PLANT LAYOUT

Plant layout is the one of the most important goal in planning site to resist security
threats as it is a key factor in the economics and safety of process plant. Decision-making in
support of this purpose must be based first and foremost on a comprehensive assessment of
the hazards and manmade threats in order to reduce vulnerability and risk. It is crucial to
identify that a given countermeasure can mitigate one or more exposures, but may be harmful
to other important design goals. An emergency plan can reduce loss by helping to assure the
proper responses. A creative and comprehensive thinking could lead to a better decision of
security repercussions of common site planning and design. Plant layout for the plant
includes of the process units involved which is located in the main plant and other auxiliary
buildings. The layout that refers to each department must be prepared in order to maximize
efficiency and minimize the cost of ownership and plant operating.

Plant layout is a vital factor contributing in the economics and safety of process plant.
There are a few ways in which plant layout contributes to safety and loss prevention (SLP)
which are minimization of vulnerable pipework, containment of accidents, limitation of
exposure and emergency control facilities.

General Principles

Plant layout is frequently a compromise between a number of factors such as (Brandt et al.,
1992; Meissner and Shelton, 1992):

 The need to keep proper distances for transfer of materials between plant or storage
units to a minimum in order to reduce risk and costs.
 The geographical boundaries of the site.
 Communication or interaction with other plants on site.
 The need for spaces for plant operability and maintainability.
 The need to provide admission for emergency services.
 The need to provide emergency escape routes for on-site personnel.
 The need to provide suitable working conditions for operators.
 The need to prevent incarceration where release of combustible substances may occur.
 The need to locate facilities that store hazardous materials as far as possible from site
boundaries and away from the local neighbourhood.

The auxiliary buildings and services needed on a site, also to the main process included (R.K.
Sinnot, 1999. Chemical Engineering Design):

 Administration buildings and offices

 Maintenance workshop
 Plant utility
 Canteen
 Control room
  Wastewater treatment plant
 Parking area
 Guard post

The process units and auxiliary buildings need to be laid out in the most economical
flow of material and personnel around the site. Hazardous process should be located at a safe
distance away from the buildings. According to (Sinnott, 2005), it is a must to give a
consideration towards the future expansion of the site. The significance of growth in the
future is taken into account by preserving certain areas for future expansion.

Plant Description

1. Non-process Area

Non-process area should be located at a distance of at least, 60 meters from

processing area because it is important to avoid any undesired incident from occur
due to explosion or fire from the process zone. According to out site, the non-proces
area is located more than 60 meters from the process area (Backhurst & Harker,
1973). The non-processes in our plant are guard house, canteen, cafeteria,
administration building and prayer room. These buliding is surrounded by fences to
divide them from the process area to prevent unauthorized person from entering the
process area.

2. Process Area

Proces area is a highly dangerous and hazardous place due to main activities of
processing plant. This is where the involvement of chemical, heat, separation and
reaction occur. Some example of equipments that is being used in process area
including storage tank, reactor, distillation column, wastewater treatment plant,
utilities, pump, control room, fire station, chemical store and laboratory. Equipments
should be located strategically. Hence, below are some recommendations of
placement of equipment:

 The distance between each equipments containing ignitable or flammable

materials must be at least 15 meters.
 The minimum distance between equipment and pipe bridge should not be less
than 3 meters to prevent the formation of a chimney effect in case of a fire.
 It is advisable to not block the pipe bridge to maintain a good maintenance
access and for safety reason.
 Neither suction nor discharge lines should cross over motors or pumps to
prevent damage from occuring.
 Pumps should be preferably installed alongside the pipe-rack and must be
accessible for operation and maintenance.
Other factors to be considered in designing a plant layout:

a) Wastewater plant and utilities

Waste treatment facilities include of wastewater treatment, gas waste treatment and
sludge disposal which is located beside the main proces area. Flare system is where
the gaste waste will be sent.

The utilities is located near the waste water treatment plant and process area because
it eases the proces of treating the utilities waste after cleaning and also it helps to
supply utility to process area. In case of emergency, every plant should have a
strategic plan by having maximum protection in terms of spacing, location and must
always be able to be accessible to prevent accident from occuring. Furthermore, utility
plants can be separated into two sections which are units containing fllammable
products and unit not containing flammable products. The examples of units
containing flammable products are fuel oil and hot oil while the other unit consists of
products such as facilities for instrument air, nitrogen and boiler feed water.

3) Assembly Point

In a site, it is a must to have an assembly point in the case of an emergency. In

methanol plant, there are 3 areas that have been identified to be as an assembly point
and they are located near plant area and office and administration to ensure clear
movements of employees during emergency. The assembly points are located at the
parking area. Hence, in case of emergency occurs, these are the focal points for
everyone to gather and they are placed in both process area and non process area.
According to (King,1990), assembly point is a place to gather in case of emergency.
Based on figure 1, the assembly points for the non-process area are located infront of
the parking area 1 and 2, office and administration building. While the assembly point
in the process area is located infront of parking 3.

4) Main Entrance/Exit Entrance

There is one main entrance and one exit entrance. The entrance can only be accessed
by the workers of our company and an authorized contractor. All entrance and exit of
a person to and from our methanol plant will be recorded.

5) Emergency Exit

Emergency exit routes are significant because they provide a clear and safe way to

evacuate a building in case of emergency or disaster. In methanol plant, there is one
emergency exit near to the parking area 1.
 6) Storage Tank

Storage tank that contains hazardous materials must be sited at least 70 m from the
site boundary (Sinnott, 2005). There are a few requirements for the layout of storage
tank:

 An adequate fire fighting water system must be provided.

 The tanks need to be controlled as to minimize subsequent damage.
 Tank farm should be located at lower level rather than high level to prevent
spillages from flowing towards process units or any sources of explosion.
 Suitable roads should be provided in the tank farm in case of emergency and
need for mobile firefighting equipment.

7) Further Expansion

In this site, the area located infront of the methanol plant area is designed for future
planning purpose. In the future, it is proposed that the company may increase the
production of methanol. Therefore, an additional area is designed for future planning
purpose. The plant expansion is proposed due to the outlook in increasing of the
methanol capacity in order to accommodate the market needs.

Reference

1. Fahim.A. & Taher., Amal. (2010) Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining.

PLANT LAYOUT (FIGURE)

EXIT GATE SECURITY POST 2

FUTURE PLANT EXPANSION

PARKING AREA 3/ASSEMBLY AREA

LOADING AREA

FIRE ALARM

METHANOL PLANT
WAREHOUSE

FIRE ALARM

CONTROL
ROOM TANK FARM

PLANT
UTILITIES
WASTEWATER
TREATMENT LABORATORY WORKSHOP
PLANT
WASTE FIRE ALARM
STORAGE
CANTEEN

PARKING FIRE WATER FIRE ALARM

AREA 2/ASSEMBLY AREA TANK
OFFICE AND ADMINISTRATION
FREE LAND

SECURITY POST 1

MAIN ENTRANCE GATE PARKING AREA 1/ASSEMBLY AREA

Figure 1: Plant Layout