New Chemical Engineering Building at the University of North Dakota d
IRVIN LAVINE ASD A. RZ. COOLEY, JR., University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N. D.
T
HE new chemical engineering building at the University
of Korth Dakota was planned, designed, and constructed to serve solely as the unit operations laboratory for instruction as well as research purposes. Limitation of funds made i t necessary that every square foot of available floor space be utilized to maximum advantage. Besides the laboratory space for permanent unit operations equipment, a machine shop, stockroom, washroom, and storage vault are provided. One of the balconies is used for a small chemical control laboratory and a lecture and discussion room. Office space and other service rooms were eliminated because the building is located next to the School of Mines building which houses the rest of the department. The need for separate research rooms in the new building was not pressing because two small buildings, one of wood and the other of metal construction, were made available for work on steam drying of lignite in cooperation with the U. S. Bureau
of Mines and for studying methods of producing activated carbon from lignite. These laboratories are very adaptable for setting up small pilot plants. The new building has been in use for the past year and has fulfilled all expectations. When the department of chemical engineering was organized in 1927, office space for faculty, a physical chemistry laboratory, analytical chemistry laboratory, fuel testing and fuel research laboratory, stockroom, library, and classrooms were located in the School of Mines building. I n 1936, when labor and some materials became available through the WPA, a decision was reached to construct a laboratory building and to design and construct needed equipment. The plans and specifications were prepared by the writers. The work of constructing equipment is being continued. The structure is of concrete and brick with a gable roof. It was built in two separate sections because federal funds for the entire structure were not available at the beginning. The east section was completed in 1937 and the west section in 1939. The adjoining wall was left intact, thereby increasing the available wall space for mounting equipment. Two entrances, one a t ground floor level and the other a t balcony level, provide access between the two sections. Two windows in the adjoining wall were removed and the openings were left intact to help air circulation through the building. Ample natural light is provided by 15 double-hung windows. The four roof trusses are of wood construction and standard design. The direction of the two trusses in the west section was changed from eastwest to north-south to permit a T-connectcd roof rather than a parallel two-gable roof.
PILOTPLANTFOR STEAM DRYING OF LIGXITE, HOUSED IN SEPARATE BUILDING 567
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FLOOR PLlN 1. Bubble cap distjllation column 2. Packed distillat!on column 3. Jacketed glass-lined kettle 4. Long-tube single-effect evaporator 5. Experimental single long-tube evapoirator 6. Triple-effect evaporator 7. Rotary ore reduction kiln 8. Submerged combustion evaporator 9. Carrier humidity dryer 10. Steam-heated tray dryer 11. Concentric pipe heat interchanger 12. Thickener 13. Rotary vacuum filter assembly 14. Plate and frame filter assembly 15. Crane water softener
16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.
Fluid flow apparatus Toilet Shower
Wash-basin Chemical laboratory desk Analytical balance cabinet Reagent rack Lathe Milling machine Bench grinder and drill press Work bench Catwalk Grid-covered trough drain Central drain Catwalk for triple effect
The over-all dimensions of the building, including the front entrance, are 70 X 42 feet and i t is equivalent in height to a two-story structure. The building is recessed 8 feet 2 inches below ground level. The concrete foundation walls, about 13 inches thick, were poured to a height of 10 feet above the footings and extended to the top with two courses of common brick and a course of face brick. A portico front entrance was designed to break the monotony of the rectangular arrange ment of the building. An enclosed service entrance at the back is provided with a stairway leading to the basement floor. Another entrance on the north side opens t o a balcony in the east section. The building provides 3354 square feet of floor area consisting of 1560 square feet for the permanent unit operations equipment (open area), 346 square feet for machine shop, 169 square feet for washroom, 282 square feet for stockroom, 169 square feet for storage, and 828 square feet of balcony area. Catwalks, constructed in the shop of the department, extend from the balconies around the walls. Headroom and floor space were the two most important factors considered. The major part of the structure was left, therefore, as open area for the location of the permanent unit
31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43.
Feed tank for triple effect Feed tank for heat interchanger Motor and pump for heat interchanger Motor and pump for filtration assembly Door t o wash room Centrifuge Door t o stock supply room Catvalk joining balconies Doorway t o machine shop Vacuum tray dryer Air compressor for carrier dryer Door t o storeroom Classroom table and benches 44. Chimney
operations equipment. To provide for needed enclosed area, each section was partitioned t o a height of 10 feet 9 inches by an 8-inch concrete wall to form a room 12 X 30 feet in the east section and a room 12 x 40 feet in the west section. Flooring over each room formed the two balconies, joined by a catwalk. The balcony in the east section runs east-west and the one in the west section, north-south. The open areas of each section are provided with a central trough drain, 18 x 6 inches, that extends the length of the floor, and is connected with several individual floor drains located around the room. The trough drains are covered with sections of removable grids made from steel flats and rounds and held in place on 2-bars embedded in the concrete floor; the floors, of 6-inch concrete, slope to the trough drains with an incline of 1 inch in 8 feet. During construction of the concrete and the brick walls, threaded 0.75-inch steel rods were inserted on &foot centers for attachment of equipment and intermediate supports. Service provided includes high- and low-pressure steam, hot and cold water, compressed air, gas, vacuum, and electric power, 110 and 220 alternating current and 220 direct current. The process and power lines reach the building through a
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ANALYTICAL EDITION
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tunnel from the university power plant and are piped around the walls. Each line is painted a different color for ease in identification. A unit heater, together with several banks of pipe heaters supported a t different places on the walls, supplies ample heat. A brick chimney, 34 X 36 inches, is adapted for both chimney and vent purposes. UXITOPERATIONS EQUIPMENT. The unit operations equipment permanently located in the east section inc1udes:I
.4 ten-plate bubble-cap column and still and a 12.5-foot packed distillation column and accessories are located in one corner. Both units were constructed in the shop of the department. The packed column follows a design by the Department of Chemical Engineering, Cornel1 University. A Pfaudler 5-gallon jacketed glass-lined kettle. B long-tube, single-effect evaporator having a heating surface of 17.3 square feet. This unit was designed and constructed locally. 1 Detailed instructions for construction of many of these units are found i n “Unit Operatiom Laboratory Equipment” by Zirnrnerman and Lavine, 1940 edition, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of North Dakota.
