8 Site Selection and Plant Layout

Geography plays the important role in the construction of chemical plant for the production
of chlora alkali to have a success of a business in the future. The site location selection is the
most important decision for this project. Since the demand for chlora alkali is increasing for
many productions, so the strategic site location is required to distribute the product easily and
effectively.

Besides that, the site location for the chlora alkali plant must be close to the source of
propane, oxygen and carbon dioxide, since they are the raw materials used.
The location selected must be near a CO2 emitting factory.

Thus, the distribution of raw material will be easier and can reduce the cost of transportation.
Moreover, safety and environmental issues also must be considered for the selection of the
site location. In addition, the chlora alkali plant needs the site location which is far away from
the residential area for the safety issues. Furthermore, the chlora alkali plant can be
constructed near to the river or sea so that the treated water from the plant can be discharged
directly to the river or sea.

Additionally, the availability of utilities around the chlora alkali plant is needed such as
water supply, power supply, road network and many more so that the plant can run
effectively. Besides that, the transportation facility is also required for the plant, thus the raw
materials can be distributed easily to the chlora alkali plant. The demand for labor is higher in
the industrial area. Moreover, labor availability also needs to study and identify for the
constructions and operations of the plant. The changes climate of the site location is studied
too for this project. Thus, the right site location selection must be made in order to have an
environmentally friendly and profitable chlora alkali plant. The criteria for the site location
selection are listed before the selection is made.

1. Designation of the site as a heavy industrial development area.

2. Other similar chemical plants existing in the area.

3. Presence of infrastructure, such as roads, and services such as electricity, gas, water,
etc.

4. Appropriate drainage, terrain, sub-terrain.

5. Suitable access for transportation of raw materials and chemicals, and for the
construction of a chemical plant.

6. Proximity to major transportation networks.

7. Availability of the local workforce. Distance of plant from local communities.

8. Availability of domestic water and plant cooling water.

9. Environmental discharge regulations.

10. Proximity to raw materials supply and market for the product chemical.

11. The existence of services equipped to deal with major industrial accident.

12. Meteorological data.

13. Proposed or possible government restrictions regarding industrial development or

discharge emissions.

14. Space for expansion.

15. Price of land.

16. Public opinion.

17. The possibility of earthquakes, subsidence, avalanches, etc.

18. Availability of government regional development grants or tax incentives, subsidies,
etc.

Although this list is long and should be used for final site selection, for narrowing down the
geographical area in which to locate the plant three major considerations are necessary, which
are usually the assessment of the location of raw materials, location of markets and
transportation.

For a preliminary survey, on the basis of raw material availability, market survey, energy
supply, and climate, acceptable locations can usually be reduced to one or two general
geographical regions. In the second step, the effect of transportation facilities and water
supply are taken into account. This permits reduction of the possible plant location to a few
general target areas. These areas can be further reduced by considering all the factors that
have an influence on plant location.

As a third step, the availability of land at the selected site is examined and also a detailed
analysis of the remaining site is made. On the basis of data such as freight rate, labor
condition, tax rate price of land and general local conditions various sites are inspected and
appraised influencing the final decision. The choice of the final site is based on a detailed
survey of various geographical areas, and ultimately on the advantage and disadvantage of
available real estate.

An initial outline regarding the plant location should be obtained before a design project
reaches the detailed estimate stage and the firm location should be established upon
completion of the detailed estimate design. The factors that must be evaluated in the plant
location study indicate the need for a vast amount of information.

a. Raw Material Availability: The source of raw material is one of the important factors
influencing the selection of a plant site. This is particularly true if large number of raw
materials sources permits considerable reduction in transport and storage charges. Attention
should be given to the purchased price of the raw materials, distance from the source of
supply, freight or transportation expenses, availability and reliability of supply, purity of raw
materials, and storage requirements.
b. Energy Supply: Power and steam requirements are high in most of the chemical plants,
and fuel is ordinarily required to supply these utilities. Power and fuel can be combined as
one major factor in the choice of plant site. If the plant requires large quantities of coal and
oil, location near a source of fuel supply may be essential for economic operation. The local
cost of power can help determine whether power should be purchased or self-generated.

c. Meteorological Data: If plant is located in cold climate, cost may be increased by the
necessity for construction of protective shelters around the process equipment, and specially
cooling towers or air conditioning equipment may be required if the prevailing temperatures
are high. Excessive humidity or extremes of hot and cold weather can have serious effect on
the economic operation of the plant, and these factors should be examined when selecting the
site.

