penne Plot Plan Design: Process Requirements Itis important to conceptualize plant lay optimal geographical positioning ofet ‘Mohammad Toghraei Engrowth Training jor any chemical proet the cost of improper {imal plant layout can be enor mous. Designers are generally well aware of safety constraints, but There is often less recognition about biher process requirements that Will impact the design. This article ‘recusses key elements of plant lay ‘Sut and plot plan design, in two im stant levels: PeTevel 1. Plant location. This step involves selecting the best loea- + Level 2. Plant layout. This step involves the placement of units fand equipment relative to each ther, in an effort to optimize all safety, operations and mainte- rnance objectives ach requires a certain chain of de- cision making that ean impact the Guceess ofall efforts (Figure D. An integrated effort Level 1. During Level 1, engineers emek to identify the optimal location for the plant. Generally speaking, & ‘Chemical. process industries (CPI) plant should be in a location that Plows it to easily receive raw ma- terials and have access to utilities, teh as water and power. Other key considerations are related to access fo the infrastructure needed, such fas roads, rail lines and shipping oP- tions, to enable both the shipment Of products (and side-produels) and the disposal of waste streams ‘Other than material resources, any CPI facility also needs access to a good supply of human resources. When plants are established in de- Sirable locations, they have aczess tava broad pool of qualified, skilled Heople for operation, maintenance Pag management of the plant ‘Plant location should also be se lected to minimize the potential ‘Gxironmental impact of plant oP~ Sfations, For instance, establish fig a plant in an area that is sur Meanded by mountains is often not good decision, due to potentially poor airflow characteristics in the eva. Similarly, ifthe treated waste Mater of a plant needs to be injected into a disposal well, the plant can- rnot be very far from an area that hhas a suitable underground geolog cal structure. Economic parameters are also important when scouting possible plant Iocations. Tdeally, stakebold- tian tba CHEACAL ENGINEERING WHTHCIEMENGOMLNE.COM JANUARY 215 out in terms of both ideal location and quipment components cers want to locate plants in loca= fone with minimum land costs and finimum applicable taxes. Level 2. During Level 2 efforts, Mtakeholders work to identify the Rost method for laying out the dif- ferent units within the facility. One overarching objective of a plot plan (hut not necessarily the most impor- {ant one) is to minimize the length of equipment-eonneeting elements, shah as pipes that convey liquids, Gpeca and bulk solide, Material S’nveying systems, such as screw Conveyors, belt conveyors, also fall within this category. ‘During the development and de- sign of a plot plan, requirements ‘and limitations are identified and decisions are made with regard to {he following considerations © Process. requirements, such as the need to Support equipmentFIGURE 2. In many cases, it makes Good engineering sense fo incorporate Serical designe, to take advantage of YFavity-based flow, limited footprint ares rte fecity, and other engineering ‘considerations gipoersaebene asst tosasee Sete ars + Suitable performance [Safety requirements, such as the need to ensure the proper dit- tance between the furnace and oil-storage tanks Construction requirements, such ‘as the need to provide enough ae- cess area to allow construction equipment (such as eranes and lifts) to maneuver around the ‘equipment. « Operation, inspection and main- tenance requirements, to ensure easy accessibility for operators to reach each component, system oF ‘monitoring console Logistics requirements, to ensure ccasy accessibility for service com- panies and their vehicles, includ- Ing chemical-delivery trucks If the team follows the basic rule of seeking to minimize pipe length Giherever possible, it will undertake Cfiorts to minimize the length of {hoth process piping and utility pip- ing. To minimize the process piping ength, equipment must be placed length, eauiprte process flow dia- | Prevailing wind direetion at Ye this typically leads the plot plan de- in Oe BED) arrangement, However, | target location aleo afests the loca- | signer to locate all the air coolers in Fan ee aTrainimize the utility | tion of equipment, Thus, a Turndes | Onn Tocation, to economize, pring length aften forees designers | for instance, ane ‘igced at the | The concept of constructability Dining the developed “string” | ede ofa plant against the deco can affeet the location of equipment, te ly demment based on the PED | ofthe prevailing wind v3 Dak too, For instanee, a piece of equip- of cr eeperimeter oft cicle with | any potential Qammable Neaked | ment may be placed relatively far along the Fig omit in the center. | fuel gases woukd move avoy fo from the main part of the plant — Sante either requirements (uch | the plant. This same logic = ‘why | ina less-congested area against all Althouh ed to safety and logis | flares are typically placed far from ther requirements — to satisfy the its) will ueually result in changes | human activity. need for ease of access for construc: Lie) wil ar ary. arrangement, | Another group of safety, conse) Ty ‘vehicles, such as large cranes. to ths prem cxeree vo group | erations could be better lasifed ‘Operation and inspection require- Rumpment components tot ere | a “nuisance lesbos” Fos Weer, ‘ments will also impact the location cazibmvommon utilities, in a firat | even though engineering ‘Controls | of equipment. Such considerations using “orto minimize the utility | are often, used to, manage tte ‘often require that operator-inten- pipe lengths. are, cheng emiasions, unite that | sive equipment be grouped ont pe lente only needstotry | are inherently, pola ‘or oderous | pissed Othe accessible areas. tanec pipe length but also | should be placed in areas with litle There must be specific clearance (oinimize the pipe rack length | human presence. ‘around each piece of equipment, to to minimiveper offinger piperacks | Construction requirements, °° provide enough room for operators. and the nutes eflrt to develop | equally important. during the Gf ‘Specific. maintenance require: Doings routes for different pipes, | velopment of a plot Pian Base-of: | ments may require wider clearance ‘as much as possible. velopmetion rales typically eall for | around one oF all sides, For eats auth 28 Poements call for seg- | a plant with regular shape, Pret ple, a floating bundle shell-and-tube repatiny areas within aplt plan in | erentally with ight andes eat exchanger needs a clearance of se that groups equipment and | Meanwhile, spose eriallation | about 1.5 times the tube length in a way tet Srmnoa hazardous char- | requirements associated with front of the heat exchanger as an nits with cre minimize the risk of | tain equipment must aleo be taken) | TTet for bundle removal. Similarly, acters flammable, toxic, or lethal | into account. For exampie, 0 ‘ool. | plate-and-frame heat exchangers Tiquids, from storage tanks, they | ers are usualy Tnctalled in a hori- | need enough clearance to allow for Niguids from ser taeed on hazard: | zontal direction, at some height plate removal. should be Goon areas and then | above the ground. Such an ineiae, ‘Some equipment — raw material Gut within different containments | tion will require 9m wuitional sup. | tanks, silos of additives, chemical- br diked areas. Hor structure. The added expense of | injection skids that ey need fre- CCHEMCALENGINEERNG WIVWLGHEMENGONLINE.COM JANUARY 2016, 83Er ieee quent fillings by trucks — is con- Aidered “logistic-intensive™ in the Sense that it may affect the logistics ‘placed in non-suitable locations. Placing such units in a poorly con- sidered spot could also be unsafe ‘or might interfere with an opera- tor’ daily duties because of the in- treased truck traffic that would be Gooded to transfer products oF raw ‘materials. To address these poten- tial issues, such units are usually placed near the edge of the plant. ‘Another aspect of plant design to consider is where to place ponds puch as storm water ponds that are fften used in plants to collect rain ‘water, Placing such ponds in the tniddle of a plant will decentralize the other unite and will lengthen intra-plant travel time for person rel, so it best to place them at the periphery of the overall layout. Key elements toconsider ‘The fallowing elements should be reconciled during the development of the plot plan: {Indoor versus outdoor instal lations. If the outside ambient temperature ig not extreme (and the variation in temperature over time is not significant), then the Teast expensive decision is often to place all of the equipment outdoors. However, this option is not avail- able everywhere. "The indoor-versus-outdoor deci sion is important because of the ‘added cost of providing buildings to house the equipment. The first ‘hoiee is always to locate the equip~ nent outdoors unless the equip ment is sensitive to very low or high temperatures, or the equipment Very operatorintensive. In these Cases, it makes more sense to locate the equipment indoors. "Higher costs are associated with indoor installation not just because of the cost of buildings, but also due to added costs required to meet ju- risdietional building codes (which fend to be more explicit, and thus ‘more costly, for indoor facilities). ‘Polymeric membrane systems for example, usually cannot tol- ferate temperatures greater than 40-50°C or very low temperatures, ‘As a result, they are usually placed indoors. "The main group of operator-in- tensive equipment includes equip~ ment used in semi-continuous, {intermittent or batch operation. Al- though many batch operations are designed to be operated fully auto- ‘matically, frequent operator checks are still necessary. ‘Consider the case of filtration. It {= popular to place pressure filters indoors even though the filtering media (such as sand or anthracite) ‘are not temperature-sensitive. "Any equipment that, for whatever ‘reason, is not monitored by instra- mente — and thus requiring more operator attention — is uswally placed indoors. For example, equip Trent for which taking samples is important should be placed indoors to ensure a suitable environment for the operator to be able to take ‘the samples. However, some compa- nies may opt to utilize another oP~ tion, which is to use an expensive, automatic grab-sampling system for some equipment so that they cean locate it outdoors. ‘The other consideration during plot plan development is the need for clean rooms, which are used to Protect processes for which even {race amounts of impurities could jmpact the quality of the product. Examples of such processes are pharmaceutical and microchip man- Fifacturing plants. In general, clean rooms need to be located indoors. Tt is not the ease that only two options — indoor or outdoor — fre available. Having equipment Gartially indoors is one option to Behieve a compromise between cost iy. For example, in some cases, the side of the equip: ment that has all the sampling points can be located indoors while the rest of the equipment could be left outdoors. Similarly, when ‘equipment has tall towers, instead of raising the roof of the building, the tower portion can be left, above (hat is, outside) of the building. ‘Another interim option is plac: ing equipment inside of a “shed” o walk-in eabinet. The downside to This approach, howover, is that: not all provisions associated with an in- door building will be available. For [E46 CHEMCAL ENGINEERING WAYWECHEMENGONLNE.COM JANUARY 2015 example, in a small walk-in cabinet, ffl firefighting system will not be ‘available, Selecting this interim op- tion should be considered very cau- tiously, making sure that all safety ‘measures are considered carefully. In very cold areas, such as norih- ‘ern Canada, the plot plan of indoor equipment sometimes needs to en ‘gure that certain sensitive equip- ment components are not Near doors or windows, to minimize The chanee of freezing In such areas, frequent opening of doors and gates can increase the chance of freezing for the equipment near the door, pecially there ‘no hot-air curtain available. 2. One story versus multi story plant. The decision must be made fs to whether or not the plant should be designed on one level, oF ‘whether some equipment should be placed on a second or third floor. The Fetault option is to maintain the en~ tire plant on one floor to minimize the cost, however, that may not ‘be possible. ‘Having the plant built on more than one story increases the cost pecause of additional required structures and supports to hold fil equipment systems, especially when the equipment is dynamic rather than static, and reciprocat- ing rather than rotary. For example, placing a small tank on a mezza- hhine level could be less expensive {than placing a centrifugal pamp oF ‘mixer on that level. ‘However, in some cases having multistory plant is preferable and justifiable (Figure 2). Consider the Yave for plants invoived with sol ‘handling, such as those whose raw materials, products or interim produets are in bulk, granulated Gr powdered form. Solids convey ing is typically carried out by pneumatic eonveying systems, belt Fonveyors, serew conveyors, bucket conveyors and related systems. One sway to reduce the need for some modes. of pneumatic or mechani al conveyance (and hence reduce energy