Process Plant Design & Simulation Handbook

Ajay S. Satpute
Process Coach and Managing Director
Converge Engineering Pvt. Ltd.
www.converge.net.in
info@converge.net.in

Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Rs. 650/-
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr. Ajay S. Satpute is a reputed name in the Chemical Engineering field with 18+ years’ experience in several industries like Oil
& Gas, Chemicals, Energy, Utilities, Fertilizers, Iron & Steel, and Pulp & Paper etc. in India, Middle East, and the Far East. He
has worked in the process industry in production, technical services and design department.

He has trained several process engineers in the field of process calculations and simulation.

He is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.), Madras with Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering.

He has shared several process calculation spreadsheets online. Over 50,000 + engineers worldwide have been benefited by his
spreadsheets, articles and his guidance.
Dedicated to all my students, from whom I have learnt a lot.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

During the lockdown period of COVID-19 in the first week of Many thanks to my guru, Prof. (Dr.) Dhruvprasad Mishra
April, my wife, Surekha, suggested, “Why don’t you write a Sir for reviewing this book and providing valuable
book about plant design and simulation that process engineers suggestions.
can use as a working guide?”. Then, the wheels started spinning
and I could not sleep that night. Thanks dear, for that push (or I’m grateful to those wonderful seniors, teachers who
kick) that kept me busy for the next few months writing the taught me everything they knew about process engineering.
book. Without them, I would have never known how beautiful
process engineering is.
I’m very proud of my elder daughter, Rhea, for working on spell-
check, formatting, drawing schematics & tables, numbering the Many names come to my mind, Mr. Bhikaji P. Bhayye, Mr.
figures & tables after the draft copy of this book was completed. SBVJ Rao, Prof. (Dr.) K. Krishnaiah, Mr. Atul Goswami,
I’m also thankful to my family members, my mom, sisters, Mr. Sanjay B. Patil, Mr. Sudhir Kumar Mittal, Mr. S.
and my younger daughter, Riena for their constant support and Niraipandian, Mr. S. Chinnadurai, Mr. Raj K. Sahni, Mrs.
encouragement, not just for this book, but during the 18 years of Jayita Sen, Mr. Sivasubramanian N. and many more.
my professional life and even before that.
Thanks to the Almighty for everything.
Special thanks to my dear friends and process design and
simulation experts, Mr. Rajesh Maguluri and Mrs. Khushboo Thx.
Thakur for their time to meticulously checking the contents of
the book and adding value to the same. Ajay Satpute
December 2020
 PREFACE
Process engineering, and especially, process design, in my process plant on paper. I hope the younger generation gets
opinion, is the most interesting and beautiful subject, there benefitted by this.  
is. This book is an honest attempt to share the beauty of
the subject with everyone. It will certainly help become an Before entering process design, one must know what process
excellent process engineer. On purpose, it has been tried engineering is. The same has been explained in
to keep the theoretical aspects at bay and focus mainly on
practical implications of process design. Once the “how to Chapter 1 - Getting Started
do” part is clear, then readers will be ready for figuring out
the “why” part themselves. Chapter 2 - Design condition evaluation provides different
terms and their meaning related to design pressure and
This is a must-have book for final year engineering students temperature.
and for practicing engineers in engineering consultancies.
Chapter 3 - Process deliverables discusses major process
It must not be read like a storybook, because it is not one. deliverables like design basis, simulation or calculation
Rather, it should be referred to while using spreadsheets or report, operating & control philosophy, line list, datasheet,
software and solve the problems with the help of this book. PFD, P&ID, and C&E matrix.

I do not claim that this book will provide all the aspects of Nowadays there are several process simulation software
process design, but I can guarantee that if you follow this which are used in process design.
book thoroughly, then you will gain enough confidence to Chapter 4 - Process simulation software provides a brief on
carry out any process plant design using simulation software. different software.

It has been a great challenge for me to pen down my Once the reader has a fair idea about process engineering,
experience of designing, running and troubleshooting of the deliverables, and software, the actual sizing shall be initiated
in Chapter 5 - Line sizing using Aspen HYSYS with line PSV sizing using Aspen HYSYS is carried out in Chapter
sizing in Aspen HYSYS. 13 - PSV sizing using Aspen HYSYS.

Pump sizing is discussed in Chapter 6 - Pump sizing using A real project problem is solved using Aspen HYSYS in
Aspen HYSYS. Aspen HYSYS is used for the simulation. Chapter 14 - Process plant design using Aspen HYSYS.

Chapter 7 - Control valve sizing using Aspen HYSYS Chapter 15 - Aspen HYSYS Dynamics - Simple problem
provides a step-by-step procedure to carry out control valve discusses a typical Dynamic simulation problem.
sizing using Aspen HYSYS.
In the next chapter Aspen HYSYS Dynamics – Project
Orifice sizing using Aspen HYSYS is discussed in Chapter Problem, the real project problem solved in Chapter 14 is
8 Orifice sizing using aspen HYSYS. converted into a dynamic model and analyzed.

Chapter 9 - Separator sizing using Aspen HYSYS discusses Typical interview questions are listed in the last chapter.
separator sizing using Aspen HYSYS.
There are several exercises provided. It would help more to
Chapter 10 - Heat exchanger sizing using Aspen EDR the reader if he/she prepares a presentation slides for each
discusses heat exchanger sizing using Aspen EDR. exercise and present in front of a group of process engineers.

Distillation column sizing using Aspen HYSYS is discussed

in Chapter 11 - Distillation column sizing using Aspen
HYSYS.

