Chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large

scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical processes Chemical plants typically use chemical processes, which are detailed industrialscale methods, to produce the chemicals. The same chemical process can be used at more than one chemical plant, with possibly differently scaled capacities at each plant. A chemical plant commonly has usually large vessels or sections called units that are interconnected by piping or other material-moving equipment which can carry streams of material. Such material streams can include fluids (gas or liquid carried in piping) or sometimes solids or mixtures such as slurries. An overall chemical process is commonly made up of steps called unit operations which occur in the individual units. feedstocks A raw material going into a chemical process or plant as input to be converted into a product is commonly called a feedstock, or simply feed. In addition to feedstocks for the plant as a whole, an input stream of material to be processed in a particular unit can similarly be considered feed for that unit. Output streams from the plant as a whole are final products and output streams from individual units may be considered intermediate products for their units. However, final products from one plant may be intermediate chemicals used as feedstock in another plant for further processing. For example, some products from an oil refinery may used as feedstock in petrochemical plants. Either the feedstock(s), the product(s), or both may be individual compounds or mixtures. It is often not worthwhile separating the components in these mixtures completely based on product requirements and economics.

Continuous and batch operation Chemical processes may be run in continuous or batch operation. In batch operation, production occurs in time-sequential steps in batches. A batch of feedstock(s) is fed into a process or unit, then the chemical process takes place, then the product(s) and any other outputs are removed. Such batch production may be repeated over again and again with new batches of feedstock. Batch operation is commonly used in smaller scale plants such as pharmaceutical or specialty chemicals production. In continuous operation, all steps are ongoing continuously in time. During usual continuous operation, the feeding and product removal are ongoing streams of moving material, which together with the process itself, all take place simultaneously and continuously. Chemical plants or units in continuous operation are usually in a steady state or approximate steady state. Steady state Steady state means that quantities related to the process do not change as time passes during operation. Such constant quantities include stream flow rates, heating or cooling rates, temperatures, pressures, and chemical compositions at every point (location). Continuous operation is more efficient in many large scale operations like petroleum refineries. It is possible for some units to operate continuously and others be in batch operation in a chemical plant; for example, see Continuous distillation and Batch distillation. Capacity The amount of primary feedstock or product per unit of time which a plant or unit can process is referred to as the capacity of that plant or unit. For examples: the capacity of an oil refinery may be given in terms of barrels of crude oil refined per day; alternatively chemical plant capacity may be given in tons of product produced per day. In actual daily operation, a plant (or unit) will operate at a percentage of its full capacity.

Steady state A system in a steady state has numerous properties that are unchanging in time. This implies that for any property p of the system, the partial derivative with respect to time is zero:

The concept of steady state has relevance in many fields, in particular thermodynamics and economics. Steady state is a more general situation than dynamic equilibrium. If a system is in steady state, then the recently observed behavior of the system will continue into the future. In stochastic systems, the probabilities that various states will be repeated will remain constant. In many systems, steady state is not achieved until some time has elapsed after the system is started or initiated. This initial situation is often identified as a transient state, start-up or warm-up period. While a dynamic equilibrium occurs when two or more reversible processes occur at the same rate, and such a system can be said to be in steady state, a system that is in steady state may not necessarily be in a state of dynamic equilibrium, because some of the processes involved are not reversible. For example: The flow of fluid through a tube, or electricity through a network, could be in a steady state because there is a constant flow of fluid, or electricity. Conversely, a tank which is being drained or filled with fluid would be an example of a system in transient state, because the volume of fluid contained in it changes with time. In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other chemical engineering, a steady state is a situation in which all state variables are constant in spite of ongoing processes that strive to change them. For an entire system to be at steady state, i.e. for all state variables of a system to be constant, there must be a flow through the system (compare mass balance). One of the simplest examples of such a system is the case of a bathtub with the tap open but without the bottom plug: after a certain time the water flows in and out at the same rate, so the water level (the state variable being Volume) stabilizes and the system is at steady state. Of course the Volume

stabilizing inside the tub depends on the size of the tub, the diameter of the exit hole and the flowrate of water in. Since the tub can overflow and eventually a steady state can be reached where the water in equals the overflow plus the water out through the drain. A steady state flow process requires conditions at all points in an apparatus remain constant as time changes. There must be no accumulation of mass or energy over the time period of interest. The same mass flow rate will remain constant in the flow path through each element of the system. Thermodynamic properties may vary from point to point, but will remain unchanged at any given point. Conversion, selectivity and yield specifically the property 'X' related to the yield 'Y' by multiplication with the selectivity 'S', i.e. the mathematical definition X(conversion) * S(selectivity) = Y(yield), all calculated on a molar basis; Example. In a certain reaction, 90% of substance A is converted (consumed), but only 80% of it is converted to the desired substance B and 20% to undesired byproducts, so conversion of A is 90%, selectivity for B 80% and yield of substance B 72% (= 90% * 80%)

Recycle stream A recycle stream is one where a portion of the outlet of a process unit is combined with fresh feed and sent into the same unit again.

There are several reasons one might employ a recycle stream: 1. increase conversion of a reactant to product 2. recovery of catalyst 3. dilution of a process stream (either to improve flow of the stream or control the rate of a reaction) 4. re-use of a "working fluid" (like a lubricant or refrigerant)

Bypass stream A bypass stream is one where a portion of the inlet to a process unit is split from the feed and instead of entering the process is combined with the outlet from that process.

Purge stream A purge stream is one where a portion of a recycle stream is removed from the system in order to avoid accumulation of undesired material in a recycled system.

Chemical Companies The largest corporate producers worldwide, each with plants in numerous countries, include BASF, Bayer, Braskem, Celanese/Ticona, Degussa, Dow, DuPont, Eastman Chemical Company, ExxonMobil, Givaudan, INEOS, Mitsubishi, PPG Industries, SABIC, Shell, and Wanhua . COMPANY, HEADQUARTERS BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany Dow Chemical, Midland, Michigan, United States INEOS, Lyndhurst, UK LyondellBasell, Houston, Texas, United States Formosa Plastics, Taiwan DuPont, Wilmington, Delaware, United States Bayer, AG, Leverkusen, Germany Mitsubishi Chemical, Tokyo, Japan Akzo Nobel/Imperial Chemical Industries(ICI), Amsterdam/London Air Liquide, Paris, France Sumitomo Chemical, Tokyo, Japan Evonik Industries, AG, Essen, Germany Mitsui Chemicals, Tokyo, Japan Asahi Kasei, Tokyo, Japan Toray Industries, Tokyo, Japan Chevron Phillips, The Woodlands, Texas, United States DSM NV, Heerlen, Netherlands PPG Industries, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan 2007 Chemical Sales, billions $65.3 $53.5 $43.6 $42.8 $31.9 $28.5 $24.2 $22.2 $19.9 $16.3 $15.2 $15.0 $14.3 $13.8 $13.1 $12.5 $12.1 $11.2 $11.1 Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia $26.4

History of Chemical Engineering http://web.boun.edu.tr/akman/history/h_surviv.html