Dryden F., Vilbrandt Ch. Chemical Engineering Plant Design

4 ed. — McGraw-Hill, 1959. — 534 p.
Chemical engineering design is divided into equipment design and plant design; it is the purpose of this book to deal only with the latter phase of design as applied to the chemical industries. Chemical engineering plant design is neither a unit operation nor a unit process, but must be considered as one of the tools of the chemical engineering profession. This book presents an analysis of the fundamental principles and factors that are involved in the development of a technically and economically efficient plant process from the laboratory stage through the pilot plant stages to the commercial size unit.For the student in chemical engineering, this book presents an opportunity for coordinating chemical and engineering information by the application of previously gained or readily available knowledge or facts to the design of a chemical plant; the designed plant is based not only upon the application of accurate fundamental principles and data but also upon the economic phases of the process with emphasis being placed upon costs as an important factor in plant design.The correlation of the data obtained through laboratory experimentation into a workable basis for designing a plant takes into consideration a thoroughly studied organization of equipment and flow of materials for processing, storage, and future expansion. The writing of specifications for equipment and preconstruction cost estimating are emphasized.Revision and modernization of the -text material from previous editions has been incorporated in a different sequence of presentation. It is assumed that the reader has a sufficient background in process calculations and technology, thermodynamics, unit operations and processes, and elementary engineering economics as taught in an undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum. The first six chapters of the present edition can then be used as a text for course work in process development where the ultimate goal is to arrive at a preliminary cost estimate.
For a more extensive chemical plant design course, detailed information can be used from Chap. 5 on plant layout and from Chap. 7 on plant location. In addition, material from Chaps. 8 and 9, which deal with the design of buildings and piping, control, and power systems, can be incorporated for a well-balanced chemical engineering plant design course in about the same sequence as used in industrial practice. A suggested teaching procedure is given in Appendix A and typical design problems are also incorporated.Chapter 10 has been added to cover the unique features of nuclear chemical plant design, a subject which will be increasingly useful in the years ahead.Bibliographic references have been brought up to date; extensive compilations in handbooks, textbooks, and costing journals allowed a reduction of this type of material in this edition by referencing. In particular, frequent reference is made to Perry's u Chemical Engineers' Handbook," 3d ed., McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., since students are generally required to purchase this book early in their chemical engineering course work.The subject matter will be of benefit to professional engineers who would like to keep up to date and also to executives in chemical engineering industries, who have not been trained in chemical engineering, to serve as a guide for their appreciation of the application of chemical engineering principles to plant design.The authors wish to thank their colleagues in academic and industrial circles for their many contributions to this edition, some of which are directly credited in the text. In addition, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the help of the following in providing valuable experience factors: the Blaw-Knox Co., The Battelle Memorial Institute, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company, General Electric Company, Industrial Nucleonics Co., The M. W. Kellogg Co., Phillips Petroleum Co., E. P. Bartkus, W. T. Butler, H. R. Chope, C. J. Geankoplis, R. P. Genereaux, J. D. Ireland, S. D. Kirkpatrick, T. R. Olive, J. H. Oxley, R. Paffenbarger, E. Pontius, A. Syverson, W. C. Turner, and F. M. Warzell. The support of the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University and the Chemical Engineering Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute is gratefully acknowledged. In particular, the continued encouragement of Professor J. H. Koffolt, Chairman of the Chemical Engineering Department at The Ohio State University, and the assistance of Professor R. W. Parkinson, OSU Engineering Drawing Department, and of R. J. Shafer in procuring and preparing drawings is very much appreciated.