Feature Report

Engineering Practice

Heuristics Rules for

Process Equipment
If applied with thought and care, heuristics like these can
make life much easier during project scoping, process
design, equipment specification and similar tasks
Alejandro Anaya Durand, Josseline Alarid Miguel, (b) Usually employed with convey-
Gabriel Gallegos Diez Barroso, Marco Alejandro Leon Garcia, ing distances of 400 ft or less
and Juan Pablo Sierra Angeles (c) Can transport simultaneously to
National Autonomous University of Mexico several destinations

P
(d) Operate under vacuum or low
rovided that they are updated D/6) ft/s and 0.4 psi/100 ft; pressures
when appropriate to keep them (c) for steam or gas, 20D ft/s and 0.5 (e) Typical conveying-gas velocities
relevant, time-tested heuris- psi/100 ft are 35 to 120 ft/s
tics rules based upon experi- • Control valves function best if the
ence, also referred to as rules pressure drop through them is at Cooling towers
of thumb, can be useful for the design, least 10 psi • In full-scale units, air saturation can
specifying and operation of several • Single-stage centrifugal pumps can reach 90%
kinds of equipment used in process operate at rates of up to about 5,000 • To minimize pressure drop (ordinar-
plants. The first and foremost heuris- gal/min, (and to maximum heads of ily a maximum of 2 in. water), em-
tic rule is that the engineer should not 500 ft); multistage pumps can oper- ploy an open-structured material for
shy away from using heuristics — and ate to about 11,000 gal/min. the tower fill
the second rule is that he or she should • Typical water circulation rates are 1
not rely blindly upon them. Conveying of particulate solids to 4 gal/min per square foot, whereas
Presented here are a wide range • Screw conveyors: the air rates are 1,300 to 1,800 lb/h
of heuristics, classified according to (a) Can transport solids that are per square foot, or 300 to 400 ft/min
major kinds of typical process equip- abrasive or sticky • Countercurrent induced-draft tow-
ment or activity. (b) Typical incline is about 20 deg ers, which can cool water to about 2°F
(c) Most are 150 ft or less in length above the wet-bulb temperature, are
Fluid handling (d) With a conveyor of 12-in. diam- the most prevalent version of tower
• Fans are suitable for raising gas pres- eter, throughputs of up to about used in the process industries
sures moderately (for instance, by 3,000 ft3/h are feasible; typically, • For a given service, the required size
3%, or by 12 in. of water); for higher screw rotation rates are up to (volume) of a given tower is a func-
pressures up to about 40 psig, blowers about 60 rev/min tion of the difference between the
are suitable; for yet higher pressures, (e) Power consumption relatively low wet-bulb and the exit temperatures;
employ compressors (however there is • Bucket elevators: the smaller the difference, the larger
overlap between the operating ranges (a) Vertical transport of abrasive or the required volume
of blowers and compressors) sticky materials is feasible • Evaporation losses are typically 1%
• Typical polytropic efficiencies for (b) Typically, speeds can reach 100 to of the circulation for every 100°F
large centrifugal compressors are 300 ft/min; at 100 ft/min, bucket of cooling range. Windage or drift
about 76 to 78%; rotary compressors elevators with 20X20-in. buckets losses in mechanical-draft towers
normally have efficiencies around can convey about 1,000 ft3/h typically amount to 0.1 to 0.3%. To
70%, except for liquid-sealed ones, • Drag type conveyors: keep salt from building up exces-
which have efficiencies around 50% (a) Can convey for relatively short sively, it is typical to blow down 2.5
• For pipe lines of diameter D in distances in any direction to 3% of the circulation
inches, typical fluid velocities and (b) Have high power requirements
pressure drops are as follows: (c) Typical speeds are 30 ft/min (for, e.g., Heat exchangers; refrigeration
(a) for pump discharge (liquid): (5 + fly ash) to 250 ft/min (for grains) • In a shell-and-tube exchanger, the
D/3) ft/s, and 2 psi/100 ft; • Pneumatic conveyors: tube side is for corrosive, fouling,
(b) at pump suction (liquid): (1.3 + (a) They offer high capacity scaling and/or high-pressure fluids;
44 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM OCTOBER 2006
 inventoried is highly plant-specific, relative volatility — relative volatil-
many process plants specify 30 days ity = (vapor pressure of more vola-
worth of capacity, for raw materials tile component)/(vapor pressure of
and products alike less-volatile component) — is valid
only for ideal mixtures
Drums • If the system is ideal and there are only
• Liquid drums usually are horizontal two components, the McCabe-Thiele
