Example 1: Polymer Production
Combining all of the information from the previous sections, we can now create and understand a full process flow diagram. In the following figure about polymer production (Towler and Sinnott, 2013), the PFD contains a few pieces of equipment so that the corresponding streams can be placed on the figure itself instead of on a separate table. Please note that all streams are labeled with the temperature, the flow rate and amount of each composition, and on a separate table, all of the equipment is clearly defined with their names. One improvement that can be made to this PFD is to be more detailed in the separate table and to include a description of the equipment.
A new process flow diagram was created in order to avoid the clutter of this first process flow diagram. Note that the streams that are labeled are just the numbers, with their stream information detailed in a separate table (Table 7).