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An Applied Guide to Process and Plant Design

Book · April 2015

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CONTENTS

Preface xi
Acknowledgments xii

Part 1 Practical Principles

Introduction 3

1. Process Plant Design 5

Introduction 5
What is engineering? 5
What is design? 6
Engineering design 7
Project life cycle 8
Process plant design 9
Process plant versus process design 11
Academic versus professional practice 13
State of the art and best engineering practice 18
The use and abuse of computers 19
Further reading 20

2. Stages of Process Plant Design 21

General 21
Conceptual design 21
“Conceptual design of chemical processes” 23
Front End Engineering Design (FEED)/basic design 25
Detailed design 26
Site redesign 27
Posthandover redesign 28
Unstaged design 29
Product engineering 29
Fast-tracking 30
Further reading 33

3. Process Plant Design Deliverables 35

Overview 35
Design basis and philosophies 35

v
vi Contents

Specification 36
Process Flow Diagram (PFD) 37
Piping and instrumentation diagram 38
Functional Design Specification (FDS) 40
Plot plan/general arrangement/layout drawing 40
Program 42
Cost estimate 42
Equipment list/schedule 45
Datasheets 46
Safety documentation 47
Design calculations 48
Isometric piping drawings 51
Simulator output 52
Further reading 52

4. Twenty-First Century Process Plant Design Tools 53

General 53
Use of computers by chemical engineers 54
Implications of modern design tools 54
Categories of design 56
Tools—Hardware 57
Tools—Software 59
Further reading 68

5. The Future of Process Plant Design 69

Process porn 69
Will first principles design replace heuristic design in future? 71
Will process design become a form of applied mathematics in future? 72
Will primary research become the basis of engineering design in future? 72
Will “chemical process design” replace process plant design in future? 72
Will network analysis form the core of design practice in future? 73
Will process simulation replace the design process in future? 73
Will process plant design never change? 74
Further reading 75

Part 2 Professional Practice

6. System Level Design 79
Introduction 79
How to put unit operations together 79
Matching design rigor with stage of design 80
 Contents vii

Implications for cost 81

Implications for safety 82
Implications for robustness 82
Rule of thumb design 83
First principles design 83
Design by simulation program 84
Sources of design data 84
Further reading 87

7. Professional Design Methodology 89

Introduction 89
Design methodologies 90
The “is” and “ought” of process design 91
Right versus wrong design 92
Interesting versus boring design 92
Continuous versus batch design 94
Simple/robust versus complicated/fragile design 98
Setting the design envelope 100
Implications of new design tools 102
Importance of understanding your design 103
Manager/engineer tensions in design 103
Whole-system design methodology 105
Design stages in a nutshell 106
Variations on a theme 107
Further reading 107

8. How to Do a Mass and Energy Balance 109

Introduction 109
Handling recycles 111
How to set it out in Excel 112
Using Excel for iterative calculations: “Goal Seek” and “Solver” 113

9. How to Do Hydraulic Calculations 115

Introduction 115
Matching design rigor with stage of design 115
Hydraulic networks 121
Pump curves 122
Further reading 126
viii Contents

Part 3 Low Level Design

10. How to Design and Select Plant Components and Materials 129
Introduction 129
What process engineers design 129
Matching design rigor with stage of design 130
Materials of construction 131
Mechanical equipment 138
Electrical and control equipment 145
Further reading 151

11. How to Design Unit Operations 153

Introduction 153
Matching design rigor with stage of design 153
Rule of thumb design 153
Approaches to design of unit operations 154
Sources of design data 156
Scale-up and scale-out 156
Neglected unit operations: separation processes 157
Further reading 161

12. How to Cost a Design 163

Introduction 163
Matching design rigor with stage of design 163
The basics 164
Academic costing practice 165
Professional costing practice 167
Further reading 171