There is an important tool - Optimizer, in Aspen HYSYS.

The same is discussed in Chapter 12.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROCESS PLANT DESIGN & SIMULATION HANDBOOK

CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED 15

Process engineering 16
What does a Process Engineer do? 14
Skillset required for Process Engineers 15
Various packages used in industry 15
Concept / Feasibility Study 15
Front End Engineering Design 16
Detail Engineering Design 16
As-built drawings 17
Process Standards 17
Exercises 19

CHAPTER 2: DESIGN CONDITION EVALUATION 20

Temperature System 20
Operating Temperature 20
Maximum Operating Temperature 20
Upset Temperature 20
Design Temperature 21
Minimum metal temperature 21
Pressure System 21
 Operating pressure 22
Maximum operating pressure 22
Design pressure 22
Vapor and vapor-liquid systems protected by relief valves 22
Vapor and vapor-liquid systems protected by rupture disks 23
Liquid-Full systems 23
Shell & tube heat exchangers 23
Pipeline systems 24
Lower Design pressure 24
Maximum allowable working pressure 24
Maximum allowable incidental pressure 24
Hydrostatic Test Pressure 25
Exercises 25

CHAPTER 3: PROCESS DELIVERABLES 26

Process Design Basis 26
Block Flow Diagram 27
Process Flow Diagram 27
Piping & Instrumentation Diagram 30
Operating, Control & Safeguarding Philosophy 36
Process Datasheet 36
HAZID 39
HAZOP 40
Exercises 41
CHAPTER 4: PROCESS SIMULATION SOFTWARE 42
Aspen HYSYS 42
Aspen Flare System Analyzer 42
Aspen Exchanger Design and Rating 42
FluidFlow (from Flite Software NI Ltd.) 42
Bentley WaterGEMS 42
Bentley HAMMER 43
PIPESIM (from Schlumberger) 43
FlareSim (from Schlumberger) 43
OLGA (from Schlumberger) 43
VMGSim (from Schlumberger) 44
UniSim (from Honeywell) 44
PIPENET (from Sunrise Systems Ltd.) 44
Flow Master (from TechNet Alliance) 45
EPANET (from EPA) 45
PRO II (from AVEVA) 45
MySep (from Kranji Solutions) 45
Pipeline Studio (from Emerson) 45
Petro-SIM (from Yokogawa) 46
Exercise 46

CHAPTER 5: LINE SIZING USING ASPEN HYSYS 48

Velocity criteria 48
Pressure drop criteria 48
 Water service 49
Liquid and Gas service 50
Flow-induced vibrations 52
Pulsation and transient vibrations 54
High-frequency acoustic excitation 55
Transient/Surge analysis 55
Measures for mitigating surge pressure in pipeline 57
Simulation 58
Exercises 105

CHAPTER 6: PUMP SIZING USING ASPEN HYSYS 107

Centrifugal Pump 107
Positive Displacement Pump 108
PD Pump behavior and safety 108
PD Pump Types 109
Minimum Flow By-Pass 110
Centrifugal Pumps Guidelines 111
Positive Displacement Guidelines 111
Capacity Adjustment for Metering Pumps 112
Pressure Relief for Positive Displacement Pumps 112
Pulsation Devices for Positive Displacement Pumps 112
Net positive suction head available 113
Net positive suction head required 113
Differential Pressure or Differential head 113
 Pump Motor Brake Kilowatt 114
Typical Pump Curve 114
Simulation 115
Exercises 126

CHAPTER 7: CONTROL VALVE SIZING USING ASPEN HYSYS 129

What is a control valve? 130
What is a Cv? 130
Control Valve Sizing Criteria 132
Valve Sizing Criteria 132
Common flow characteristic curves 132
Control Valve selection process 136
Self-acting regulators 136
Types of self-acting regulators 137
Simulation 139
Exercises 170

CHAPTER 8: ORIFICE SIZING USING ASPEN HYSYS 171

Simulation 173
Exercises 182

CHAPTER 9: SEPARATOR SIZING USING ASPEN HYSYS 183

Types of Separators 183
Separator Basic Design Criteria 185
Mist Extraction Equipment 186
 Souders-Brown Equation 188
Recommended values of k 188
Simulation 192
Exercises 207

CHAPTER 10: HEAT EXCHANGER SIZING USING ASPEN EDR 209

Simulation 209
Exercises 227

CHAPTER 11: DISTILLATION COLUMN SIZING USING ASPEN HYSYS 229

Exercises 259

CHAPTER 12: OPTIMIZER TOOL IN ASPEN HYSYS 260

Exercises 302

CHAPTER 13: PSV SIZING USING ASPEN HYSYS 303

Terminology 304
When to provide a PRV? 308
Types of PSV 308
Chatter 312
Chatter solution 313
Rupture disc 314
Quiz 315
Review of API 520 Part 1 316
Review of API 521 317
Review of API 526 317
 Simulation 318
Exercises 337
CHAPTER 14: PROCESS PLANT DESIGN USING ASPEN HYSYS 341
Maximum design pressure 341
Minimum design pressure 342
Maximum design temperature 342
Minimum design temperature 342
Line sizing criteria 342
Separator sizing 343
Atmospheric tank design 343
Heat exchanger design 344
Operational drain, vent and flushing requirements 344
Plant design problem 345
Simulation 345
Exercises 383

CHAPTER 15: ASPEN HYSYS DYNAMICS (SIMPLE PROBLEM) 386

CHAPTER 16: ASPEN HYSYS DYNAMICS (PROJECT PROBLEM) 434
CHAPTER 17: TYPICAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 496