FE Chemical case studies
FE Chemical · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is the first step toward becoming a licensed professional engineer (P.E.). It is designed for recent graduates and students close to finishing an undergraduate engineering degree from an EAC/ABET-accredited program, and it is administered year-round as a computer-based exam at NCEES-approved Pearson test centers. The FE Chemical case studies are 5 cases and about 3,548 words.
1Depropanizer Flooding vs. Fouling: The Reboiler Steam Reflex
Your 42-tray depropanizer has run 14 months at 250 psig on a 100 lbmol/h feed containing 40 mol% propane. It makes 40 lbmol/h of 98% propane overhead, and bottoms must stay below 0.5 mol% C3.
736 words, about 4 min2Stuck Cooling Valve on an Exothermic Batch Polymerization
A 5,000-gal jacketed batch reactor is running a 6,000 kg emulsion polymer batch with an adiabatic temperature rise of 180 K. Reaction onset, where self-heating outruns the jacket, is 120 C.
728 words, about 4 min3Reflux Pump Cavitation After a Rate Increase
A reflux pump draws liquid from a column accumulator drum at 20 psia. The liquid is at its bubble point, so its vapor pressure is also 20 psia.
722 words, about 4 min4Preheat Train Fouling and a Tempting Flow Increase
A crude preheat exchanger (TEMA AES, 400 ft2, one shell pass, two tube passes) uses 80,000 lb/h of 400 F vacuum residue, cp 0.65 Btu/lb-F, to heat 120,000 lb/h of crude, cp 0.55 Btu/lb-F, entering at 150 F. Immediately after the last cleaning, the overall coefficient was 88 Btu/h-ft2-F against a design clean value of 90 and a design dirty value of 60, which includes the fouling allowance.
718 words, about 4 min5Reactor Selection When the Selectivity Answer and the Capital Answer Disagree
You are choosing a reactor for a liquid-phase system. The desired step A to B has rate r B = k1 C A with k1 = 0.40 per minute at 80 C.
644 words, about 3 min