Process equipment is used in several applications like reaction purpose, steam power generation, pipelines, water treatment, salt water disposal etc., where chemical or mechanical methods are applied. Some examples of process equipment popularly used in these industries are pumps, boilers, distillation columns, valves, vessels, filters, coolers, heat exchangers, compressors and piping. Each of these equipment is very important because of their indispensable usage in the working of a process.

1. Seminar Presentation on
Process Equipments and
their operations
Submitted by:
Tejas Gondha(16BPE033)
Savan Sardhara(16BPE110)

2.  There are two major types of process equipment:
1)Fixed Equipment
2)Rotating Equipment
1)Fixed equipment refers to any piece of process equipment that generally does
not move. Fixed equipment is also sometimes known as static equipment and
includes, but is:
 Heat Exchangers
 Piping
 Storage Tanks
 Valves
 Filters
 Boilers
 Furnaces/Heaters
 Columns
2)Rotating Equipment generally refers to any process equipment that moves or
rotates. This type of equipment is most often used to drive process fluids through
a system and includes:
 Turbines
 Pumps
 Compressors
 Generators
 Blowers

3.  Heat Exchangers
 Devices used in transfer (exchange) of heat, typically from one fluid to
another.
 Used in heating applications, such as space heaters and in cooling
applications, such as refrigerators and air conditioners.
 Classification of Heat Exchangers by Flow Configuration:
3. Counter-current flow
1. Parallel flow 2. Cross flow

4. Figure: Classification of Heat Exchangers by Construction
Heat
Exchangers
Recuperative Regenerative
Static Dynamic
Tabular Plate
Indirect Direct
Rotary Reciprocating
Steam
Injectors
Direct
Contact
Condenser
Cooling
Tower
Direct
Heating
Specials
Wet
Surface
Air
Coolers
Scared
Surface

5. Figure: Tubular exchanger classification
Figure: Plate exchanger classification
Elec. Heated
Air
Cooled
Shell and
Tube
Furnaces Tube in Plate
Tabular
Special
SpiralPlate and Frames Plate Fin Lamella
Plate
Exchangers

6.  Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger:
 Comprises of multiple tubes through which liquid flows.
 The tubes are divided into two sets:
the first set contains the liquid to be heated or cooled.
the second set contains the liquid responsible for triggering the
heat exchange
 When designing this type of exchanger, care must be taken in determining
the correct tube wall thickness as well as tube diameter, to allow optimum
heat exchange.
Figure: Shell and tube exchanger

7.  Plate Heat Exchangers:
 fluid channels themselves alternate hot and cold fluids, meaning that HEs can
effectively cool as well as heat fluid—they are often used in refrigeration
applications. Because plate heat exchangers have such a large surface
area, they are often more effective than shell and tube heat exchangers.
Figure: Plate and frame exchanger

8.  Boilers:
 A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is
heated to produce steam.
 Thermal energy released by combustion of fuel is used to make
steam at the desired temperature and pressure.
 The steam produced is used for:
o Producing mechanical work by expanding it in steam engine
or steam turbine.
o Heating the residential and industrial buildings
o Performing certain processes in the sugar mills, chemical
and textile industries.

9.  Classification of Boilers:
1. Horizontal, Vertical or Inclined
2. Fire Tube and Water Tube
3. Externally and Internally Fired
4. Forced and Natural Circulation
5. Stationary and Portable
6. Single and Multi Tube
7. High Pressure and Low Pressure

10. Figure: Water Tube boilers

11. Figure: Fire Tube Boilers

12.  Boiler Properties:
 Safety. The boiler should be safe under operating conditions.
 Accessibility. The various parts of the boiler should be accessible for repair
and maintenance.
 Capacity. Should be capable of supplying steam according to the
requirements.
 Efficiency. Should be able to absorb a maximum amount of heat produced due
to burning of fuel in the furnace.
 It should be simple in construction .
 Its initial cost and maintenance cost should be low.
 The boiler should have no joints exposed to flames.
 Should be capable of quick starting and loading.

13.  Furnaces/Heaters:
 A process heater is a direct-fired heat exchanger that uses the hot gases of
combustion to raise the temperature of a feed flowing through coils of tubes
aligned throughout the heater.

