| Chapter 1. |
Applying Technology at Home : Nucleate Boiling / High School Chemistry Lab / Heat Flux Limited Situation / Butane Vaporizer / Overcoming Flux-Limiting Heat Transfer Rates |
| Chapter 2. |
Applying Technology at Work : Polymer Production / Vacuum Tower / Pumparound Optimization / Air Blower / Bad Fractionation / Cooling Water Flow / Low-reflux Rate / Spent Caustic Disposal |
| Chapter 3. |
Optimizing Fractionator Efficiency: Distillation / Bubble Cap Trays / Optimizing Reflux Rate / Tray Weeping vs. Entrainment / Tray Pressure Drop vs. Flooding / Tower Temperature Profile / Color Discrimination / Closed-Loop Color Control on Earth / Gas Chromatography (G.C.) Closed-Loop Control / Spectroscopy as a Sensor / Fractionation Tray |
| Chapter 4. |
Reflux in Distillation: Vapor Pressure Limitations / Two-Stage Distillation Process / Origin of a Distillation Column / Removing the Naphtha's Tail |
| Chapter 5. |
Understanding How Distillation Trays Work: Entrainment and Tray Efficiency / Entrainment / Foam / Reflux / Downcomer Backup / Tray Efficiency / Benefit of Valve Cap Trays |
| Chapter 6. |
Distillation: Converting Wine to Brandy, plus Basic Calculations: Relative Volatility / Solubility of Phases / Batch Distillation / Adding Distillation Stages / Mathematical Treatment |
| Chapter 7. |
Distillation Tray Efficiency: Expanding Tray Capacity in Small I.D. Towers Without Retraying / Low Tray Efficiency / The Problem with Calculating Tray Pressure Drops / Theory vs. Reality / Determining the Cause of Low Tray Fractionation Efficiency / Flooding Progresses Up a Tower / Varying Feed Rates at Constant Reflux Ratio / Back-to-Back Trays / Equilibrium Separation Stage |
| Chapter 8. |
Steam Stripping Products: What Does Wet Steam Look Like? / Effect of Pressure / Effect of Temperature / Feeding the Stripper / What Are We Trying to Accomplish with Steam Stripping? / What’s Inside a Stripper? / Packed Strippers / Tray Hole Areas / Drawing Samples / The Vacuum Tower |
| Chapter 9. |
Draft in Fired Heaters: Draft: A Function of Density Difference / Effect of Temperature on Lift / Stack Draft / Effect of Stack Height / Don’t We Need Fire to Create Draft? / Effect of Wind / The Venturi Effect |
| Chapter 10. |
Hazards in Fired Heater Operations: Dangers of Positive Feedback Loop in Fired Heaters / The Danger of Variable Wind / The Point of Absolute Combustion / Effects of Air on Visbreaker Heater Outlet Temperature / Effect of Air on Boiler Steam Generation Rate / Location of O2 Analyzer |
| Chapter 11. |
Coking in Fired Heater Tubes: Safe Shutdown Due to Tube Failure: Heater Tube Failed / Upper Explosive Limit / Snuffing Steam / Abandoning Box Steam Installation / Corrective Action / Heater Tube Coking / Mass Velocity |
| Chapter 12. |
Centrifugal Pumps: Velocity, Head, and Pressure / Conversion of Velocity to Flowing Pressure / Function of a Centrifugal Pump Impeller / Converting Velocity to Head / Relationship of Head to Discharge Pressure / Pump Curve / Positive Displacement Pumps / Seal Oil Flow to Idle Pumps |
| Chapter 13. |
Starting NPSH for Centrifugal Pumps: The Nature of NPSH / Nozzle and Piping Losses / The Bhopal Factor / Symptoms of Cavitation / Starting NPSH Requirements / Calculating Starting NPSH / Increasing Process Flow Rate / Increasing Available Starting NPSH / Practical Steps to Minimize Cavitation |
| Chapter 14. |
How Controls Work: Temperature / Pressure / Levels / Flow / Control Valve Operation / Process Control with On-Stream Analyzers / Instrument Air |
| Chapter 15. |
Dangers for Automated Control: Refinery Process Controls / Manual Intervention / Tower Pressure Control / Temperature Control |
| Chapter 16. |