Part 4 High Level Design

13. How to Design a Process Control System 175
Introduction 175
Matching design rigor with stage of design 176
Operation and Maintenance manuals 176
Specification of operators 177
Automatic control 177
Standard control and instrumentation strategies 180
Further reading 199
 Contents ix

14. How to Lay Out a Process Plant 201

Introduction 201
General principles 202
Factors affecting layout 204
Plant layout and safety 208
Plant layout and cost 209
Plant layout and aesthetics 210
Matching design rigor with stage of design 212
Further reading 216

15. How to Make Sure Your Design Is Reasonably Safe and Sustainable 217
Introduction 217
Why only reasonably? 217
Matching design rigor with stage of design 218
Conceptual design stage 219
Detailed design stage 221
Formal methods: safety 222
Formal methods: sustainability 229
Specification of equipment with safety implications in mind 230
Specification of safety devices 235
Types of safety device 235
Further reading 245
Sources 245

Part 5 Advanced Design

16. Professional Practice 249
Introduction 249
General design methodology 249
Informal design reviews 250
Formal design reviews 251
Quality assurance and document control 252
Informal data exchange 253
Further reading 254

17. Beginner’s Errors to Avoid 255

Introduction 255
Lack of equipment knowledge 259
Lack of knowledge of many types of unit operations 261
Lack of knowledge of many materials of construction 262
x Contents

Lack of utilities 262

Layout 262
Process control 263
Further reading 264

18. Design Optimization 265

Introduction 265
Matching design rigor with stage of design 265
Indicators of a need to integrate design 267
How to integrate design 268
When and how not to integrate design 274
Where’s the harm? The downside of academic “process integration” 274
Further reading 275

19. Developing Your Own Design Style 277

Introduction 277
The art of engineering 277
The philosophy of engineering 278
The literature of engineering 279
The practice of engineering 279
Personal Sota 280
Further reading 282

Appendix 1: Integrated Design Example 283

Appendix 2: Upset Conditions Table 289
Appendix 3: Plant Separation Tables 301
Appendix 4: Checklists for Engineering Flow Diagrams 323
Appendix 5: Teaching Practical Process Plant Design 347
Glossary 367
Index 369
 PREFACE

I am a highly experienced practical professional process engineer who has

designed, commissioned, and undertaken troubleshooting of many process plants, and
mentored and trained many other professional engineers in how to do these things.
I am also a university professor who has taught process plant design to undergraduates
and postgraduates for a number of years. This has required me to reflect upon what
I know about the subject, how I know it, and how I can teach it to someone else. In
this book I will assume the role of the experienced engineer, who takes lucky gradu-
ate chemical engineers by the hand in their first job or two and shows them what
engineering is really about. Many are not so lucky as to have expert guidance. In
doing so I will take the fairly informal tone I do when undertaking that task, and may
on occasion express my frustration with the way the subject is taught in UK (and to
the best of my knowledge worldwide) higher education. After all, it is not possible to
describe how something might be improved without acknowledging that the present
situation is less than perfect. I may also express the odd opinion and, as this is a distil-
lation of experience rather than a scientific paper, I may not necessarily offer a refer-
ence to a peer-reviewed journal article in support of these opinions. However (despite
the informal style of writing), the more controversial or provocative an opinion
expressed, the more effort I have put into making sure that it is held by the majority
of professional process plant designers. Toward this end, this book was reviewed by a
panel of 40 professional engineers across sectors and worldwide. Many of the ideas
which seem controversial in academic circles have been the subject of articles in The
Chemical Engineer magazine, where they have been met with universally positive
professional comment. The foundation of this book is practice, not theory.
Throughout the text I will, however, offer quotations from others, links to books and
even, on occasion, primary literature. These should not be misunderstood as the basis
of my opinions. In the case of quotations, I am simply quoting people who agree
with me. Suggestions for Further Reading are referenced to avoid my having to
reproduce the content of these often weighty books, or reinvent the wheel.

xi

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