Flow sheeting software as a tool when teaching Chemical Engineering

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to design different chemical processes by using flow sheeting software and to show the usefulness of flow sheeting software as an educational tool. The industries studied are hydrogen, sulfur, nitric acid and ethylene glycol production and a model of drying technique is also included. Firstly, there is an introduction of chemcad as a tool when teaching chemical processes and explanation of each industry which is selected to design. Various production methods for each product are explained and the advantages of the method which is selected to design the chemical flow sheet are discussed. There is also an introduction of the industrial uses of these products formed in Pakistan. The models are designed by using different reactors, heat exchangers, pumps, mixers, boilers and distillation column. The models are designed based upon data taken from literature. The temperature and pressure values are in good agreement with data mentioned in literature. The material balance shown by Chemcad is quite different from data mentioned in literature. Some changes in thermodynamic properties of components in Chemcad software might lead to better agreement between the Chemcad models and literature data. It is not possible to use catalyst in Chemcad to increase the rate of reaction. One possibility is to introduce new components. It is good to use equilibrium reactor when it is required to convert the given component into respective products provided that either conversion of the equilibrium constant are known. It is difficult to study the hidden critical assumptions built in the model when using Gibb’s reactor, as a result there is a deviation in behavior from the system described in the literature. Gibb’s reactor is useful when neither conversion ratio nor equilibrium constant is known.