requirements) is to ar ange the equipment vertically and ‘use gravity. Ta some eases, vertical arrange- ‘ment can ease cleaning, especiallyeritrunr bac for sticky materials. In this p- proach a simple chute can, some- Fimes replace a more complicated, mechanical solid-conveying system ‘Another common example of plants that benefit from vertical ar- Fangement are those that deal with fiquids in the boiling temperature range (or in the bubble-point range for non-pure liquids). In such cases, the designer usually prefers to have fh vertieal arrangement to prevent tuawanted evaporation or flask of the liquid, It is common to see a tack" of heat exchangers that-op- ferate at temperatures close to the boiling temperature of liquid, to fuppress the flash of liquid caused by the weight of the column of liqr uid (Figure 2). 3. Pipe length in the suction side of pumps. All pumps, either cen- trifagal or positive-displacement types, are sensitive to low suetion pressure, This sensitivity can be Quantified using the required net positive suction head (NPSHy) term for eentrifugal pumps, and the required net positive inlet pressure (NPIPp) term for positive-displace- ment pumps. NPSHg is essentially the required effective liquid column {n the suction side of the pump to guarantee proper operation with ‘minimum cavitation. ‘This sensitivity ean be addressed by ensuring an adequate margin on top of NPSHp exists to provide a suitable available net positive suc tion head (NPSH,). The goal is to make sure NPSH, is higher than NPSHy, with enough margin. This can be done by minimizing the sue- ion pipe length and the number of fittings used. Doing s0 forees the de~ ‘signer to place the source container fand the pump as close as possible fon the plot plan, ‘Although reciprocating pumps ‘are typically less sensitive than centrifugal pumps toward suction (pressure (in other words, they could have lower NPIPg than equivalent NPSHp), their pulsational opera- tion, or the fact that pressure in their suction (and discharge side) fean go much below average suction pressure makes them vulnerable ‘he effect of pulsation in their sue- tion side is quantified in Uhe *sue- tion acceleration head” term, which heeds to be added to the NPIP by the manufacturer. The magnitude ff acceleration head is a fanction of {the speed of reciprocation, the val- lume of eylinder(s) and the length of suction pipe. 4. Chemical compatibility. Dit- ferent equipment handles different chemicals, which are not necessarily Compatible. In an ideal world, vari- ous chemicals are bound by their respective equipment or containers. However, there is always a chance of leakage in an accident or via con trolled release as the primary step of maintenance. Plot-plan develop iment must consider the impact of the presence (and potential co-min- fling) of all site-specific Muids, in ny given location. ‘One specific concern is sumps Sumps ean receive different liquids ‘and must be designed to store them safely for a limited time. The com- patibility of any liquids that could end up in a given sump should be Checked to make sure no uncon trolled reactions ean oceur: Tf fluids fare not compatible, the respective Cquipment could be moved to an- other building, or a dedicated sump ‘could be considered. "Another issue related to poten- tual incompatibility of chemicals fs. electrical area classification. ‘The electrical devices in each area should be compatible with the na- {ture of the chemicals in each area. For example, a conventional electri- cal device that may generate sparks uring its functioning isnot suitable to be installed in any area in which highly flammable liquids may be present. This requirement is gen- rally addressed by designating an “clectrical area class” for each area, depending on the type of chemicals in that area. Tt should be considered that one area with a less-stringent electri- tal elass should not be pushed to a more-stringent electrical area class only because of few units that are Yocated (unwisely) in the area and require more-stringent clectrical ‘area classification. With proper plot plan design, engineers can avoid the oor (and costly) practice of classify- Joga big area or building with more 156 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WHW.CHEMENGONLINE;COM JANUARY Z015 severe electrical classification level Only because of one or a few units {that are handling flammable fluids, 3. Inline mixing with or without ‘static mixers. When two or more ‘Streams will be mixed in line (pipe) rather than