• Drums for gas-liquid separation are method offers a good approximation
vertical to the number of equilibrium stages
• A length-to-diameter ratio of 3 is • The most common determinant of
considered optimal; but in practice, the column operating pressure is
the ratio for drums commonly falls either the temperature of the avail-
between 2.5 and 5.0 able condensing medium (in many
• In liquid-liquid separation, reflux cases, cooling water at about 100 to
drums are usually kept about half 120°F) or the maximum allowable
the shell side is for viscous and/or full, with holdup time of about 5 reboiler temperature (for instance,
condensing fluids min. (or 5 to 10 min if the drum liq- 366°F for 150-psig steam)
• Typical minimum temperature ap- uid is fed to a downstream separa- • For many separations, the optimal
proaches are 20°F with normal cool- tion tower) reflux ratio is 1.2 times the mini-
ants, or 10°F or less with refrigerants • For entrainment removal, mesh mum reflux ratio
• Ordinarily, the maximum heat- pads of 4 to 12 in. thickness can • In many cases, the economically op-
transfer area for shell and tube heat achieve 99% removal; a thickness of timal number of trays equals twice
exchangers is about 5,000 ft2 6 in. is widely used the minimum number of trays
• When refrigerating to temperatures • Reflux pumps should be oversized
below about – 80°F, it is customary Reactors by about 25%
to use cascades of two or more re- • In stirred tank reactors, it is prefer- • From a maintenance standpoint,
frigeration stages able to maintain a liquid level that tray spacings of about 20 to 24 in.
is approximately equal to the tank are attractive
Evaporators diameter • Typical pressure drop per tray is of
• The maintaining of a suitable tem- • Common motives for conducting the order of 3 in. of water or 0.1 psi
perature gradient (for instance, batch reactions, in stirred-tank re- • For separation of light hydrocarbons
about 45°F) can minimize film-re- actors, are: the daily production rate and aqueous solutions, the tray ef-
lated efficiency losses. From an is relatively low; reaction times are ficiencies are typically 60 to 90% for
efficiency standpoint, about 250 relatively long; particular process distillation, and 10 to 20% for gas
Btu/(h)(ft2) is a suitable overall coef- parameters, such as the feed rate absorption and stripping
ficient of heat transfer or the vessel temperature, must be • For a typical sieve tray, the holes are
• In countercurrent evaporation sys- programmed during the course of 0.25-0.50 in diameter, and the hole
tems, a suitable temperature ap- the reaction area is about one-tenth of the active
proach between the inlet (hot) and • An array of continuous stirred-tank cross-section area
output (cold) streams is about 30°F. reactors in series (four or five, for in- • For a typical valve tray, the holes
In multistage operation, the typical stance) is in many cases the system are about 1.5 in. diameter, each out-
minimum value is 10°F of choice for slow reactions of liquids fitted with a liftable cap; there are
• In a well-designed evaporator sys- and slurries typically 12 to 14 caps per square
tem, it should be possible to achieve • Tubular reactors are attractive for foot of active tray cross-section
heat recoveries of more than 75% short-residence-time reactions (sec- • The typical height of a column weir
onds or minutes), high throughputs, is 2 in.; the weir length is usually
Storage tanks and reactions that require a rela- about 75% of the tray diameter;
• For less than 100 gal, it is common tively large amount of heat transfer maximum liquid rate is about 8 gal/
practice to use vertical tanks on legs min. per inch of weir; for high liquid
• For between 100 and 10,000 gal, Distillation and gas absorption rates, multipass arrangement are
horizontal tanks on concrete sup- • Generally speaking, distillation tends often the choice
ports are commonly used to be the most economical method for • For towers of less than 3 ft diam-
• For beyond 10,000 gal, consider ver- liquid-liquid separation; more so, for eter and where low pressure drop
tical tanks on concrete foundations instance, than liquid-liquid extrac- through the tower is desirable,
• Liquids that are subject to breathing tion or crystallization. Flashing can packings (random or structured) are
losses may conveniently be stored be more economical than distillation, commonly preferred over trays. If
in tanks with floating or expansion but is more limited by physical prop- the packing is initially distributed
roofs, for conservation erties of the mixture with care and is periodically redis-
• Although the amount of material • The well-known simple equation for tributed, the volumetric efficiency
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM OCTOBER 2006 45
 Engineering Practice

