CHAPTER 5

INPUT-OUTPUT STRUCTURE
OF THE FLOWSHEET
5.1 DECISIONS FOR THE
INPUT-OUTPUT STRUCTURE
Flowsheet Alternative

Product
Feed
streams Process

By-Product

Purge
Product
Feed
streams Process

By-Product
 TABLE 5.1-1 Hierarchy of decisions

1. Batch versus continuous

2. Input-output structure of the flowsheet
3. Recycle structure of flowsheet
4. General structure of the separation system
a. Vapor recovery system
b. Liquid separation system
5. Heat-exchanger network
 Level 2 Decisions
TABLE 5.1-2 Level-2 decisions

1. Should we purify the feed streams before they

enter the process?
2. Should we remove or recycle a reversible by-
product
3. Should we use a a gas recycle and purge
stream?
4. Should we not bother to recover and recycle
some reactants?
5. How many product streams will there be?
6. What are the design variables for the input-
output structure, and what economic trade-offs
are associated with these variables?
 Purification of Feed
Guideline
 If feed impurity is not inert and it present
in significant quantities, remove it
 If a feed impurity is present in a gas feed,
as a first guess process the impurity
 If a feed in the a liquid feed stream is
also a by-product or product component,
usually it is better to feed the process
through the separation system.
 If a feed impurity is present in large
amounts, remove it
 If feed impurity is present as
azeotrope with a reactant, often it is
better to process the impurity.

 If a feed impurity is inert but is easier

to separate from the product than the
feed, it is better to process the
impurity.

 If a feed impurity is a catalyst poison,

remove it.
 PROCESS ALTERNATIVE

 If we not certain that our decision is

correct, we list the opposite decision as
a process alternative.
ECONOMIC TRADE-OFFS FOR FEED PURIFICATION.

Our decision of purifying the feed streams before they

are processed involves an economics trade-off between
building a preprocess separation system and increase the
cost of process be cause we handling the increased flow
rate of inert materials. Ofcourse, the amount of inert
materials present and where they will enter and leave the
process may have a great impact on the processing costs.
Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no simple
design criterion that always indicates the correct decision.
Recover or Recycle Reversible By-
products
The reactions to produce benzene from
toluene are
Toluene+H2  Benzene+CH4
(4.1-3)
2Benzene  Diphenyl+H2

The second reactions is reversible, we could

recycle diphenyl black to the reactor and let
it build up in recycle loop until it eventually
reached an equilibrium level .
 Gas Recycle and Purge

Whenever a light reactant and either a

light feed impurity or a light by-
product boil lower than propylene(-55
F, -48 C), use a gas recycle and
purge stream

A membrane separation process also should always

be considered
 Do Not Recover and Recycle
Some Reactant

We should recover more than 99% all valuable

materials
Since some materials, such as air and water,
normally do not bother to recover and recycle
unconverted amount of these component.
 Number of Product Streams

The common sense design guideline

 It is never advantageous to separate two
streams and then mix them together.
TABLE 5.1-3 Destination codes and component classifications

Destination code Component classification

1. Vent Gaseous by-products and feed
impurities
2. Recycle and purge Gaseous reactants plus inert gases
and/or gaseous by products
3. Recycle Reactants
Azeotropes with reactants (sometimes)
Reversible by-products (sometimes)
4. None Reactant-if complete conversion or
unstable reaction intermediates
TABLE 5.1-3 Destination codes and component classifications

Destination code Component classification

5. Excess-vent Gaseous reactant not recovered and
recycled
6. Excess-waste Liquid reactant not recovered or
recycled
7. Primary product Primary product
8. Valuable by- Separate destination for different by-
product (I) products

9. Fuel By-products to fuel

10. Waste By-products to fuel waste treatment
 Example 5.1-1 Suppose we have the 10 components listed
in order of their boiling points and with destination codes
indicated. How many product streams will there be.
Component Destination Component Destination

A Waste F Primary product

B Waste G Recycle

C Recycle H Recycle

D Fuel I Valuable by-

product 1
E Fuel J Fuel
Solution. The product stream are

1. A+B to waste (do not separate them and

then mix them in the sewer)
2. D+E to fuel (do not separate them and then
mix them to burn)
3. F-primary product (to storage for sale)
4. I-valuable by product I (to storage for sale)
5. J to fuel (j must be separated from D and E
to recover components F,G,H and I, so we
treat J as a separate product stream)
Example 5.1-2 Hydroalkylation of toluene to produce
benzene. Find the number of product stream for the HAD
process; i.e, see Example 4.1-1.

Solution.- List all component

-arrange these components in order of
their normal boiling point
-Destination code
Example 5.1-4 Toluene to benzene

Component Boiling point Destination Code

H2 -253 C Recycle and purge

CH4 -161 C Recycle and purge

Benzene 80 C Primary product

Toluene 111 C Recycle

Diphenyl 253 C Fuel

 The initial flowsheet

Purge H2, CH4

Benzene
H2, CH4
Process
Toluene
Diphenyl

Fig. 5.1-2 Input-output structure of HDA process.

