S&E-Assignment1
Sustainability and the Environment
Air Pollution Assignment – Consulting Report
Due 23 March 2018 at 5pm
Submit via Turnitin
Instructions
Assignments are to be done individually. Calculations are to be hand written (so I know it is your work), scanned, and
included in the appendices. If you are using spreadsheets, provide hand written examples of the solutions. Also make
them legible and neat. Assignments are to be submitted no later than 5pm on Friday the 23rd of March. Late
assignments will be penalized by 10% per day late (the day starts at 5pm).
You are to write a consulting report of no more than three pages in length for the body (Executive Summary to
Conclusion), with all calculations in appendices (which can be as many pages as you need). You do not need a title
page for the assignment.
Background
Congratulations, you are an engineer working for a consulting company. Your company has been approached to help
with the design an unobtainium production plant. Your job is to provide (in report format) the calculations and
ecommendations required for their design.
Technical Specifications
In making unobtainium [which is a fictious material in case you were wondering], the unobtainium oxide ore is
crushed, put into a kiln and then heated to approximately 400 oC. The unobtainium oxide is released from the ore
ody and
eaks down into molecular unobtainium and oxygen. The unobtainium cools at 350 oC and solidifies as
small particles, which are suspended in the exhaust flow. During this process, significant amounts of methane (CH4) is
also produced and released.
Due to the rare nature of unobtainium, the company wants to collect the unobtainium for reprocessing.
The company has provided data of the gaseous volumetric flow rates of all gas streams into the furnace. These were
measured at atmospheric conditions and 20oC. The gaseous inlet volumetric flow-rate is 520 Nm3/hr [this is normal
cubic metres per hour]. However, the actual furnace gas exhaust temperature is 300 oC. The composition of furnace
gases in volumetric percentage is approximately N2:CH4 50:50. The specific gravity of unobtainium is estimated as 12
[this means it is 12 times as dense as water].
Mesh size
[µm]
5 10 20 30 50 100 150
Weight
percentage
5 <15 <28 <40 <72 <88 <98
Table 1. Typical particle size distribution of the unobtainium particles – data provided by the client.
The clients have requested designs for a cyclone separation system, and a baghouse system. They also want a thermal
oxidizer to remove the methane from the final gas stream. The designs are to meet an efficiency of 95% or higher.
Assessment Specifics
Your line manager at work (your boss) has told you as a minimum, to address the following:
1. You are to design a single high-efficiency cyclone separator system based on Stairmand’s design. You are to
determine efficiency, pressure drop of the system, and discuss the uncertainty in your results.
2. If a single cyclone system will not meet the requirements, design a multiple high-efficiency cyclone separator
system based on Stairmand’s design [consider parallel and series as you see fit]. You are to determine efficiency,
pressure drop of the system, and discuss the uncertainty in your results.
3. You are to calculate the number of bag filters needed, for a standard bagfilter size.
3. You are to discuss the suitability of bag selection, using the baghouse alone, and using the baghouse after the
cyclones.
4. Size a good thermal oxidizer. Discus the suitability of your results.
Report information
Remember that you are writing a consulting report recommending particle collection designs and alternatives. You
should have the following sections in the report:
Executive Summary [This is a summary of the entire report]
Introduction [Introduction of the problems]
Background [Background of the design system – this is not a tutorial on how to design the systems, just general
information about how they work and what you need to consider]
Designs [Discussion about your designs, including any relevant assumptions made]
Recommendations
Conclusion
Appendices (All the calculations, in a format that makes sense and isn’t just a bunch of equations and numbers).
The mark weighting will be 50% on the calculations and 50% on the report writing.
A ru
ic will be made available for the assessment.