can be greater than that of a compa- • It is good operating practice to hold Size reduction
rable tray tower the liquid temperature at a few • Ball or roller mills are commonly
• Most reflux drums are horizontal, Fahrenheit degrees below the satu- set up to operate in a closed circuit
kept about half full, and have a liq- ration temperature for the prevail- which includes size classification and
uid holdup of 5 min ing concentration the return of the oversize to the mill
• For 3-ft-diameter towers, about 4 ft • Roll crushers come in two versions:
of column height should be added Filtration either smooth or with teeth. A 24-
at the top for vapor disengagement, • A convenient way to classify the ease in., toothed crusher can accommo-
and 6 ft at the bottom for liquid level of a given filtration task is to measure date pieces of feed as large as 7
and reboiler return the rate of cake buildup on a labora- in. in radius. Smooth rolls achieve
• Due to wind-loading and other struc- tory vacuum leaf filter: 0.1 to 10 cm/s reduction ratios of about fourfold.
tural considerations, towers should indicates rapid filtration; 0.1 to 10 cm/ Rotation speeds are typically 50 to
be no higher than about 175 ft. Fur- min, medium-speed filtration; and 0.1 900 rev/min
thermore, the ratio of tower height to 10 cm/h, slow filtration • To produce particularly small par-
to diameter should be less than 30 • Selection of the filtration method for a ticles, consider hammer mills. Large
given task depends partly on whether units operate at 900 rev/min; small
Liquid-liquid extraction the liquid phase or the solid phase is ones can reach 16,000 rev/min
• Ordinarily, the phase with the the one of value. Among the suitable • Rod mills usually feed on particles of
greater volumetric flowrate should methods if the liquid phase is desired about 50-mm size. The material is usu-
be the dispersed phase; however, in are filter presses, sand filters and pres- ally reduced to about 8–65 mesh, but
extractors subject to backmixing, sure filters. If the solid phase is desired, reduction to 300 mesh is achievable
the phase with the lower flowrate consider rotary vacuum filters • For fine grinding, consider ball mills,
should instead be dispersed. It is tube mills or pebble mills. The last-
also preferable that the dispersed Drying of solids named are the choice when metal
phase be the one that wets the equip- • Continuous tray and belt dryers for contaminations must be avoided
ment less well. Finally, because the natural or pelletized 3—15-mm gran- • For jaw crushers, the feed is usually
holdup of continuous phase is usu- ular material commonly have drying under 4 in. diameter; typically, about
ally the greater, it is desirable that times in the range of 10-200 min eight to ten strokes are needed to
that phase consist of the less expen- • Drum dryers that handle pastes and achieve the required size reduction.
sive and/or less hazardous material slurries operate with contact times of Gyratory crushers can produce par-
• For separations achievable in rela- 3-12 seconds, generating flakes that ticles that are more rounded
tively few stages (5 to 10 for in- are 1-3 mm thick; common evapora-
stance), packed extraction towers tion rates are 15 to 30 kh/(m2)(h). Mixing and agitation
offer advantages, unless the surface Commonly found diameters are 1.5 • Solids with a low settling velocity
tension exceeds 10 dynes/cm. It is to 5.0 ft; common rotation rates are (such as 0.03 ft/s) can be success-
possible to achieve attractive HETS 2-10 rev/min; evaporative capacities fully suspended with either turbine
values (5 to 10 ft, for example). Dis- as high as about 3,000 lb/h are fea- or propeller agitators; suspension of
persed-phase loadings should not sible in full-sale installations solids with settling velocities greater
exceed 25 gal/(ft2)(min), and the • Fluidized-bed dryers work best on than 0.15 ft/s requires vigorous agi-
dispersed phase should be redistrib- very small particles, with diameters tation with a propeller
uted every 5 to 7 ft of a few tenths of a millimeter; but • When only brief contact time (such
• Sieve tray on extraction columns this technique has also been used as 1 or 2 s) is required between two
typically have holes of only 3- to 8- successfully with particles of up to 4 components, inline blending should
mm diameter. Velocities through the mm diameter. A suitable velocity for prove adequate. Typical power in-
holes should kept below about 0.8 ft/s the fluidization gas is twice the mini- puts are 0.1 to 0.2 hp/gal
to minimize formation of excessively mum required for fluidization. In • Small propellers are usually run at
small drops. Typical tray spacings many continuous operations, drying about 1,500 to 1,750 rev/min, large
are 6 to 24 in.; typical tray efficien- times of 1-2 min are sufficient, but ones at about 400 to 800 rev/min
cies are in the range of 20 to 30% some products (including some phar- • Paddle agitators typically employ