14. Radiant Section Convection Section

15.  Types of Columns:
 Distillation Column
 Stripping Column
 Absorption Column
 Adsorption Column
 Extraction Column

16. 1.Distillation Column:
 Process in which a liquid or vapour mixture of two or more substances is
separated into its component fractions of desired purity, by the application and
removal of heat.
 Ex. Crude oil distillation
Diagram: Distillation Process

17. 2.Stripping Column
 Stripping is a physical separation process where one or more
components are removed from a liquid stream by a vapor
stream. In industrial applications the liquid and vapor streams
can have co-current or countercurrent flows. Stripping is usually
carried out in either a packed or trayed column.
3.Absorption Column
 The process of transferring a material from the gas phase to
liquid phase is called absorption.
 Ex. Absorption of CO2 and H2S from natural gas with DEA.
4.Adsorption Column
 The process of transferring a material from either gas or liquid phase to solid phase is
called adsorption.
 Used to remove water-drying tower.
5.Extraction Column
 The process of transferring a material from one liquid phase to another immiscible
liquid phase is called liquid extraction.

18. Column internals:
Bubble cap trays Valve trays
Sieve Trays Packing

19.  Valves:
 Valves are essential parts of any piping system used to control the flow and
pressure of contents, whether that is oil, gas, liquid or vapors
 There are 9 type of valves which used in oil and gas industry:
1.Gate Valve
2.Butterfly Valve
3.Ball Valve
2.Butterfly Valve

20. 5.Globe Valve4.Pinch Valve 6.Plug Valve
7.Pressure Relief Valve 8.Needle Valve 9.Check and NRV Valve

21.  Pipe Dimension
 Pipe dimensions are given in size and schedule number. Three
different terms are commonly used to define the size of the pipes.
a) NPS – Nominal Pipe Size
b) NB – Nominal Bore (OD)
c) DN – Diameter Nominal (ID)
 Pipe Material:
• Carbon Steel
• Alloy Steel
• Stainless Steel
• Mild Steel
• Non-ferrous Material
• Non-metal Material
Figure: Pipe Size-NPS,NB,DN

22.  Pipes come in following end types:
1.Plain Ends
5. Flanged Ends4. Socket & Spigot Ends
3.Threaded Ends2.Beveled Ends

23. 1. GATHERING PIPELINES:
 These are commonly fed by ‘Flowlines’, each connected to individual wells in the
ground.
 Natural gas, crude oil (or combinations of these 2 products), natural gas liquids,
such as ethane, butane and propane.
 In a gathering pipeline, raw gas is usually carried at pressures of approximately
715 psi
2. TRANSMISSION PIPELINES:
 Transport crude oil, NGLs, natural gas and refined products for long distances
across states, countries and continents.
 Transmission pipelines operate at high pressures, ranging from 200 up to 1,200 psi,
with each transmission line using compressor stations (for gas lines) and pump
stations (for crude oil and liquid products).
 Typical reasons for the failure of transmission lines include pipe seam failures,
corrosion, material failure and defective welding.
 Pipelines:

24. 3. DISTRIBUTION PIPELINES:
 A system made up of ‘mains’ and ‘service’ lines, used by distribution companies.
Together they deliver natural gas to the neighborhoods of homes and businesses.
 Materials used for these pipes include steel, cast iron, plastic and copper.
Pressures can vary considerably and go up to approximately 200psi.
 Service pipelines connect to a meter and deliver natural gas to individual
customers. Pressure of the gas in these pipes is low at around 6psi.
4. FLOWLINES:
 Their purpose is to move the raw product from the wellhead to the gathering
lines.
 They carry a mixture of oil, gas, water and sand and are normally no more than 12
diameter in size.
5. FEEDER PIPELINES:
 Move the product from processing facilities and storage tanks to the long-distance
transmission pipelines.
 The product may be crude oil, natural gas or natural gas liquids.

25.  Pump:
 A pump is a device used to move fluids, such as
liquids, gases or slurries. It increases the
mechanical energy of the fluid. The additional
energy can be used to increase -
 Velocity (flow rate)
 Pressure (Elevation)

26. Pumps
Positive
Displacement
Dynamic
Rotary Reciprocating Centrifugal Axial
Gear Screw Diaphragm Piston, Plunger
Lobe Vane
 Pump Classification:

27.  Compressor:
 A compressor is a mechanical device that increases
the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume.
 An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor.
 Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the
pressure on a fluid and both can transport the fluid
through a pipe.
 As gases are compressible, the compressor also reduces
the volume of a gas. Liquids are relatively incompressible;
while some can be compressed, the main action of a pump
is to pressurize and transport liquids.

