Figure 1.2 presents the logic leading to technically feasible analysis and design. In this chapter we illustrate the design process that follows from the analysis of existing equipment, experiment, and the development of model equations capable of predicting equipment performance. Design requests can come in the form of memos, but an ongoing dialogue between those requesting a design and those carrying out the design helps to properly define the problem. This is difficult to illustrate in a textbook but we will try to give some sense of the process in the case studies presented here.

Technically feasible heat exchanger and mass contactor design procedures were outlined in Sections 3.5 and 4.5. In this chapter we present case studies to illustrate how one can proceed to a technically feasible design. Recall that such a design must satisfy only the design criteria, i.e., the volume of a reactor that will produce the required amount of product, the heat exchanger configuration that will meet the heat load needed with the utilities available, or the mass contactor that will transfer the required amount of material from one phase to another given the flow rate of the material to be processed. Even for relatively simple situations, design is always an iterative process and requires one to make decisions that cannot be verified until more information is available and additional calculations are made.