Process & Equipment Selection

and Plant Layout

danny soetrisnanto
 FACTORS in PROCESS & EQUIPMENT SELECTION
• # EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS :
• PRODUCT SPECIFICATION : MARKET needs .... ( Urea Prill vs
Urea Granule ; Composition etc )
• SAFETY CONSIDERATION & HANDLING : MARKET needs.... (
liquefied gas vs pressurized gas )
• EFFLUENT SPECIFICATIONS : SET BY GOVERNMENT... (
cyclone separator vs water scrubber )
• # INTERNAL CONSTRAINTS :
• PROCESS STOICHIOMETRY; REACTOR CONVERSION &
YIELD...( fixed bed vs fluidized bed )
• CHEMICAL & PHYSICAL EQUILIBRIA : LIQ-LIQ AND GAS-LIQ
SEPARATION.... ( flash drum vs stripping vs distillation)
• AZEOTROP COMPOSITION... ( per vaporization vs additive
distillation )
• PHASE & TEMP – PRESS CONDITIONS.... ( gas liquefaction vs
pressurized gas )
• LIMITATION ON EQUIPMENT DESIGN....( cyclone separator vs
water scrubber )
 Plant Site Layout
 Main Criteria :
• Units Process Layout and Support Buildings must provide efficient flow of
processed materials.
• High Risk units process must be placed at safely distance and easily
accesses by maintenance team or fire squad.
• Ideally, must be allocated an empty area for plant expansion in the future.
 Process Area : Equipment Layout
 Criteria :
 Cost : Equipments must be placed in ideal configuration to minimized construction cost,
saving in material of construction, piping, steel structure, concrete building.
 Process Requirement : Equipments must be placed in ideal configuration to provide
ideal process flow and technically required equipments position – ex. distillation column
must be placed above support to provide enough elevation to bottom pump ( npsh ) or
thermosiphon reboiler.
 Plant Operation : process equipments which need intensive manual control must be
positioned at easily accessible location. Some chemical plant have to placed all process
equipments inside buildings to provide intensive manual operation and control - ex.
Sampling point valves, instrumentation equipments; chemical plants for food &
beverages, medicine and other fine chemical plants.
 Maintenance : Equipments must be placed in ideal configuration to provide enough
area/room for maintenance purpose – ex. Equipments could be easily accessed by
maintenance team with their equipment (mobile crane-scaffolding…)
 Safety : process equipments must be placed ideally to provide maximum safety to
operators and to minimize damage if an accident occurred. Some chemical plant have to
placed al process equipment inside building to provide intensive manual operation and
control – ex. Control room must be placed at process area but at safely distance and far
enough from high risk equipments; compressor must be placed under canopy or inside a
building for 24 hours control and maintenance
Cont….

 Some needed support buildings :

• Raw Materials and Products Storage : tanks or warehouses
• Workshop-repair shop including spare parts storage.
• Product packing building.
• Laboratory building
• Fire fighter building with garage
• Administration building
• Buildings for canteen, library, health post, prayer room.
• Buildings and area for utilities : steam boiler, power plant, pressurized air
and inert gas plant, water treatment plant, waste water treatment plant.
• Security post, gates and fence around the plant and around the process
area for security/safety reason.
• Car parking area.
• Green belt – garden.
• Notes :
– For high risk chemical plant, administration building must be placed at safe
distance from process area or flammable material tanks.
- Example: plant lay out

H N O
H
M
G
K
L

H Q I
J

F
A B C D
D

E E

Public Road
information:
A : Tanks
B : Product Warehouse
C : Car Parking Area – garden
D : Administration buildings M: Waste Water Treatment
E : Security Post N : Fire Fighter
F : Mushola O : Cooling tower
G : Plant Expansion Area P : Utility Building
H : Process Area Q : Control Room
I : Laboratory
J : Canteen – Health Post
K : Maintenance Building
L : Spare parts warehouse
Example: Lay Out process Equipments:

Compressor under a shelter

HE

Pump
Column

Over head pipe rack

Condensers

Vessel

Access road
Over head pipe rack