a mixing tank, require: ments associated with the static mixer should be defined by the plot plan, The aim of any mixing effort Fp to produce a fairly homogenous mixed Muid at the inlet of the down- ‘stream equipment. Tf the downstream equipment can be placed far from the mixing ‘point, a homogenous fluid can often be attained via regular pipe flow ‘even without a statie mixer. If this {s not the case, then a static mixer ia needed, As a rule of thumb, when dealing with relatively watery ligr ids (viscosity <20 centipoise), pipe length of 100-150 times the pipe diameter is usually sufficient End removes the meed so that a static mixer ean achieve the desired hhomogens 6. Handling time-sensitive flu- fds, As noted, the relative location “of equipment affects the pipe length petween units, This could be critical for time-sensitive fluids, Although the travel time in specific sections of pipe is a matter of minutes, it ould still be important for very sensitive fluids. For example, in some flotation vessels, the bubbles are generated outside of the flotation vessel and then bubble-laden liguid is trans- ferred to the vessels. Ifthe distance between the bubble-generating ‘mechanism and the flotation vessel Js too large, bubbles will coalesce ‘vith each other, And at the vessel Jlet, instead of having a liquid with ‘small bubbles, there could be liquid sith big slugs of gas. This reduces the separation efficieney of the flo- tation vessels. 7, Process gravity-flow pipes. When flow from one equipment component or container to another ‘occurs only by gravity, come other {asues should be considered. In two interconnecting containers, the liquid level in the second (down- stream) container is partly adjusted by the pressure drop in the conneet- ing pipe. This shows the importanceEine ka operation should be done carefully | fand. the design should minimize attrition. One requirement in such systems is to minimize the transfer Tine length and use specific fittings, such as long-radius elbows. This re- Quires the souree and destination tnits to be placed as close to each ‘other as possible, which will affect the plot plan. 9. Symmetric piping. Providing ‘a symmetrical piping design to the {inlet of two similar equipment com- ponents is one passive way to split Stream equally to both of them. The need for symmetric piping can force the designer to relocate or rotate equipment in the plot plan. As a tule of thumb, any need for syrametrical piping around equip- mont should. be identified early, fas it will impact the plotplan design efforts. 10. Future plans. The basis for future modifications in the plant ‘could be economic or technical, and hay may be either planned oF un- | cof gravity-pipe pressure drop and {ts Tength in the design and opera- tion of a unit. The pipe pressure loss ccan be minimized by placing the containers a close as possible and sing the minimum number of el- ‘bows and other fittings on the eon- necting pipe. “Tf the gravity pipe is placed with ‘a slope toward the second intercon nected container, the importance of minimizing the pipelength becomes more obvious. If the pipe is long, the second downstream container may ‘need to be placed in a pit to be able to provide the required slope. This is not an ideal situation, because deal jng with equipment in a pit provides some difficulties for operators. 8. Hydraulic transferring of critical solids. One method of transferring powders, granules fof beads is through the use of hy- Graulic transfer systems. Hydrau- lic transferring can be done by ai, water or other fluids. If the integ~ ity of solid beads is important, this planned. While the designer of the plot plan eannet leave room for the Unplanned modifications, he or she ‘should try to reserve enough room in suitable logations to accommo- date those future modifications that can be planned or anticipated in some way. . ‘Edited by SuzanneShelley Author Mohammad Typha wae grok, Tei Beco Weeritedl He has more ‘Rayne af pence an eedee indore an BS Bkihed ices ‘eines af prooan 9. ‘ss min epperio recede IRR Unrest Fecnalny tram, an (eaten Une terse es To retort Ae ot a Gesu oA Get Chemical Engineering’s Plant Co: al eval archives (1647 to preser) Co ae ~~ Seater acele M clas es eesti come) REN ecm Neuere acheliaare leon industries professionals engineers, manager and ing's Plant Cost Index to adjust ‘process plant construction bscrbers can econss new data 05 money data ecivs (1970 to present, toad of esta CCHENICAL ENGINEERING WAVHICHENENGONLNE.COM JANUARY 218 57