Process Engineering

Module I – INTRODUCTION

1. Introduction to Upstream, Midstream and Downstream Industry like oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Chemical, Fertiliser, Steel, Power, Pharmaceutical, Food, Water etc…including their function and role of Chemical Process Engineer.
2.  Introduction to various phases in the project life cycle and role of chemical process engineer in the various phase of project to enhance skills for working.
3. Introduction to process engineering department deliverables including use by various engineering department and interface requirement and impact during various stages in project execution.
4. Introduction to difference between process equipment and utility equipment
5. Introduction to various Static equipment used in process industry including their application like storage, heat exchange, mixing, accumulator, distillation, Separators etc…
6. Introduction to Rotating equipment like Pumps, Compressor, Turbine, Blowers etc.
7. Introduction to package equipment used in process industry including their applications like Boiler, Chiller, Cooling Towers, Nitrogen Separation Plant etc.
8. Introduction of various Valve, Special Parts and Instruments including instrument interlocks for various processes.
9. Guidelines for Equipment layout Preparation including recommended industrial practices and standards.
10. Introduction to plot plan and use of plot plan by various engineering departments also forming equipment Tag Numbers

Module 2 : Introduction to Basic Engineering Package and FEED (Front End Engineering Design) Package

1. Guidelines on Preparation on ITB and BEP and FEED based on Conduct research to develop new and improved manufacturing processes, Establish safety procedures for those working with dangerous chemicals, Develop processes for separating components of liquids and gases, Design and plan the layout of equipment, Conduct tests and monitor the performance of processes throughout production, Troubleshoot problems with manufacturing processes, Evaluate equipment and processes to ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations, Estimate production costs for management
2. Review the ITB (Invitation to Bid) documents submitted in the proposals stage, raise, technical queries, manage inputs to other disciplines, review techno-commercial, vendor offers; prepare proposal technical write-ups and man-hour estimates.
3. Verification of design integrity. Use Process Simulation software such as HYSYS and PIPESIM to ensure project specification details in the FEED Packages are feasible. Interpret and evaluate reports from process engineering software. Evaluate and compare the various FEED package documents and Data Sheets using scope of supply analysis and heat-and-mass balance calculations. Identify discrepancies and inconsistencies take corrective action where required.
4. Verify and conceptualize the most optimum work route. Identify a clear scope of work/supply and accordingly plan/schedule the engineering activities and manpower resource. Identify and quantify total number of engineering deliverables, man-hour allocation, format of delivery, time schedules and other requirements for execution of the work.
5. Establishing a process design basis, developing process options and optimization of selected design.
6. Preparing bid and purchase specifications for processing equipment (e.g. pressure vessels, exchangers, filtration skids) Generating Deliverables list and their use for each engineering disciplines.

Module 3 : PRE FEED Deliverables of Project including Conceptual and Preliminary Process Design Pre FEED or Conceptual and Preliminary process design is an important part of Process Engineers of identifying multiple technical options for given process goal based on environmental safety and operating/maintenance economic evaluation including future expansion philosophy which mainly includes preliminary process flow diagrams, mass & energy balances, a list of major equipment, and a rough order of magnitude cost estimate along with identifying potential risks associated with the design. Some of the phases in the Conceptual and Preliminary Process Design are as follows

• 3.1. Project Phase 1 – Identification Phase for Preliminary Process Design :In this phase various options for given process is identified and screening is done based on process requirement, Safe operating requirement like fully Automatic, Semi-Automatic, Manual and Batch Type, safe maintenance requirement, climatic conditions and finally economy. During Identification phase it is mandatory to focus on revenue, expenses reduction, strategic growth, improving reliability and efficiency, identifying key risk and uncertainties, and finally to maintain consistency working on searching multiple options to reach to process goal, identifying major equipment required for set process, preparation of Block Flow Diagram (BFD) and finalising approximate cost of project which includes mainly cost of equipment.

• 3.2 Project Phase 2 – Selection and Alternatives evaluation for Preliminary Process Design : Evaluation of identified process alternatives :

• Preliminary Process Design :After final evaluation work start on only one process application and further development is started for generating data as a input to further detailed engineering. Some of the deliverables generated at this stage are as follows

• Design Basis for Process at preliminary stage including scope, purpose, requirement of various inputs, user requirement and stage wise methodology of plant design and selection.

• Summary of evaluation of various process alternatives as a record for further verification of finalised process.

• Heat and Material Balance Data including simulation of process at preliminary stage for deciding and sizing of equipment

• Preliminary Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs) including understanding what exactly PFD is, why it is required, who are the users, what is purpose, what type of inputs are required, how to use the inputs for preparation of PFD, how to check prepared PFD and method of maintaining IDC (Inter Department Checking) records.

•  Equipment List including their service conditions based on experience and as per available vendor data which is used by Equipment department for finalising vendors and further detailed engineering. List of equipment is also used by piping department for development of preliminary plot plan and basic equipment layouts. Equipment list also is used by other engineering disciplines like Electrical, Instrumentation and Civil/Structural including some vendors.

• Approximate Capex and Opex based on preliminary process based on equipment list.