A single long-tube evaporator for experimental studies, designed and constructed locally. A triple-effect evaporator of the common vertical basket type with complete accessories for the evaporation of liquids that salt out during evaporation. The heating element in each effect consists of a basket holding eight 0.875-inch copper tubes 2 feet long. The boilingliquid passes up through the heating tubes and returns down through the space around the basket. The evaporator can be operated with forward, backward, or parallel feed. A by-
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An 18 x 6 inch rotary vacuuni filter and accessories. A 6-inch plate and frame filter press and accessories. A Crane water softener. A fluid flow apparatus, of local design and construction, including accessory equipment for calibrating an orifice meter and a venturi meter as well as determining the efficiency of a centrifugal pump.
The following equipment is being constructed at the present time: A gas-absorber serviceable for both laboratory instruction and research, auxiliary equipment for the bubble-cap distillation unit, an orifice meter for a 4-inch line, a fluid-flow apparatus constructed with streamline soldered joint fittings, an extraction unit, an experimental elutriation unit, and an experimental cyclone separator made of transparent material. In addition, holdup flow meters, thermometer guards, dolly trucks, manometers, orifice meters, etc., have been constructed in the shops for use with the permanent equipment.
MACHINE SHOP. The room below the balcony in the east section has been fitted as a machine shop, with a lathe, milling machine, bench grinder, drill press, work bench, etc. Most of the equipment for the department is constructed here, although other shops of the university have also been used. The equipment includes the usual gas welding outfit and a small alternating current arc welder. The chemical engineering curriculum includes a senior research requirement. The students select a problem from a list provided by the faculty, usually in the field of unit chemical engineering operations. They then design and construct needed equipment. The shop has been found invaluable to them in this work. The training that they receive in the use of the shop tools and equipment is considered highly important. W A S m o o h I -41-i~ STOCKROOM. The space below the balcony in the west section mas partitioned to provide a washroom approximately 12 X 14 feet and a stock supply room approximately 12 X 24 feet. The washroom contains a toilet, shower, and concrete terrazzo-finished wash basin of local design and construction. Hot water is provided by a tank constructed LPPER. TRIPLE-EFFECT EVAPORATOR AND ACCESSORIES,Eabi of 60 feet of 0.5-inch copper tubing coiled in a 4-foot length SECTION of standard 8-inch pipe. K a t e r passes through the coil and is LOWER. REST OPENAREA OF BUILDISG,SHOWII’JG DRYISL. HEATTRANSFER, BKD FILTRATIOK EQUIPMENT. GRID-COVERED heated by steam a t 20 pounds pressure on the outside. The stock supply room is fitted with bins and shelves for TROUGH DRAIXIN CEWER storing pipe fittings and miscellaneous engineering supplies as well as tools. Three wood cabinets are used for storing pass vapor line to the condenser permits the operation of each meters, thermometers, screens, etc. -4service window opens effect singly, or any two as double effects. The entire unit wab to the main laboratory. designed by the writers and constructed in the shop of the department. STORAGE VAULT. The area below the front portico was An indirect gas-fired rotary kiln dryer, of local design and conexcavated to provide a very useful storage vault, with enstruction, for the study of a process for reducing loTv-grade Ninnetrance through a door that leads into the stockroom. Long sota hematite ore with Xorth Dakota lignite. lengths of pipe, rods, angle iron, pumps, motors, and other A 110-gallon submerged combustion evaporator for the study similar items are stored here. Because of its lower temperaof dehydration of North Dakota Glauber’s salt. This u s built from tm-o 55-gallon oil drums and standard pipe and fittings ture the vault is also useful for the storage of low-boiling following a design by K. A. Kobe of the University of - suggested -_ liquids. Washington. CHEMICALCONTROL LABORATORY. The south end of the An experimental unit for studying heat transfer from a copper coil to liquid in an open tank. balcony in the west section, which leads to the front entrance of the building, is used for a chemical control laboratory. The following equipment is stationed in the west section: A 6-foot chemical laboratory desk was installed and piped with gas, mater, air, and vacuum lines. A glass-enclosed A Carrier humidity dryer. cabinet was attached to the wall to house an analytical balA steam-heated five-pass tray d r y r of the Gordon type provided with means for recirculating the air. This unit was deance. A reagent cabinet is near by. signed and constructed locally. LECTURE AND CALCULATION Roou. Although the classA concentric pipe heat interchanger, 20 feet long, constructed rooms of the department are located in the School of Mines, locally from a design developed by W. L. Beuschlein of the Cniit was found desirable to provide some space in the building versity of Washington. The transfer of heat takes place from steam to liquid. Improved methods of reducing losses and end for lecture by the instructor during the laboratory period. effects and of measuring temperatures are embodied in the deThe north half of the balcony has been provided with a table, sign. benches, and a portable blackboard, and is used for that A %foot diameter thickener of the Dorr type, designed and purpose. constructed locally.
