Introduction to Chemical Process Design Engineering

Q. What is Chemical Process Design Engineering?

A. It is an activity wherein the process engineer is supposed to perform any one or all of
the activities as mentioned below to provide documentation for a safe, reliable and
profitable design:
a. Design new equipment/unit/plant as per good and internationally accepted
engineering practices
b. Rate or check adequacy of existing equipment/unit/plant for changed operating
conditions (e.g. pressure, temperature, flow etc.) as per good and internationally
accepted engineering practices
Q. What are the long-term career and financial prospects as a process design engineer?
A. At the entry-level when a chemical engineer starts his or her career as a "Trainee
Process Design Engineer", the salary could start from anywhere upwards of USD 25K
to 30K per annum. As the person rises in his or her career with experience the salary
for a Senior or Principal process engineer could be upward of USD 50K per annum as
of today. For a departmental head position or engineering manager position the salary
would definitely be upward of USD 70K per annum. Overall, the growth prospect
and financial rewards as a process engineer are very good. Process engineering design
can be utilized for as diverse fields as upstream Oil & Gas, Refining, Petrochemicals,
Fine chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Energy (conventional and non-conventional), Water
resource management, Environmental management etc.
Other rewards and benefits working as a process engineer could be:
a. Traveling all over the globe to execute projects.
b. Bonuses for timely and qualitative execution of the project
c. Enhanced learning through attending seminars, training programs and last but not
the least for men
d. getting to marry a pretty girl of your choice considering your status as a respected
technocrat in the society.
Q What documentation needs to be prepared as part of the process engineer's job?
A. Most common process engineering documents during execution of any project may
be as follows:
a. Basis of Design
b. Process Flow Diagrams (PFD's)
c. Heat & Mass Balance
d. Piping & Instrument Diagrams (P&ID's) also sometimes known as Process &
Instrument Diagrams
e. Equipment Process Datasheets. These include but are not limited to:

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i Atmospheric Storage Tanks

ii Pressure Vessels
iii Distillation Columns
iv Heat Exchangers
v Pumps
vi Compressors
vii Filters
viii Dryers
ix Reaction Vessels (Reactors)
x Agitators
xi Package Units (e.g. Nitrogen Generation Plants, Fired Heaters/furnaces,
Compressed Air plants, Steam Boiler Plants, Water Treatment Plant etc.)
f. Process Datasheets for Instruments
i Pressure Measurement Instruments
ii Temperature Measurement Instruments
iii Flow Measurement Instruments
iv Level Measurement Instruments
v Control Valves (Pressure, Temperature, Flow, Level)
vi Automatic On-Off Valves
vii Safety Valves
viii Analytical Instruments (e.g. Moisture Analyzer, pH analyzer, Viscosity
Analyzer, Gas/Liquid Chromatographs, Specific Gravity analyzers,
Oxygen Analyzers, Calorimeters, Gas Analyzers)
g. Process datasheets for piping equipment
i Strainers
ii Traps (Steam, Moisture)
iii Special Valves
iv Inline sampling devices
v Piping Injection Devices
vi Special pipe fittings (spray nozzles, eductor devices
h. Equipment List (major equipment)
i. Line List
j Electrical Load List
k. Operation, Control & Safeguarding Philosophy
l. Hazard & Operability Studies (HAZOP) Review and Closeout Reports

Q. When can process engineering be started?

A. Process engineering can be started based on one or more of the following:
a. Process description which normally would include the process chemistry, unit or
plant design capacity, major unit operations involved
b. Drawings / documents related to existing plant / unit where the scope of work
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involves revamp or debottlenecking

c. Concept report which gives broad outline for various process routes to be adopted
for manufacturing a particular chemical(s).
Q. What are the tools required to do process engineering?
A. Well, to start with you definitely need your scientific calculator. Other than that, a
wide variety of tools can be employed to go about your task of process engineering.
Listed below are a few of them:
a. Graph sheets for hand calculations and drawing sketches. Many old-timers still use
A4 or letter size graph paper for doing heat and mass balance & sizing calculations
for the various unit operations of the plant/unit in question.
b. Using Microsoft Excel for tables, sketches, graphs and calculations. This is one of
the most widely practiced and popular way of doing process engineering in today's
world.
c. Using specialized process engineering software for generating PFD's, P&ID's, heat
and mass balance calculations, pump hydraulics, equipment sizing, line sizing etc.
Some of the most widely used software for doing process engineering calculations
and drawings are:
i HYSYS by "AspenTech" for heat & mass balance and equipment sizing /
rating
ii PIPESIM by "Schlumberger" for steady state simulation of multiphase
pipeline flow
iii PIPEPHASE by "Simulation Sciences" for steady state simulation of
multiphase pipeline flow
iv OLGA by "Scandpower" for steady state and transient simulation of
multiphase pipeline flow
v CHEMCAD by "Chemstations" for heat and mass balance and equipment
sizing / rating
vi AUTOCAD by "Autodesk" for generation of PFD's & P&ID's
Other than the above mentioned software there are numerous other software
available which may be used for process design. Many clients or operating
companies specify the software to be used for process design when a project is
executed for them by an engineering consultant. In such cases the engineering
consultant may require to purchase or lease the software for performing the
engineering. Unlicensed or pirated versions of software are not acceptable to
most clients and their usage is considered as unethical. All good engineering /
consulting companies follow certain self-imposed codes and guidelines for
preventing and discouraging unethical business practices including usage of
pirated software. Make sure that you study and follow the ethical business
practices of your company. Consequences of unethical behavior are loss of

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credibility, lost business opportunities and as an extreme, immediate

termination of employment and / or criminal proceedings against you or your
company.
Q. What is meant by man-hours?
A. These are the allotted hours (time) for performing a given activity. Process
engineering itself being an activity, there may be a chunk of man-hours allotted for
process engineering. As an example, if 5000 hours are allotted for the process
discipline for a given project, the entire process engineering activity needs to be
completed within this time frame starting from the zero date. The span for process
engineering may vary depending upon the availability of man-power. Again as an
example if 3 engineers and 2 draughtsmen are working full time for the given project
and the available man-hours per person are 160 per month, then the total man-hours
consumed per month would be 160 X 5 = 800. This means the overall time frame for
execution of the process engineering activity would be 5000 / 800 = 6.25 months.
Man-hours may be further split into small individual process engineering activities
such as man-hours for preparing P&ID's, man-hours for preparing process datasheets
etc. It is expected that the process engineer will complete the particular activity in the
allotted man-hours for that activity. Prior to starting the project, a engineering man
-hour estimate is submitted for approval to the client.
After discussion and mutual agreement between the client and engineering consultant
the man-hours are agreed for the defined scope of work for the project. Any addition /
deviation to the scope of work during the engineering phase of the project needs to be
studied and additional man-hours if required need to be obtained for the addition /
deviation in the project.

Prepared by: Ankur Srivastava

Chemical Engineer
Email: ankur_2061@hotmail.com

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