• Raw Material Requirement based on preliminary process data

• Utilities requirement based on preliminary process data for finalising vendors

• Risk summery at various stages like plant running condition, maintenance etc… This completes PRE-FEED activities

• Module 4 : FEED or Basic Engineering Package including Deliverables

FEDD or Basic Engineering Package is very important and critical for making project successful and is vital part of any project which is used for process detailed engineering purpose like final sizing of equipment, line sizing, election of instruments etc… in FEED stage accuracy of document is much better than preliminary stage. This FEED package can be designed various stages like Process Design Package with Engineering Deliverables and Detailed Process Design Package with Final Deliverables.

• • Project Phase 3 – Process Design Package with Deliverables

In this project phase FEED package is developed based on operating conditions, design conditions and Pneumatic/Hydro testing conditions including process reliability, process efficiency and process safety at all the level from design stage, pre-commissioning stage, commission stage, operating stage and maintenance stage. Due to accuracy cost estimation is more accurate at this stage. For generating better engineering deliverables, some of the additional points considered during this project phase are as follows

• •  Raw material specifications
  • Plant capacity requirements
  • Product specifications
  • Critical plant operating parameters
  • Available utilities specifications
  •  Individual unit operations performance requirements
  • Process regulatory requirements
  • All other operating goals and constraints desired by the plant owners/operators/engineers.

After considering all above points it is very easy to give shape to process engineering deliverables which are required by other engineering disciplines for further engineering design. During this stage deliverables are generated based on process requirement based on various studies, deliverables are analysed/Reviewed/IDC, optimised based on review/IDC and issued for Design (IFD) to other engineering disciplines, some of the FEED deliverables are as follows.

• Process design basis
• Material & Energy Balance (M&EB)
• Process Flow Diagrams (PFDs) of Tanks, Vessels, Reactors, Distillation Columns, Absorption Columns, Phase Separators, Condenser, Sub-coolers, Heat Exchangers, Pumps, Compressor, Turbines, Blower etc…
• Process descriptions
• Utility balances and Utility Flow Diagrams (UFDs) like Steam, Chilled Water, Cooling Water, Nitrogen, Instrument Air, Compressed Air, Plant Air.

• Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs) of Tanks, Vessels, Reactors, Distillation Columns, Absorption Columns, Phase Separators, Condenser, Sub-coolers, Heat Exchangers, Pumps, Compressor, Turbines, Blower etc…
• Process control description
• Preliminary line/pipe list of all prepared P & ID
• Process Equipment List and Preliminary instrument list, and Preliminary Tie in list
• Equipment process datasheets of Tanks, Vessels, Reactors, Distillation Columns, Absorption Columns, Phase Separators, Condenser, Sub-coolers, Heat Exchangers, Pumps, Compressor, Turbines, Blower etc…
• Instrument process datasheets of Pressure Instruments, Temperature Instruments, Level Instruments and Flow Instruments.

• Hydraulic design reports.

Project Phase 4 – Detailed Process Design Package with Deliverables In this project phase final FEED package or Basic Engineering Package is developed which is used by all EPC companies and vendors. This FEED/BEP is also used for writing process specification for collecting vendor drawings, and also used for preparing Plant Operating Manual. Many of such FEED/BEP will have vendor scope marked like ISBL and OSBL. Such FEED/BEP also helps to understand/Identify type of buildings required, Piping Routing, Electrical and Instrumentation Cable Routing, type of insulations and many more information which helps to take decision at Engineering Design, Procurement and Construction, installation, Pre-Commissioning and Commissioning stages. Some of the deliverables at this project phase are as follows

• Preliminary general arrangement drawings including building requirement and general description of project site
• Budget pricing from vendors on major pieces of equipment
• Process design philosophies
•  Relief system design basis and Relief scenario datasheets and relief valve process datasheets
• Material Selection Diagrams (MSDs) and piping specifications
• Tie-in list and Process specialty items list
• Identification of power source and location and Preliminary single line diagrams
• Raw material and product storage and handling requirements
• Process effluent and emissions summary
• Process risk analysis (PHA, HAZOP, etc.) and Preliminary operating procedures
• Preliminary product and in-process QC sampling/testing plan and Preliminary project schedule. This stage completes FEED Package or Basic Engineering Package.

Module 5 : Strategic Approaches to Process Optimisation and Scale up In Chemical engineering process scale up is a migration of processes from lab/existing to new/commercial scale. It need a lot study of existing process including difficulties faced, need to update, end results expected, available resources including commercial. Once decision is taken then rigorous process simulation model is created to provide compete heat and material balance information, operating conditions, hydraulic pressure drop data etc. Once project is feel environmentally and economically viable then further documentation is started which are required for Engineering Design, Procurement and construction stages. 5.1. Brown Field type implementation: After process scale up, implementation can be in the existing plant by adding new equipment and by modifying existing piping to get new product which is called Brown Filed Project. 5.2. Green Filed Type Implementation : some of the process scale up need complete new systems which can be entire new plant starting from grass root, which is Green Filed type Project. Module 6 : Process Modelling and Simulation

1. Detailed mass and energy balances
2. Unit operation design/evaluation
3. Piping system hydraulics calculations
4. Relief and flare system design/evaluation
5. Heat exchanger design/evaluation