Evaluation of the Flowsheet

Be certain that all products, by products

and impurities leave the process
5.2 DESIGN VARIABLES, OVERALL
MATERIAL BALANCES, AND STREAM COST
 Design Variables

TABLE 5.2-1 Possible design variables for level 2

Complex reactions: Reaction conversion

molar ratio of reactant
reaction temperature and/or pressure
Excess reactions: Reactants not recovered or gas
recycle and purge
 Material Balances Procedure
TABLE 5.2-2 Procedures for developing overall material
balances
1. Start with the specified production rate.
2. From the stoichiometry (and, for complex reactions, the
correlation for product distribution) find the by-product
flows and reactant requirements (in terms of the design
variables)
3. Calculate the impurity inlet and outlet flows for the feed
streams where reactants are completely removed and
recycle
TABLE 5.2-2 Procedures for developing overall material
balances
4. Calculate the outlet flows of in terms of a specified
amount of excess (above the reaction requirements) for
streams where the reactants are not recovered and
recycled
5. Calculate the and outlet flows for the impurities entering
with the reactant stream in step 4.
Example 5.2-1 Toluene to benzene. Develop the
overall material balances for HDA process.
Solution. The reactions of interest are

Toluene+H2  Benzene+CH4
2Benzene  Diphenyl+H2 (4.1-3)
From Ex. 4.1-1 The desired production rate of
benzene is PB =265 mol/hr.
If use a gas recycle and purge stream for the H2 and
CH4 and remove diphenyl, then there are three
product stream
 Purge H2, CH4
Benzene
H2, CH4
Process
Toluene
Diphenyl

Fig. 5.1-2 Input-output structure of HDA process.

SELECTIVITY AND REACTION STOICHIOMETRY

Moles Benzene at Reactor Outlet

Selectivit y  S
Moles Toluene converted

Recover and remove all this benzene. Hence

for the production PB mol/hr, the toluene fed to
the process FFT must be
PB
FFT  (5.2-1)
S
From Eq. 4.1-3

Toluene+H2  Benzene+CH4
2Benzene  Diphenyl+H2 (4.1-3)

The amount of methane produced PR,CH4 must be

PB
PR ,CH 4  (5.2-2)
S
From Eq. 4.1-3

Toluene+H2  Benzene+CH4
2Benzene  Diphenyl+H2 (4.1-3)

The amount of diphenyl produced PD must be

1  S PB 1  S (5.2-3)
PD  FFT 
2 S 2
RECYCLE AND PURGE
If we feed an excess amount of H2 , FE, into
the process,.
The total amount of H2 fed to the process will
be

PB
FE  (1  S )  y FH FG (5.2-4)
2S

yFHFG : The amount of H2 in the makeup gas

stream
The methane flow rate leaving the process

PB
PCH 4  (1  y F H ) FG  (5.2-5)
S

Methane Produced
Methane entering the
process
The total purge flow rate PG will then be the
excess H2, FE, plus the total methane PCH4 or

PB
PG  FE  (1  y F H ) FG  (5.2-6)
S
Using FE as a design variable, we nornally
use the purge composition of the reactant
yPH, where

FE
y PH  (5.2-7)
PG
0<yPH<1
yPH depends on the feed composition of reactant
and the conversion
Expressions for the makeup gas rate, FG and purge
rate PG explicitly in terms of the purge composition
of reactant yPH

PB PB 1  S
y FH FG    y PH PG (5.2-8)
S S 2

And the methane in the feed plus the methane

produced must all leave with the purge

PB
(1  y FH ) FG   (1  y PH ) PG (5.2-9)
S
Adding these expressions give

PB 1  S
PG  FG  (5.2-10)
S 2

Then solve for FG

 1 S 
PB 1  (1  y PH )
 S  (5.2-11)
FG 
S ( y FH  y PH )
MATERIAL BALANCE IN TERMS OF EXTENT
OF REACTION. (in term of the extent of reaction)
Toluene  H 2  Benzene  CH 4
 1 - 1 1 1
2 Benzene  Diphenyl  H 2
 2 2 2 2
Net benzene produced  ξ1 - 2ξ 2 (5.2 - 12)
Methane produced  ξ1 (5.2 - 13)
Diphenyl produced  ξ 2 (5.2 - 14)
Toluene comsumed  ξ1 (5.2 - 15)
Hydrogen comsumed  ξ1 - ξ 2 (5.2 - 16)
Generalize expressions
The number of moles(moles/hr) of any component is
Given by;

n j  n  vij1
0
j (5.2-17)

vij : the stoichiome tric coefficien ts

product( ), reactant(- )
 EXTENT VERSUS SELECTIVITY.

the production of desired component

Selectivit y   Sa
the amount of the limiting reactant converted

the production of desired component

Selectivit y   Sb
the production of the undesired compronent

1 - 2 2
Sa  (5.2-18)
1

1 - 2 2
Sb  (5.2-19)
2
Example 5.2-2 Toluene to benzene. Develop the
expressions relating the extents of reaction to
production rate and selectivity for the HDA process.

From Eq. 5.2-15 and 5.2-1 we find that

PB
1  (5.2-20)
S
Also from Eq. 5.2-12 , we find that

1 - 22  PB (5.2-21)

1 PB  1  S 
 2  (1 - PB )    (5.2-22)
2 2  S 
 Stream Tables.

5
Purge H2, CH4

H2, CH4 1 3 Benzene

2 Process 4 Diphenyl
Toluene

Production rate =265

Design variable: FE and x
Compo- 1 2 3 4 5
nent
H2 FH2 0 0 0 FE
CH4 FM 0 0 0 FM+PB/
S
Benzene 0 0 PB 0 0

Toluene 0 PB/S 0 0 0
Diphenyl 0 0 0 PB(1-S)/(2S) 0

Temp. 100 100 100 100 100

Pressure 550 15 15 15 465
0.0036 (1  S)
where S  1- FH2  FE  PB
(1-x)1.544 2S
 (1  S ) 
FM  (1  yFH )  FE  PB  yHM FG  FH2  H M
 S 
 Stream Cost: Economic Potential

EP2  Product Value - By - product Value

- Raw Mat. Cost , ($/yr) (5.2 - 23)

For HDA process

EP  Benzene Value  Fuel Value of Diphenyl

 Fuel Value of Purge - Toluene cost
- Makeup Gas Cost (5.2 - 24)