Unit operations

Mixer

N inlets -> 1 outlet

Tank (holdup vessel)

N inlets -> 1 outlet (adiabatic mix at steady state; carries inventory in the dynamic/live engines — a level-control accumulator)

Splitter

1 inlet -> N outlets

Heater / Cooler

1 inlet -> 1 outlet

Air cooler (fin-fan)

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (rejects to air)

Heat exchanger

2 inlets -> 2 outlets

Fired heater / furnace

2 inlets (process, fuel gas) -> process outlet + flue gas

Boiler

1 inlet (feedwater) -> 1 outlet (steam)

Desuperheater / attemperator

1 inlet (superheated steam) -> 1 outlet (tempered steam)

Cooling tower

1 inlet (hot water) -> 1 outlet (cold water)

Condenser

1 inlet (steam) -> 1 outlet (condensate)

Deaerator

2 inlets (feedwater, LP steam) -> 1 outlet (deaerated water)

LNG storage tank

1 inlet -> stored liquid + boil-off gas (reports weathering)

BOG recondenser

boil-off vapour + subcooled LNG -> recondensed liquid (+ surplus vapour)

Gas turbine (driver)

fuel gas -> exhaust; reports shaft power and the ambient derate

FCC riser

1 gas-oil inlet -> 1 effluent; reports lump yields, the gasoline optimum and the cat/oil ratio the heat balance demands

Mercury guard bed

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (trace Hg removed; reports bed life)

Mol-sieve dehydrator

1 inlet -> 1 dried outlet (reports cycle time + regen duty)

LNG exchanger (cold box)

2-6 streams in one core, outlet i pairs with inlet i

Multistream exchanger

N streams in one core, feasibility via composite-curve pinch

Flash drum

1 inlet -> vapor + liquid

Three-phase flash

1 inlet -> vapor + liquid1 + liquid2 (V-L-L decant)

Distillation column

feed -> distillate + bottoms

Shortcut distillation (FUG)

feed -> distillate + bottoms

Three-phase column (decanting)

feed -> organic + aqueous distillate + bottoms (heterogeneous azeotrope)

Reactive column (kinetic)

feed -> distillate + bottoms (per-stage Arrhenius reaction rate)

Rate-based column

feed -> distillate + bottoms (tray efficiency)

Rate-based column (two-film)

feed -> distillate + bottoms (multicomponent Maxwell-Stefan mass transfer)

Absorber / stripper

gas + liquid -> gas + rich liquid

Rate-based packed absorber

gas + liquid -> gas + rich liquid

Fischer-Tropsch reactor

syngas (CO+H2) -> hydrocarbons + water

Extraction column

feed + solvent -> extract + raffinate (countercurrent LLE)

Crude distillation (CDU)

1 crude feed -> distillate + side cuts + bottoms (in order)

Pump

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (raises liquid pressure)

Compressor

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (raises vapor pressure)

Multi-Stage Compressor

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (N staged compressions with interstage cooling)

Turbine

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (expands vapor, extracts shaft work)

Steam turbine

1 inlet -> [extraction, exhaust] (extraction / back-pressure staging)

Valve

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (throttle, drops pressure)

Pipeline

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (Darcy ΔP over a pipe)

Reservoir well (IPR)

source — flow solved from the inflow performance relationship

Solar PV array

source — no material stream; reports a power_w metric

Wind turbine

source — no material stream; reports a power_w metric

Batch reactor (campaign)

charge -> product, averaged over the batch cycle

Batch still (Rayleigh)

charge -> distillate + bottoms, averaged over the cycle

IVT reactor (mRNA transcription)

reaction mix -> transcript

LNP formulation

aqueous RNA + lipid in ethanol -> formulated suspension

TFF / UF-DF

feed -> retentate (concentrated) + permeate

Chromatography capture (Protein A)

feed -> eluate (product pool) + flowthrough

Low-pH viral inactivation

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (hold; reports log reduction)

Virus filter

feed -> filtrate (product) + retained

Lyophilizer (freeze dryer)

liquid formulation -> cake + sublimed vapor

Relief valve (PSV)

1 inlet -> process (passthrough) + relief (to flare)

Flare stack

N relief inlets -> burned (terminal, no outlet)

Reactor

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (stoichiometric conversion)

Yield reactor (RYield)

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (specified product yields; mass-conserving)

Reactive distillation

1 feed -> distillate + bottoms (react + separate)

Dividing-wall column

1 feed -> top + side + bottom (3 products)

Dividing-wall column (rigorous)

1 feed -> distillate + side + bottoms (3 rigorous MESH columns)

