In charge of Prof. Laura Annamaria Pellegrini
The aim of the course is to analyze the main equipment used in chemical plants, where mass and heat transfers occur. The fundamental concepts of mass and energy conservation to batch and continuous systems involving chemical processes are applied to design or to simulate equipments.
The features taken into account are:
• basic operations of the chemical and process industries;
• thermodynamic and/or chemical-physical regime;
• equations of state;
• unit operations of mass transfer based on stages;
• thermodynamic design of separation units and separation: “flash”, absorbers, strippers, distillation columns for binary and multicomponent rectification;
• steam distillation;
• azeotropic and extractive distillation;
• batch distillation;
• heat transfer;
• operations of heat transfer with phase change;
• transient systems;
• use of mass and energy balances.
The course main topics can be divided as follows:
• topic 1: basic operation of the chemical process: distinction between operations in stages or intermittent action and continuous action operations; thermodynamic and/or chemical-physical regime; thermodynamics applied to interphase equilibria: equations of state;
• topic 2: unit operations of mass transfer based on stages; thermodynamic design of several separation units such as “flash”, absorbers, strippers, distillation columns for binary and multicomponent rectification (“short – cut” methods), liquid-liquid extraction columns; description of the equipment;
• topic 3: design of packed columns; height and number of transport units; height equivalent to a theoretical plate;
• topic 4: heat transfer; simulation problem: NTU-effectiveness method; types of equipment; exchangers of sensible heat and of latent heat; thermal and fluid dynamic design of the equipment;
• topic 5: non steady-state systems; use of the mass balance and of the energy balance;
• topic 6: use of process simulators to represent and solve process schemes.
The course is divided into lessons (66 hours), classroom exercises (44 hours) and laboratory activities (10 hours).
The examination is based on both the resolution of exercises and on the verification of theoretical basis.
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