Heat Exchangers: Internal Bypassing / Vapor Binding / Flux Limits on Reboilers / Sensible Heat Transfer / Condensation and Condensate Backup / Blowing the Condensate Seal / Vapor Lock / Tube-Side Sensible Heat Transfer / Tube Roughness / Internal Bypassing |
| Chapter 17. |
Cooling Towers: Minimizing The Water Return Temperature: Cooling Towers / Distribution Decks / Preventing Distribution Deck Fouling / Cooling Tower Efficiency / Airflow / Calculating How Much Water Evaporates /Airflow Problems / Cycles of Concentration / Cooling-Water Return Temperature |
| Chapter 18. |
Cooling-Water Circuits: Maximizing Circulation Rates: Cooling-Water Systems / Water Pressure / Time, Temperature, and pH / Pressure Drop Survey / Frictional Loss in Water Piping / Hardness Deposits / Water pH Control / A Localized Restriction / Air Leaks in Suction / Approach to Wet Bulb / Washing of Hydrocarbon Liquids |
| Chapter 19. |
Motive Steam; Use in Turbines and Engines: Enthalpy and Kinetic Energy / Critical Velocity / Source of Heat / Wet Steam Effect on Turbines / Reciprocating Steam Engines |
| Chapter 20. |
Reciprocating Compression and Refrigeration: DeBottlenecking a Refrigeration Circuit / Refrigeration / Refrigeration Limit / My Home Air-Conditioner / Altering the Refrigerant Composition / Low Compressor Suction Pressure Limit |
| Chapter 21. |
Hydraulics: Converting Potential Energy into Kinetic Energy / Frictional Losses / Variations in Orifice coefficients / Centrifugal Pump Impeller and Volute / Pressure Recovery from Control Valves / Pressure Drop Surveys |
| Chapter 22. |
Pressure and Pressure Drop in Pipes: Water Pressure / Pressure Drop / Pressure to Heat / Valves and Elbows / Converting Pressure Back to Height / Converting Water Pressure to Velocity / Frictional Losses in Piping / Using Pressure Drop Correlations |
| Chapter 23. |
Vacuum System and Vacuum Surface Condenser Problems: Motive Steam Nozzle Malfunctions / Source of Silicates in Steam / Motive Steam Pressure / Seal Drum Problems / Air Leaks / Boot Quench Exchanger Leak / Velocity vs. Pressure in Steam Ejector / Vacuum Tower Surface Condenser / Surface Condenser Air Baffle / Cooling Water Inlet Location / Third-Stage Surface Condenser |
| Chapter 24. |
Corrosion: Origin of HCl in Refineries / Preventing Corrosion / Reformer Hydrogen / Carbonic Acid / Other Corrosive Agents / Significant Corrosion Failures |
| Chapter 25. |
Vessel Failure Due to Hydrogen Attack: Non-Condensable Vent / Origin of Hydrogen Inside Vessels and Heat Exchangers / Examples of Hydrogen-Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking |
| Chapter 26. |
Energy Release by Combustion: Engine Horsepower / Air Temperature Affects Horsepower / Effect of Elevation / Effect of Moisture / Compressing Combustion Air / Fired Heaters / Natural Gas-Fired Compressors |
| Chapter 27. |
Case Histories: Avoiding Death and Disaster in Process Units: Raffinate Splitter Explosion / LPG Amine Extraction Tower Failure / Failure of Catalytic Cracking Unit / Bhopal Disaster / Death by Nitrogen
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| Chapter 28. |
Basic Safety Considerations: Autoignition / Nitrogen / Hydrogen Sulfide / Pyrophoric Iron / Level Indication / Flooded Firebox / Steam Turbine Over-Pressure / Steam Turbine Over-Speed Trip / Water and Corrosion / Color as a Temperature Indication / Steam Condensate Drainage / Compressor Surge |
| Chapter 29. |
Process Plant Operations and Global Warming: What’s to Be Done? / Correct Use of VFD Motors: Driving Centrifugal Pumps / Excess Heater O2 / Distillation / Steam Turbines |
| Conclusion: |
Nature of Process Engineering
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