40785 - Chemical Reactors and Separation Process Technology

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student has skills for the discussion of the basic elements of chemical reaction engineering aimed at the understanding and the prediction of the performance of chemical reactors. In addition, the student is introduced to basic tools for the study of selected separation operations, control instrumentation and equipment and for making quantitative previsions about the performance of separation processes.

Course contents

The course is divided in two parts:

Separation Process Technology (5 CFU) – Prof. Alessandro Paglianti

Chemical Reactors (5 CFU) – Prof. Giuseppina Montante

Chemical Reactors– Prof. Giuseppina Montante

Geometrical characteristics and working principles of main reactors adopted in the chemical industry. Fluid dynamics in single phase reactors treating Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. Multiphase reactors. Heat and mass transfer in chemical reactors. Interplay of fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer and chemical reaction kinetics. Effects on reactor performances. Design methods and scale-up rules. Modelling and simulation of chemical reactors based on Computational Fluid Dynamics.

Separation Process Technology– Prof. Alessandro Paglianti

Introduction and analysis of Chemical Processes: Block Flow Diagram (BFD), Process Flow Diagram (PFD), Process and Instrumentation diagram (P&ID). Instrumentation and Typical Control systems: Flowmeters, pressure gauges, thermocouples, resistive temperature devices; flow control, pressure control, Level control, temperature control; pressure safety valves (PSV) and rupture discs. Tanks and Pumping of fluids:Storage and Process Tanks, centrifugal and reciprocating pumps, Characteristic curves, NPSH. Process fluids. Hot fluids: water, superheated water, steam, diathermic oil. Cold fluids: cooling tower water, refrigerants. Evaporation: Single and Multiple-Effect operation, P&ID examples. Natural and forced circulation calandria. Vapour recompression: Mechanical and Thermal recompression. Distillation: Flash distillation, Continuous distillation with Reflux: material balances, number of ideal plates in plate columns, enthalpy balances, Multiple-Effect operation and vapour recompression. Gas Absorption: Design of packed tower: hydraulic and mass transfer correlation, Absorption with chemical reaction.

Readings/Bibliography

W.L. McCabe, J.C. Smith, P. Harriott, Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering, 5^ ed., McGraw-Hill, 1993.

E. Treybal, Mass-Transfer Operations, 3^ ed., McGraw-Hill, 1981.

R.H. Perry Chemical Engineers' Handbook, 7^ ed., McGraw-Hill, 1998.

UNICHIM, Impianti Chimici- Simboli e sigle per schemi e disegni, ed. 1986.

Edward L. Paul, Victor A. Atiemo-Obeng, Suzanne M. Kresta, Handbook of Industrial Mixing: Science and Practice, John Wiley & Sons, 2004.

H.K. Versteeg and W. Malalasekera, An introduction to computational fluid dynamics : the finite volume method, Pearson, 2007.

Teaching methods

The lessons and exercises in class and in the computer room, for training on CFD.

Assessment methods

The assessment consists in an oral exam for each part of the course. It is aimed at the evaluation of the achievements of the main goals of the course, specifically:

- the capability to adopt suitable analysis and calculation techniques, which are presented during the course, in order to understand the working principles of chemical reactors, equipment and basic design rules, in addition to the understanding of the chemical and physical phenomena occurring in chemical reactors, equipment and processes of the chemical industry;

- the capability to use the outcomes obtained by the above analysis to improve the performances of equipment and processes of the chemical industry.

The full understanding of both the basic principles and the design rules of reactors, equipment and processes considered during the course will be assessed.

The global score is the arithmetic mean of the scores obtained in the two parts of the course.

Teaching tools

The blackboard is mainly adopted for the lectures. Presentations adopted to support the lectures will be loaded on Virtuale. Books are available in the Library. Additional sources can be found on the Unibo online electronic resources.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Paglianti

See the website of Giuseppina Montante