Petlyuk column (thermally coupled)

1 feed -> distillate + side + bottoms (coupled prefractionator + main column)

Adsorption column

1 inlet -> purified + loaded

Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA)

1 feed -> product + tail_gas (real 2-bed cyclic pressure-swing process)

SMB chromatography

feed + desorbent -> extract + raffinate (True Moving Bed equivalent)

Vacuum PSA (multi-bed)

1 feed -> product + tail_gas (N-bed vacuum cyclic pressure-swing)

Separator

1 inlet -> captured + remaining (recovery)

Decanter

1 liquid inlet -> light + heavy liquid (LLE)

Crystallizer

1 feed -> solid crystals + mother liquor

Lithium sorption (DLE)

1 brine feed -> loaded (Li-rich eluate) + raffinate (barren brine)

Filter

solid + liquor inlets -> cake + filtrate

Centrifuge

solid + liquor inlets -> cake + filtrate (Sigma-theory sizing)

Dryer

wet cake -> dry solid + vapor

Mill

feed solid -> ground product (Bond's Law)

Cyclone

gas + solids -> clean gas + captured solids

Hydrocyclone (classifier)

slurry (solid + water) -> coarse underflow + fine overflow

Ejector (thermocompressor)

motive (HP) + suction (LP) -> discharge (recompressed)

Screen

solids -> oversize + undersize (PSD cut)

Electrostatic precipitator

gas + solids -> clean gas + captured

Baghouse (fabric filter)

gas + solids -> clean gas + captured dust

Venturi scrubber (wet)

gas + solids + scrubbing liquid -> clean gas + slurry

CCD washer (counter-current decantation)

residue solids + liquor + wash water -> washed solids + pregnant liquor

Granulator

seeds + binder -> grown granules

Rotary kiln

solid feed -> heated/reacted solid + evolved gas (indirect, RTD-sized)

Fluidized bed

solid + fluidizing gas -> heated/reacted solid + gas (indirect, Wen-Yu sized)

Thickener / clarifier

slurry -> dense underflow + clarified overflow

Membrane (RO)

1 feed -> permeate + retentate

Membrane distillation

Electrodialysis / EDI

Gas permeation membrane

1 feed -> retentate + permeate (solution-diffusion)

Pervaporation membrane

1 liquid feed -> vapor permeate + liquid retentate (breaks azeotropes)

Polymerization reactor

monomer -> polymer (Mn/Mw/PDI)

Evaporator (effect)

process feed + heating steam -> concentrated liquid + vapor boiloff + steam condensate

Kinetic reactor

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (CSTR/PFR)

Hydrocracker

heavy feed + H2 -> lighter products (discrete lumped kinetics)

Claus sulfur recovery (SRU)

acid gas -> tail gas + liquid sulfur (staged Claus conversion)

Ion Exchange Softener

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (water passes through thermodynamically; the hardness balance rides alongside it as mg/L as CaCO3)

Isomerization (ISU)

n-paraffins -> iso-paraffins (equilibrium limited)

Equilibrium reactor

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (Keq)

Gibbs reactor

1+ inlets -> 1 outlet (free-energy min)

Bioreactor

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (Monod fermenter)

Electrolyzer

water feed -> H2 (green hydrogen)

Electrolyzer (rigorous)

water feed -> H2 (Butler-Volmer/Nernst cell); fuel-cell mode: H2 -> water

Bipolar-membrane electrodialysis (BPED)

1 LiCl feed -> 1 outlet (Li+ -> LiOH via Faraday's law, DLE conversion stage)

Acid leach

2 inlets (solid black-mass feed + acid solution) -> pregnant leach solution, insoluble residue

Precipitator / neutralizer (hydroxide precipitation)

1 aqueous inlet dosed to a target pH -> clarified liquid, hydroxide sludge

Gas fermentation (chemolithoautotroph)

2 inlets (gas feed H2/O2/CO2 + liquid medium) -> off-gas, biomass broth

Enzymatic reactor (Michaelis-Menten)

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (substrate + pH-branched dual products)

Perfusion bioreactor (cell retention)

1 inlet (fresh medium) -> 2 outlets [harvest, bleed]

Anaerobic digester (hydrolysis + acidogenesis + methanogenesis)

1 inlet -> 2 outlets [biogas, digestate]

Lignocellulosic pretreatment (dilute-acid/steam)

1 inlet -> 2 outlets [hydrolyzate, residual_solids]

Ortho-para H2 converter (cryogenic cold-box catalyst bed)

1 inlet -> 1 outlet (H2 spin-isomer shift toward equilibrium)