Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
7.1 SCOPE
An introduction is given to the conceptual design of conversion processes of biomass
into various forms of energy (carriers). Conceptual design is the first major stage in
process design and engineering, involving mainly chemical engineering. The subse-
quent stages, often called basic and detailed design, deeply involve other engineering
disciplines, such as mechanical, civil, control, and electrical engineering. Design by
its very nature is quite different from the contents of the preceding chapters (Chapters
3
chemical
behavior
by
means of mathematical equations at the continuum level (i.e., not distinguishing
individual molecules). Understanding of this behavior is essential for design, but
when designing a process, one has to deal with a broader range of activities:
-
6), which present a fundamental description of physical
-
Specification
of the
functionality
of a process, accounting for stakeholder
interests
Synthesis
of the internal
structure
for a process, using process unit operations
Analysis
of the
behavior
of a process, using models (outlined in preceding
chapters)
Evaluation
of the
performance
with respect to ecology, economy, and technol-
ogy criteria, also agreed with the stakeholders
Selection
of the most promising design option(s)
Design involves a lot of
decision making
to obtain preferred functionality by creating
suitable structures, behavior, and performance. As a result, one often finds a number
of alternative solutions performing about equally well. Which solution is preferred
depends on economic and social context, beyond strictly technical factors. Designing
is a highly iterative process: successful designs are often based on an understanding
why earlier design options failed. Being successful in design requires mastery of tech-
nical skills, good team work, well-organized work processes, and, last but not least,
creativity (see Tassoul, 2009).
This chapter focuses on the introduction of technical skills as a core necessity. One
could present a range of process design cases for
While quite
instructive, this is also a slow-paced learning process. In line with the principle-based
approach of this part of the topic, a more generic approach to process design is devel-
oped in this chapter. The expense of faster-paced learning is a higher level of abstrac-
tion than common for a first introduction to design in chemical engineering. To
accommodate readers from other engineering disciplines, the approach leans more
toward network and system theory.
Design requires much more than mastery of domain contents (e.g., physical, chem-
ical, and equipment knowledge); a procedure to structure the flow of rational design
decision making is also needed. This chapter presents a procedure for conceptual proc-
ess design, enabling the creation of new designs and the improvement existing designs.
Like most engineering design procedures, also, this one works top-down in view of
mastering the complexity of a system by means of a multilevel decomposition. In this
“
learning by example.
”
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