CHM 222 - Industrial Chemical Processes
Introduction to Chemical Processes
What is a Chemical Process?
Chemical processes convert raw
material(s) into desired products
by changing the chemical and/or
physical properties of the
materials.
Raw
materials
Utilities
Chemical
solvents
Products
By-Product
Waste
products
Raw materials undergo physical
and chemical processing to
achieve desired finished
products.
2
Fundamental sources of raw materials
Air: Cheap and readily available. Mostly required in
certain reaction and combustion processes
Water: Important solvent in many chemical
industries
Minerals: Solid inorganic elements or compounds.
They are major feedstock for the inorganic chemical
industries.
Fossil fuels: They are mostly hydrocarbon materials
and consist of natural gas, crude oil and coal. They
serve as raw materials in chemical and petrochemical
industries.
Agricultural and forest products: major raw
material for production of natural rubber, natural
fiber, paper and medicines
3
Examples of operations in
chemical processes







4
Mixing
Distillation
Crystallization
Drying
Screening
Crushing
Extraction







Filtration
Chemical reaction
Polymerization
Absorption
Adsorption
Evaporation
Condensation
Reasons for designing, constructing
and operating chemical industries.
 To make products that have specific desired functions
e.g. petrochemical and specialty chemical industry
 To convert waste materials into useful products e.g. farm
or household wastes.
 To convert materials into energy e.g. oil and gas industry
 To improve the performance of a natural material e.g.
pharmaceutical industry
5
Chemical Process Diagrams
Block Flow Diagram (BFD)
o Chemical processes are represented as a
group of connected blocks;
o Unit operations are represented by blocks
or rectangles;
o Straight vertical and horizontal lines are
used to represent material flow into and
out of the blocks.
6
Chemical Process Diagrams (cont’d)
Process Flow Diagram (PFD)
o Chemical processes are represented as a
connected group of process equipment;
o Equipment used to move materials
around (e.g pumps), heat and cool (e.g
heaters and coolers) material are included
in the diagram.
7
Chemical Process Diagrams (cont’d)
Process and Instrumentation Diagram (P&ID)
o This is an extension from early
developmental block diagrams and process
flow diagrams.
o It is sometimes called piping and
instrumentation diagram
o It shows information on piping, fittings,
equipment, instrumentation, and process
plant in a representative and sequential
arrangement on the basis of product flow
paths.
8