James M. Douglas

James M. Douglas, Professor Emeritus

Education
B.S., Chemical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 1954
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware, 1960

Recognitions
Outstanding Senior Faculty Award, College of Engineering, 1985
CAST Division Award of AIChE
AIChE Lecturer, 1993
Warren K. Lewis Award of AIChE, 1993
National Academy of Engineering, 1996

Current Focus of Research

The hierarchical decision procedure is being extended to include a simple way of identifying and avoiding pollution problems early in the development stages of a design. The procedure identifies the decisions required to complete a design, and arranges these decisions in a hierarchical fashion so that only a few decisions need to be considered at one time. An economic analysis is carried out at each level in the hierarchy, so that it is possible to terminate poor ideas for designs very efficiently. If the decisions made at any level in the hierarchy are changed, then process alternatives are generated. Hence, it is possible to generate a list of process alternatives systematically. Some of the decisions at each level affect the exit streams from (and feeds to) the process, and in some cases these exit streams can have an adverse environmental impact. Hence, if we can make decisions (i.e., find alternatives) that do not lead to pollution problems, we can develop "cleaner" processes. The hierarchical decision procedure also can be used to decompose existing designs, and then process alternatives that eliminate existing pollution sources can be identified.

Process Design
Systematic procedures, heuristics, and short-cut computational techniques are being developed for the conceptual design, retrofitting, and control of petrochemical and solids processes. In addition, interactive computer programs that are based on these systematic procedures are being developed.

Current research efforts are focused on adding solid processes, i.e., crystallizers, filters and centrifuges, and a variety of driers to the existing code, and to develop heuristics for selecting solids processing equipment. Similarly, liquid/liquid splits and extraction processes are being developed. These efforts will overlap Professor Malone's programs on the synthesis of polymer and batch processes. Codes are also being developed for the retrofitting and the steady-state control of petrochemical processes. In addition we are working on the design of multiproduct plants, multipurpose processes, and plant complexes.

A new program on the identification of process alternatives for the reduction of waste loads from chemical processes has been initiated. Since 90 per cent of the total waste load from the chemical industries is waste water, the initial efforts are focused on water re-use. Between 10 and 50 percent reductions have been obtained in the preliminary studies.

Selected Publications

J. M. Douglas "A Hierarchical Decision Procedure for Process Synthesis," AIChE J., 31, 353-362 (1985)

J. M. Douglas and D. C. Woodcock "Cost Diagrams and the Quick Screening of Process Alternatives," Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des Dev., 24, 970-976 (1985).

J. M. Douglas, W. R. Fisher, and M. F. Doherty "Evaluating Significant Economic Trade-offs for Process Design and Steady-State Control Optimization Problems," AIChE J., 31, 1538-1547 (1985).

J. M. Douglas Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes, McGraw-Hill, N.Y., 601pp. (1988).

R. L. Kirkwood, M. H. Locke, and J. M. Douglas "A Prototype Expert System for Synthesizing Process Flowsheets," Computers & Chemical Engineering, 12, 329-343 (1988).

S. Rajagopal, K. M. Ng, and J. M. Douglas "Design of Solids Processes," Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 27, 2061-2078 (1988).

J. M. Douglas "Synthesis of Multistep Reaction Processes," Foundations of Computer-Aided Design, New York, Elsevier, 79-105 (1990).

J. M. Douglas "Process Synthesis for Waste Minimization," I&EC Research, 31, 238 (1992).

J. M. Douglas "Synthesis of Separation System Flowsheets", AIChE J., 41, 2522-36 (1995).

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