Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
National Exams / EGBC — May 2019 — 16-Chem-A5 Chemical Plant Design and Economics. Three-hour closed-book examination; one aid sheet (both sides) and an approved calculator are permitted. Six questions are printed and any five constitute a complete paper (each worth 20 marks); all six are solved below for completeness. Three questions carry numbers (Q1 route economics, Q3 production cost, Q4 depreciation); the other three (Q2 supercritical extraction, Q5 the design hierarchy intrinsic to a chemical process, Q6 VOC-abatement P&ID) are answered as structured description with a supporting diagram where the paper asks for one.
Reference texts: M. S. Peters, K. D. Timmerhaus & R. E. West, Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers (5th ed., McGraw-Hill) — total-product-cost anatomy, straight-line depreciation, after-tax cash flow, profitability; R. Turton, R. C. Bailie, W. B. Whiting & J. A. Shaeiwitz, Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes (4th ed., Prentice Hall) — the economic-potential screen, reaction-path selection and the process flow diagram; J. M. Douglas, Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes (McGraw-Hill) — the level-2 economic-potential hierarchy and the balanced vinyl-chloride process; G. Towler & R. Sinnott, Chemical Engineering Design (Coulson & Richardson Vol. 6, 2nd ed.) — utilities, VOC control and product recovery; R. H. Perry & D. W. Green, Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook (9th ed.) — supercritical-fluid extraction. Depreciation is worked in the U.S. MACRS/straight-line framework the question specifies; the Canadian CCA declining-balance analogue is noted where relevant.
