Chemical process design is about finding a sustainable process that can convert the raw materials to the desired products cost effectively. Chemical engineers support diverse range of sectors and process industries, which convert raw materials to more than 70,000 products. Given this diverse set of industries and sectors with its own domain specific equipment and standards, in this course, the objective is to introduce students to systematic methods for process design, to give overview of the main steps involved in typical life cycle of a process design, as well as the complexity of the design activity. In addition to systematic approach for process design, we stress the importance of iterative process analysis including economics, uncertainty & sensitivity analysis of design assumptions and basis, heat integration, optimization as well as sustainability/​​environmental aspects of design. In this way, the course aims to equip students with a flexible skillset to help design innovative, cost-competitive and sustainable processes in diverse range of processing industries. En studerende, der fuldt ud har opfyldt kursets mål, vil kunne:

• Apply a systematic approach for process design
• Identify, gather and analyze necessary data, methods and models for design
• Make design related decisions
• Generate and evaluate/screen alternatives for design
• Use computer aided tools & work in groups
• Verify and analyze simulation results
• Perform process economics analysis including uncertainty analysis
• Perform heat integration and design via pinch analysis
• Apply nonlinear programming for process optimization
• Perform life cycle analysis (LCA) to assess environmental aspects of sustainable process design
• Use knowledge to solve practical engineering problems
• Apply chemical engineering principles learned from other courses

The course consists of two parts:
Part 1) Design a process flowsheet complete with energy and mass balances for a given design problem: Use the systematic “task based methodology”,
task 1-2) formulate objective for design, identify, gather and analyze necessary data for product-process of interest,
task 3) generate/select conceptual process flowsheet & verification (Douglas method for synthesis)
task 4) perform mass balances using simple models,
task 5 & 6 identify stream conditions for Pressure and Temperature, perform mass and energy balances still using simple models in process simulator
task 7) perform rigorous simulation by replacing simple models (above tasks) with rigorous unit/equipment models.
The outcome of this is a verified process flowsheet implementation meeting technical performance criteria for mass and energy balances & product specifications. This part is presented by groups for midterm assessment.
Part 2) Advanced process analysis and improvement:
task 8) Cost estimation methods (fixed capital & production cost),
task 9) profitability analysis using economic metrics and sensitivity & uncertainty analysis with Monte Carlo method,
task 10) process/heat integration and design (via pinch method),
task 11)nonlinear programming for process and flowsheet optimization and
task 12)sustainability assessment.

The final outcome combining the results of all tasks (part 1 and part 2) are compiled in a design project report to be presented in the final project report. Textbook: "Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design", L.T. Biegler, I.E. Grossmann, A.W. Westerberg, Prentice-Hall, 1997, ISBN: 0-13-492422-3

supporting texbook (especially for cost and economic evaluation)
Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers 5th Edition by Max Peters,‎ Klaus Timmerhaus,‎ Ronald West,‎ Max Peters. 01. maj, 2018