principal

· The functional specifications of the design
· New knowledge obtained by research for the benefit of the design
· Improvements of design methods
· Realization and testing of the design
· The evaluation method used to judge the value of the design
· Management summary