Plant-independent process representation

Of the traditional process representations commonly used by chemical engine ers, flow diagrams or Process and Instrumentation Diagrams represent the in terconnections between plant items, and mass and energy balances present th e flow, composition, and conditions at the inlets and outlets of the plant items. It is only during detailed modelling of particular unit operations d oes the engineer normally address the physicochemical processes that are ha ppening inside the equipment. The rapid leap from process to plant consider ations creates a language barrier between engineers and chemists that poten tially slows down process development and gives rise to scale-up problems a s the controlling processes are overlooked. A simple representation of chem ical processes has been devised that focuses on the controlling phenomena t hat ultimately should allow processes to be scaled-up much more easily.