Onion Model

CHC4190
Process Engineering & Plant

Design
Qazi Naved Ahmad

Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
AMU, Aligarh
Figure 1.3: Design of a
Process Flowsheet
The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

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Figure 1.4 (a): Process Flow Sheet with Heat Integration

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Figure 1.4 (b): Process Flow Sheet with Heat Integration

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Figure 1.5: Process Flow Sheet with Increased Reactor Size and
without Heat Integration

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Figure 1.6: Process Flow Sheet with Increased Reactor Size and
Heat Integration

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Hierarchy of the chemical process development involves –
• Reactor Design.
1
• Design of Separation and recycle streams.

2
• Design for internal heating and cooling utilities or heat recovery

3 systems (Heat Exchanger).
• Design of external heating and cooling utilities.

4
• Design of the water (for usage within the plant) and of effluent
5 system.
The above hierarchy can also be represented in the form of onion with the
five steps as the peels of the onion.

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Figure 1.7: The onion model of process design. A reactor is needed before the
separation and recycle system can be designed and so on.

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 Figure 1.7 discusses the model hierarchy for “continuous processes”.
 For “batch processes”, the hierarchy remains the same, only time constraint is to be
taken under considerations.
 In batch processes, main steps (i.e., the reactor step) works discontinuously. Steps
other than the main steps can be operated under semi continuous mode (Fig 1.8).
Figure 1.8: A simple batch process

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 Two situations can prevail in process designing.
1. New Plant Design: The designing has to be performed from grass root level.
2. Retrofit Design: Designing has to be optimized for an existing plant according to the
new operating conditions.
 Retrofit designing is generally performed to increase the capacity of the existing

plant.
 Other reasons include - allow for different feed or product specifications, reduce
operating costs, improve safety or reduce environmental emissions etc.
 One of the major pros and cons of retrofit designing is:
◦ In this designing, the existing equipment can be used for new roles therefore it decreases the
amount of investment in modification of plant.
◦ Also, since the existing equipment is used for new roles therefore it might be possible that the
equipment does not work satisfactorily.
 In Grass root designing or New plant designing, the designer is free to choose any
design strategy or equipment, from whatever options available for that particular
plant or process.
New Design and Retrofit

 There are two different approaches for process synthesis.
1. Building an irreducible structure.

2. Creating and optimizing a superstructure.
1. Building an Irreducible Structure:
 This approach is based on “onion model”.

 First, the reactor is taken into design consideration followed by separation and
recycle streams and rest is same as in case of onion model.
 At each layer, decisions must be made on the basis of the information available at
that stage (which is incomplete).
 The two cons to this approach are –
◦ For every stage, different decisions are available and each decision has to be
optimized at each stage in order to complete the picture of process designing which
makes this approach a tedious and brain storming task.
◦ Completed design through this approach is not fully guaranteed as the information
available for each stage is incomplete or ill-defined.
 The main advantage of this approach is that the design team can keep control of the
basic decisions and interact as the design develops.
Approaches To Chemical Process Design And

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2. Creating and optimizing a superstructure:
 In this approach, a reducible structure, known as a superstructure, is first created

that has embedded within it all feasible process options and all feasible
interconnections that are required for an optimal design structure.
 The design problem is next formulated as a mathematical model. Once the problem
is formulated mathematically, its solution is carried out through the implementation
of an optimization algorithm.
 An objective function is maximized or minimized (e.g. profit is maximized or cost is
minimized) in a structural and parameter optimization. The optimization justifies the
existence of structural features and deletes those features from the structure that
cannot be justified economically.
 In effect, the discrete decision-making aspects of process design are replaced by a
discrete/continuous optimization.
 The cons associated with this approach are –
◦ The reduced structure can only be optimized only when it contains an optimal structure
within it. Higher the number of options in reduced structure, higher will be the chance
of having optimal structure within it.
◦ If every individual unit operations are represented accurately then the objective
function would become more and more complex to solve with number of local maxima
and minima.
◦ The most important drawback of this approach is that the design engineer cannot take
the final decisions for process designing.

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2. Creating and optimizing a superstructure:
 The pros associated with this approach are –

◦ Many different design options can be considered at the same time.
◦ The complex multiple trade-offs usually encountered in chemical process design can be
handled by this approach.
◦ Also, the entire design procedure can be automated and is capable of producing designs
quickly and efficiently.
Process Control
 After developing the process design, the design needs to be controlled in order to
counter the external disturbance therefore, a process control scheme is required for
the designed process.
 In order to achieve this, instruments must be installed to measure variables which
could include temperature, pressure, flowrate, composition, level, pH, density and
particle size.
 Having measured the variables that need to be controlled, other variables need to be
manipulated in order to achieve the control objectives.
 A control system is then designed, which responds to variations in the measured
variables and manipulates variables to control the process.

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CHC4190

Process Engineering & Plant

Qazi Naved Ahmad

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

• Design of Separation and recycle streams.

• Design for internal heating and cooling utilities or heat recovery

• Design of external heating and cooling utilities.

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

Figure 1.8: A simple batch process

The Hierarchy Of Chemical Process Design And

 Retrofit designing is generally performed to increase the capacity of the existing

New Design and Retrofit

1. Building an irreducible structure.

1. Building an Irreducible Structure:

 This approach is based on “onion model”.

Approaches To Chemical Process Design And

 In this approach, a reducible structure, known as a superstructure, is ﬁrst created

Approaches To Chemical Process Design And

 The pros associated with this approach are –

Approaches To Chemical Process Design And

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