Research Summary:
The uncertainty in the design and operation of a chemical plant is related to the uncertainty in the fundamental database that was used to design the plant. The design-data relationship had received little research attention even though entire plants as well as individual pieces of equipment have failed to operate as designed because of uncertainties in the database. Proper sensitivity analysis in the area of computer-aided design should become a part of the process design procedure. Further, process operating parameters along with uncertainty in the underlying data base affect the reliability of process units to meet capacity, recovery and purity requirements. Estimation of reliability is hampered by the complexity of process simulation mathematics.