28. Compressor Types
Positive
Displacement
Dynamic
Rotary Reciprocating Centrifugal Axial
Vane Screw Diaphragm Single-Acting
Liquid Ring Scroll
Double-ActingLobe
 Compressor Classification:

29.  Storage tanks
 Materials of construction:
 steel and concrete
 glass-reinforced plastic, thermoplastic and polyethylene tanks
Storage Tanks

30. High
Pressure
(above 100
kPa)
Atmospheric
Low Pressure
(0-17 kPa)
Medium
Pressure
(17-100 kPa)
Storage Tanks
Underground
Cylindrical
or Spherical
Cylindrical
with flat or
dished
bottoms and
sloped or
domed roofs
Cylindrical
with flat or
dished
bottoms and
sloped or
domed roofs
Vertical,
cylindrical,
bolted tanks
and
rectangle
welded
tanks
Classification
Configuration

31. Vertical Cylindrical Storage Tank
Spherical Storage Tank

32.  Cooling Tower:
Figure: Cooling Tower
 A cooling tower is a heat rejection
device that rejects waste heat to
the atmosphere through the cooling
of a water stream to a lower
temperature.
 Cooling towers may either use
the evaporation of water to remove
process heat and cool the working
fluid to near the wet-bulb air
temperature.

33.  Reactor:
 A chemical reactor is an enclosed
volume in which a chemical
reaction takes place.
 The two main types of reactor are
termed batch and continuous.
Batch reactor

34. Continuous reactor

35. Types of continuous reactors:
(a) Tubular reactors
 Steam cracking of ethane, propane
and butane and naphtha to produce
alkenes.
(b) Fixed bed reactors
 manufacture of sulfuric acid, nitric
acid and ammonia.
 catalytic reforming of naphtha.
fixed bed reactor

36. (c) Fluid bed reactors
 Oxychlorination of ethene to chloroethene.
 catalytic cracking of gas oil
Figure: A diagram to illustrate a fluid bed reactor. On the left hand
side, the particles are at rest. On the right hand side, the particles
are now acting as a fluid, as the gaseous reactants pass through the
solid.

37. (d) Continuous stirred tank reactors, CSTR
 Residence time
continuous stirred tank reactor

38.  Types of Pressure Reactors:
(a)Standard glass pressure reactor:
 Integrated bottom valves
 Diameter of the vessel
 Drawback of this reactor is the potential
explosions
(b)Fisher-Porter tube:
 Used in the chemical laboratory
(c)Q-tube:
 release and reseal mechanism
Standard glass Pressure Reactor

39. (d)Metal pressure reactor:
 Used for high pressure reactions
 Used to perform research such as Upstream,
Biomass, Biopolymer, Zeolite, etc.
 The drawbacks of a metal pressure reactor are
set-up, maintenance, and corrosiveness.
High Pressure Reactor

40.  Scrubber:
 Scrubber used to remove some particulates and/or gases from
industrial exhaust streams.
 Traditionally, the term "scrubber" has referred to pollution control
devices that use liquid to wash unwanted pollutants from a gas
stream.
 Recently, the term has also been used to describe systems that inject
a dry reagent or slurry into a dirty exhaust stream to "wash out" acid
gases.
 Scrubbers are one of the primary devices that control gaseous
emissions, especially acid gases.
 Scrubbers can also be used for heat recovery from hot gases by flue-
gas condensation.

41. Wet scrubbing:
 Water or other liquids can be used
 For increase efficiency
 a) increase surface of liquid
 b) increase mixture of gases to fluid

42. Dry Scrubber:
 No need waste water system
 Sorbent or dry reaction material is used
 Primarily remove acid
 Two types: a) direct mixed
b) spray dryer
 Use charge energy
 Sheet of metal as a plate
 There are also wet electrostatic precipitator
Electrostatic Precipitator :

43.  Quench Tower:
Vertical Quench Tower Inlet Duct Quench Dry Sump Quench
 Use for hot gas stream
 Water is mainly use for quench
 For temperature control

44.  Filters:
Common Filtration Steps in Chemical Processing

45. THANK YOU !