Process Engineers are at the core of Process Consultants, and we have some of the most capable and experienced
working here with us.
Most
infrastructure that we work on will have many, if not all of the following elements:
(1) Process Equipment
(2) Utilities
(3) Control Systems
(4) Safety
Systems
We're experienced in bringing these elements together to create a process which is safe, operable and maintainable, but most importantly, it delivers an on-specification product at the nameplate capacity.
"Completing a front-end engineering design will help reduce the chances of rework and potential concomitant costly project delays and overruns in design man-hours. We have the experience to get the right balance between front-end loading and detailed design effort and to judge the risk to other engineering disciplines moving forward without sufficient maturity of the process design."Sean Fitzgerald
Technical Director
In a nutshell, Process Engineering is the understanding and application of the fundamental principles and laws of nature. It allows us to transform raw materials and energy into products that are useful to society, at an industrial scale.
Manufacturing in the field of Process Engineering involves an implementation of a process flow scheme,
supported by utilities, control systems and safety equipment.
Below are some common examples, which we refer to as our "building blocks":
Process, Utility, Control and Safety Blocks
Process engineers format these building blocks through the use of a process flow diagram (PFD) where material flow paths, storage
equipment (such as tanks), transformations (such as distillation
columns,
receiver/head tanks, mixing, separations, pumping, etc.) and the
following are specified:
Similar is done for the utilities such as steam, hot oil, etc. i.e. this is called the utility flow diagram (UFD).
Front-end engineering develops the Process Engineering deliverables sufficiently to complete a
multi-discipline design review and HAZOP study, to ensure the design is safe and operable before progressing further. It also
enables major equipment to be specified sufficiently to approach the market for budget enquiries, and potentially to place orders on
long-lead equipment.
The detailed design phase develops the P&IDs through to an approved for construction status. This occurs concurrently with
development of many other deliverables to enable scopes of work and drawings to be prepared, bulk materials to be ordered, etc. for the
civil, structural, piping, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation requirements of the project.
Keeping costs to a minimum requires each engineering discipline to provide correct, unambiguous and timely information to the other the specialist design groups.
Below are the main activities undertaken by Process Engineers to complete the process definition and support a project through construction, startup and handover to operations.
| Main Activity | Inputs | Definition Created |
|
|
| Kick-off meeting | Project plan | Project schedule |
| Complete list of deliverables identified |
|
|
| Site data | Constructibility review | Value Engineering review |
| Technical study reports |
|
|
| Process hazards review | | PFDs, stream data and process description |
|
|
| Heat & material balance | Material selection data |
|
|
|
| Plot Plan | Equipment performance data | Vendor designs | Client input | Piping & layout review | Design review | HAZOP | 'As-built' status. |
| Pump and compressor data | Major process line sizes | Equipment design specifications | Design pressure / design temperatures | Civil / drains connection data | Tie-in list / battery limit data | Overpressure protection & relief system design philosopy | Control valve, flowmeter and restriction orifice data | Relief system design | Special piping items |
|
|
| As-built P&IDs | Commissioning report | Test run report | Closeout report |
Like to know more? Get in contact with us.