maceuticals) require much longer paddles that extend to about 50 to
Crystallization from solution • Most spray dryers complete their 80% of the inside diameter of the
• Whether melt crystallization or crys- task in less than one minute; in fact, vessel. Typically, the rate of rotation
tallization from solution is employed, the surface moisture is usually re- lies between 20 and 150 rev/min
the maximum recovery of solids is moved within the first 5 s. The wet
limited by the eutectic composition feed and the drying air are most com- Agglomeration
• Crystal growth rates and the final monly fed in parallel. The atomizing • Some major methods of particle size
crystal size are both controlled by nozzles typically operate at pressures enlargement are: compression into
limiting the extent of supersatura- of 300 to 400 psi, and have openings a mold; extrusion through a die fol-
tion in the liquid that measure 0.012 to 0.15 in. lowed by cutting or breaking to size;
46 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM OCTOBER 2006
 globule formation from molten ma- are preferable to drum granulators, cally carried out in beds having a
terial followed by solidification; and other things being equal depth of 12 to 24 in. Typical air ve-
agglomeration under tumbling or • For roll compacting and briquetting, locities are 0.1 to 2.5 m/s, which is
other conditions of agitation without typical rolls measure from 130-mm three to ten times the minimum ve-
a binding agent diameter by 30 mm wide to about locity needed for fluidization ■
• For rotating-drum granulators typi- 900-mm diameter by 550 mm wide. Edited by Nicholas P. Chopey
cal length-to-diameter ratios are 2 to The material extruded by the rolls,
3, rotational speeds are 10 to 20 rev/ typically about 1 mm thick, can be
min, and the pitch as great as 10 deg. broken into any size desired Principal author
The size of the produced granules de- • Rotary compression equipment, Alejandro Anaya Durand
pends in part on the rotational speed, feeding upon powders or granules (Parque España 15B, Colonia
Condesa 06140, Mexico D.F.
the residence time and the amount and typically operating at around Mexico; aanayadurand@hot
of binder. Commonly, the produced 100 rev/min, is suitable for produc- mail.com), is a member of the
Faculty of Chemistry at the
granules are 2 to 5 mm in diameter ing tablets of uniform size, at rates National Autonomous Uni-
versity of Mexico (UNAM).
• If uniformity of product size is im- as high as 10,000 tablets/min He has more than 45 years
portant, rotary disk granulators •Fluidized-bed granulation is typi- of experience in process and
project engineering, during
almost all of which time he
has also served as a professor at UNAM and
References Also recommended
other Mexican universities. Also included in that
career are 30 years with the Mexican Institute of
1. Anaya Durand, Alejandro, Heuristics Rules 3. Peters, Max S., “Plant Design and Economics Petroleum (IMP), from which he retired in 1998.
and Criteria for Equipment Process Design, for Chemical Engineers,” 5th Ed., McGraw- He is a member of the Mexico’s National Institute
Revista Instituto Mexicano de ingenieros Hill, New York, 2003. of Researchers (SNI), and is a Fellow of AIChE.
Químicos, November – December 1993. The Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers,
4. Cheremisnoff, Nicholas, “Handbook of Chem- the National Soc. of Chemistry and the National
2. Anaya Durand, Alejandro, and oth- ical Process Equipment,” Butterwith-Heine-
ers, Updated Rules for Pipe Sizing, College of Chemical Engineers have each hon-
mann, 2000. ored him with excellence awards. The author of
Chem. Eng, pp. 153–156, May 1999.
5. Walas, Stanley, “Heuristics in Chemical En- more than 220 articles in local and international
gineering,” Butterworh-Heinemann, 1990. technical magazines, he holds a master’s degree
in chemical engineering from UNAM.

Call for Papers

2007 Chem Show Conference
October 30 – November 1, 2007 � Javits Convention Center ���New York, NY

Presented by Typical topics to be covered:

• Energy efficiency • Solid-liquid separations
• Process control and instrumentation • Water pollution control
• Process-plant safety • Air pollution control
• Green engineering • Process integration
• Pumps, valves, other fluid-flow equipment • Process-plant water supply
In conjunction with • Distillation

How to submit a paper:

We invite abstracts (less that 200 words) for proposed, non-promotional, technical
presentations on the above conference topics or related fields. Emphasis should be on modern
proven technologies, application of best practices, improvement of return on investment.
Send by February 1, 2007 to: Nicholas P. Chopey at [email protected],
or fax to (212) 621-4694.
Presentations to run for about 25 minutes, followed by 5 minutes for questions and discussion.

10392

10392 CHE 2007 Papers ad.indd 1 Circle XXX or go to www.info.ims.ca/34xx-xx 9/20/06 11:49:18 AM
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM OCTOBER 2006 47