Industrial Chemistry: Principles of Major Processes

40 lessons, pages 3561–3600.

  1. From Laboratory Flask to Chemical Plant — Scale-up, continuous operation and why industry thinks differently
  2. Feedstocks, Products and the Chemical Industry Map — Raw materials, bulk chemicals and how major processes link together
  3. Batch versus Continuous Processes — Throughput, control and choosing the right mode of operation
  4. Process Economics: Yield, Rate and Cost — Capital cost, operating cost and space-time yield
  5. Atom Economy, Conversion and Selectivity — Measuring how efficiently feedstock becomes product
  6. The Equilibrium–Rate Compromise — Why optimum conditions are rarely the equilibrium optimum
  7. Nitrogen Fixation and the Haber Process — The ammonia equilibrium and its importance for fertilisers
  8. Haber Process: The Effect of Pressure — Le Chatelier, Kp and the cost of compression
  9. Haber Process: Choosing the Temperature — Exothermic equilibrium versus acceptable reaction rate
  10. Iron Catalysts and Promoters in Ammonia Synthesis — Dissociative adsorption of nitrogen and promoter roles
  11. Recycle Loops and Purge Streams — Low single-pass conversion, high overall conversion and inert build-up
  12. Hydrogen Supply: Steam Methane Reforming — Reforming, the water-gas shift and carbon dioxide removal
  13. The Contact Process: From Sulfur to Sulfuric Acid — Overview of the stages and uses of sulfuric acid
  14. Contact Process: Conditions for Sulfur Dioxide Oxidation — Temperature, pressure and excess oxygen in the 2SO₂ + O₂ equilibrium
  15. Vanadium(V) Oxide Catalysis and Multi-Bed Converters — Redox catalytic cycle, interbed cooling and double absorption
  16. Absorbing Sulfur Trioxide: Why Not Water? — Acid mist, oleum and the absorption tower
  17. Methanol Synthesis from Synthesis Gas — Another exothermic, gas-volume-reducing equilibrium compared with Haber
  18. Nitric Acid by the Ostwald Process — Kinetic control, platinum–rhodium gauze and selectivity
  19. Principles of Industrial Electrolysis — Electrolytic cells, electrode selection and preferential discharge
  20. The Chlor-Alkali Industry: Brine and Its Products — Chlorine, sodium hydroxide and hydrogen from one feedstock
  21. Electrode Reactions in Brine Electrolysis — Chloride oxidation at the anode and water reduction at the cathode
  22. Membrane Cells and Ion-Selective Separation — Cation-exchange membranes and keeping products apart
  23. Diaphragm and Mercury Cells: A Comparison — Product purity, energy use and environmental legacy
  24. Energy Demand of Electrolysis — Cell voltage, overpotential, Faraday's laws and specific energy
  25. Crude Oil Refining: Separation before Conversion — Fractions, supply–demand mismatch and the need for conversion
  26. Thermal Cracking and Free-Radical Mechanisms — Homolytic fission, chain reactions and product distributions
  27. Catalytic Cracking with Zeolites — Acid sites, carbocation mechanisms and shape selectivity
  28. Steam Cracking for Alkenes — Ethene and propene production, short residence times and quenching
  29. Catalytic Reforming and Isomerisation — Branched alkanes, cyclic compounds, aromatics and octane rating
  30. Hydrotreating and Sulfur Removal — Hydrodesulfurisation and recovering sulfur for the Contact process
  31. Catalyst Deactivation and Regeneration — Poisoning, coking, sintering and catalyst lifetime
  32. Energy Integration: Heat Exchangers — Using hot product streams to preheat cold feeds
  33. Exothermic Processes as Energy Sources — Waste-heat boilers, steam export and self-sustaining plants
  34. Pinch Thinking and Combined Heat and Power — Minimum energy targets and site-wide energy balances
  35. Controlling SOx and NOx Emissions — Acid rain precursors, scrubbing and catalytic reduction
  36. The Carbon Footprint of Ammonia and Hydrogen — Grey, blue and green hydrogen and process carbon dioxide
  37. Effluents, By-products and Waste Minimisation — Co-product markets, water treatment and life-cycle thinking
  38. Process Safety Principles in Chemical Plants — Inherent safety, runaway reactions and layers of protection
  39. Green Chemistry and the Future of Industrial Processes — Renewable feedstocks, electrification and better catalysts
  40. Industrial Chemistry: Unit Review — Linking equilibrium, kinetics, electrolysis, energy and environment