KEY AREAS OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS IN DESIGN OF MODERN INTEGRATED PROCESS EQUIPMENT

: Process engineering is a technical specialization focused on the design of industrial processes and equipment whose purpose is generally to convert raw materials into desired products. These include, for example, not only chemical or refinery processes, but also food and pharmaceutical processes, waste treatment processes and many others. Coverage of such a wide range of different technologies enables the concept of unit operations completed by a process integration technique allowing an efficient sequencing of unit operations in a process so that the process is designed and operated as cost-effectively as possible. In the context of global changes and the need for maximum energy efficient and environmentally friendly solutions of production processes, a new trend of so-called modern integrated equipment (MIE) is now starting. The MIE are generally characterized by maximum efficiency and multifunctionality via aggregation of multiple unit operations into a single apparatus. It reduces the process to the minimum number of equipment, thus reducing both investment and operating costs while process works efficiently and more environmentally. The MIE design principles are presented in the paper together with several design challenges addressed to the relevant key areas of engineering mechanics to which attention in the paper will be also paid.