Process plant design involves planning and designing physical or chemical transformations of materials. Data is collected from pilot plants and other sources to ensure feasibility and constraints are considered. Engineers use computer simulations to analyze parameters for safe and efficient operation.
Process plant design involves planning various processes required to accomplish a physical or chemical transformation of certain types of materials. Process plant design can be used to design a new facility or to expand or modify an existing facility. While it typically begins at the conceptual level, process plant design usually ends with the creation of some type of fabrication or construction plan. Designers of a chemical process plant typically write various types of operating manuals detailing the procedures required to start up, operate, and shut down the plant. These documents may also be required for future changes to the facility.
Before starting a complex project, process plant designers typically collect data from small pilot plants and other larger facilities currently in operation. Process plant design also requires a wealth of data gathered from a variety of other sources such as test laboratories and equipment manufacturers. The design of a process plant must not only achieve the desired production objectives; it must also stay within the confines of some other constraints. These constraints typically include things like space availability, environmental impact, and safety concerns, as well as capital, operating, and maintenance costs.
Before submitting a proposal for a new process structure, researchers will often first test the process on a very small scale. The results of these small tests are then used to determine the feasibility of the process on a much larger scale. A small pilot plant is usually built for this purpose. After collecting the necessary data from the pilot plant, researchers usually form a process plant design team of scientists and engineers to come up with construction plans for the new plant. This team also has to write a variety of different operation manuals.
A wide variety of factors must be considered in the design of a typical process plant. The dimensions, lengths and operating parameters of the various pumps and pipes must be determined, as well as the availability of water and electricity. Pumps and additional piping required for plant startup and shutdown procedures must also be included in the design. Planners must also design methods for taking product samples when needed. After the entire processing plant is designed, engineers typically use computer simulations to analyze parameters such as flow rates, operating pressures and temperatures in an effort to ensure the entire process is operating safely and efficiently.
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