Process engineering

Process engineering focuses on the design, operation, control, optimization and intensification of chemical, physical, and biological processes. Process engineering encompasses a vast range of industries, such as agriculture, automotive, biotechnical, chemical, food, material development, mining, nuclear, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and software development. The application of systematic computer-based methods to process engineering is "process systems engineering".

Overview

Process engineering involves the utilization of multiple tools and methods. Depending on the exact nature of the system, processes need to be simulated and modeled using mathematics and computer science. Principles in thermodynamics are applied for systems requiring that energy in the system be considered. Disciplines within the field of mechanics need to be applied in the presence of fluids or porous and dispersed media. Materials engineering principles also need to be applied, when relevant.[1]

Regardless of the exact tools required, process engineering often requires the use fo a process flow diagram (PFD) where material flow paths, storage equipment (such as tanks and silos), transformations (such as distillation columns, receiver/head tanks, mixing, separations, pumping, etc.) and flowrates are specified, as well as a list of all pipes and conveyors and their contents, material properties such as density, viscosity, particle-size distribution, flowrates, pressures, temperatures, and materials of construction for the piping and unit operations.[1]

The process flow diagram is then used to develop a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) which graphically displays the actual process occurring. P&ID are meant to be more complex and specific than a PFD.[2] The P&ID is then used as a basis of design for developing the "system operation guide" or "functional design specification" which outlines the operation of the process.[3]

From the P&ID, a proposed layout (general arrangement) of the process can be shown from an overhead view (plot plan) and a side view (elevation), and other engineering disciplines are involved such as civil engineers for site work (earth moving), foundation design, concrete slab design work, structural steel to support the equipment, etc.). All previous work is directed toward defining the scope of the project, then developing a cost estimate to get the design installed, and a schedule to communicate the timing needs for engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, commissioning, startup, and ongoing production of the process.

Depending on the needed accuracy of the cost estimate and schedule that is required, several iterations of designs are generally provided to customers or stakeholders who feed back their requirements. The process engineer incorporates these additional instructions (scope revisions) into the overall design and additional cost estimates, and schedules are developed for funding approval. Following funding approval, the project is executed via project management.[4]

Areas of focus in process engineering

Process engineering activities can be divided into the following disciplines:[5]

  • Process design: synthesis of energy recovery networks, synthesis of distillation systems (azeotropic), synthesis of reactor networks, hierarchical decomposition flowsheets, superstructure optimization, design multiproduct batch plants. Design of the production reactors for the production of plutonium, design of nuclear submarines.
  • Process control: model predictive control, controllability measures, robust control, nonlinear control, statistical process control, process monitoring, thermodynamics-based control
  • Process operations: scheduling process networks, multiperiod planning and optimization, data reconciliation, real-time optimization, flexibility measures, fault diagnosis
  • Supporting tools: sequential modular simulation, equation-based process simulation, AI/expert systems, large-scale nonlinear programming (NLP), optimization of differential algebraic equations (DAEs), mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP), global optimization
  • Process Economics[6]:This includes using simulation software such as ASPEN ,Super-Pro to find out the break even point, net present value,maginal sales, marginal cost, return on investment of the industrial plant after the analysis of the heat and mass transfer of the plant.[6]

History of process engineering

The term process, as it relates to industry and production, dates back to the 18th Century. During this time period, demands for various products began to drastically increase, and process engineers were required to optimize the process in which these products were created.  [1]

By 1980, the concept of process engineering emerged from the fact that chemical engineering techniques and practices were being used in a variety of industries. By this time, process engineering had been defined as "the set of knowledge necessary to design, analyze, develop, construct, and operate, in an optimal way, the processes in which the material changes".[7] By the end of the 20th Century, process engineering had expanded from chemical engineering-based technologies to other applications, including metallurgical engineering, agricultural engineering, and product engineering.

History of process systems engineering

Process systems engineering (PSE) is a relatively young area in chemical engineering. The first time that this term was used was in a special volume of the AIChE Symposium Series in 1961. However, it was not until 1982 when the first international symposium on this topic took place in Kyoto, Japan, that the term PSE started to become widely accepted.

The first textbook in the area was Strategy of Process Engineering by Dale F. Rudd and Charles C. Watson (Wiley, 1968). The Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Division, Area 10 of AIChE, was founded in 1977 and currently has about 1200 members. CAST has four sections: Process Design, Process Control, Process Operations, and Applied Mathematics.

The first journal devoted to PSE was Computers and Chemical Engineering, which appeared in 1977. The Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Design (FOCAPD) conference in 1980 in Henniker was one of the first meetings in a series on that topic in the PSE area. It is now accompanied by the successful series on Control (CPC), Operations (FOCAPO), and the world-wide series titled Process Systems Engineering. The CACHE Corporation (Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering), which organizes these conferences, was initially launched by academics in 1970, motivated by the introduction of process simulation in the chemical engineering curriculum.

Roger W.H. Sargent from Imperial College was one of the pioneers in the area. PSE is an active area of research in many other countries, particularly in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Korea, and China.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Process engineering and industrial management. Dal Pont, Jean-Pierre. London: ISTE Ltd. 2012. ISBN 9781118562130. OCLC 830512387.
  2. ↑ "Learn How to Read P&ID Drawings - A Complete Guide". hardhatengineer.com. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  3. ↑ "Functional Design Specification". Historian on the Warpath. 2006-04-02. Retrieved 2018-09-11.
  4. ↑ Modelling and management of engineering processes. Heisig, Peter, 1962-, Clarkson, John, 1961-, Vajna, S. (Sándor), 1952-. London: Springer. 2010. ISBN 9781849961998. OCLC 637120594.
  5. ↑ Research Challenges in Process Systems Engineering by Ignacio E. Grossmann and Arthur W. Westerberg, Department of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA
  6. 1 2 R., Couper, James (2003). Process engineering economics. New York: Marcel Dekker. ISBN 0824756371. OCLC 53905871.
  7. ↑ Process engineering and industrial management. Dal Pont, Jean-Pierre. London: ISTE Ltd. 2012. ISBN 9781118562130. OCLC 830512387.

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