d. Transport Facilities: Water, railroad and highway are common means of transportation
used by major industrial concern. The kind and quantity of products and raw materials
determine the most suitable type of transportation facilities. Careful attention should be given
to local freight rates and existing railroad lines. The proximity to railroad centers and
possibility of canal, river, lake or ocean transport must be considered. Motor trucking
facilities are widely used and can serve as a useful supplement to rail and water facilities. If
possible, the plant site should have access to all three types of transportation and certainly at
least two types should be available. There is usually a need for convenient air and rail
transportation facilities between the plant and company headquarter, and effective
transportation facilities for the plant personnel are necessary. The transportation of material
to or from the plant will be significant cost to us, hence it should be located at places well
connected by road, railways and waterways.
e. Water Supply: The process industries use large quantities of water for cooling, washing,
steam generation and as a raw material in process. Hence, the plant must be located where a
dependable supply of water is available. A large river or lake is preferable, although deep
wells or artesian well may be satisfactory if the amount of water required is not too great. The
level of the existing water table can be checked be consulting the state geological survey and
information on the constancy of the water table and the year-round capacity of local rivers or
lakes should be obtained. If the water supply shows seasonal fluctuation, it may be desirable
to construct a reservoir or to drill several standby wells. The temperature, mineral content, silt
or sand content, bacteriological content, and cost for supply and purification must also be
considered when choosing the water supply.

f. Waste Disposal: In recent years, many legal restrictions have been placed on the methods
for disposing of waste materials from the process industries the site selection of land should
have adequate capacity and facility for correct disposal of waste. In choosing a plant site, the
permissible tolerance levels for various methods of waste disposal should be considered
carefully, and attention should be given to potential requirement for additional waste-
treatment facilities.

g. Labor Supply: The type and the supply of labor available in vicinity of a proposed plant
site must be examined. Consideration should be given to prevailing pay scales, restriction on
number of hours worked per week, competing industries that can cause dissatisfaction or high
turnover rates among the workers, and variations in skills and productivity of the workers.

h. Taxation and Legal Restrictions: State and local tax rates on property, income,
unemployment insurance and similar items vary from one location to another. Similarly, local
regulations and zoning, building codes, nuisance aspects, and transportation facilities can
have a major influence on the final choice of a plant site. In fact, zoning difficulties and
obtaining the many required permits can often be much more important in terms of cost and
time delays than many of the factors discussed in the preceding sections.

SEZ Advantages:
1. Income tax incentives: 10 year corporate tax holiday on export profit, 100% for the initial
five years and 50% for the next five years.

2. Exemption of electricity duty- 10 years.

3. Duty- free procurement of capital goods (including second hand capital goods), raw
materials and consumable spares from domestic market.

4. Full freedom for subcontracting.

5. Facility to realize and repatriate export proceeds within 12 months.

6. Facility to retain 100% foreign exchange recipient in the export earns foreign currency
amount.

7. Indirect tax incentives (for both SEZ units and developers).

8. Nil customs duty.

9. Nil excise duty.

10. Exemption from central sales tax.

11. Exemption from service tax.

12. Exemption from securities transactions tax.

13. Exemption from tax on sale of electricity for self-generated and purchased power.

14. Other benefits include good economic scope of SEZ, policy framework, procedural ease,
benefits available to developers, infrastructure etc.

i. Site Selection: The characteristics of land and plant site should be examined carefully. The
topography of land and the soil structure must be considered, since either or both may have
pronounced effect on the construction costs. The cost of the land is important as well as local
building cost and living conditions. Further changes may make it desirable or necessary to
expand the plant facilities. Therefore, even though no immediate expansion is planned, a new
plant should be constructed at a location where additional space is available.

j. Infrastructure: The SEZ is self- sufficient in terms of internal roads, water, power,
desalination plant, drainage system and modern effluent treatment plants under construction.

k. Availability of Land: The state of Haryana has a total area of 196,024 km². Out of this
78% of the area is under agriculture.

l. Safety and Environmental Measures: Many industrial plants are located along rivers next
to large bodies of water, and there are risks of flood or hurricane damage. Before selecting a
plant site, the regional history of natural disasters of this type should be examined and the
consequences of such occurrences should be considered. Protection from losses by fire is
another important factor for selecting a plant location. In case of major fire, assistance from
the fire department should be available. Fire hazards in the surrounding area of the plant site
must not be allowed,

m. Community Factor: The nature and facility of a community can have an effect on the
location of plant. If minimum number of facilities for satisfactory living of plant personnel
does not exist, it becomes a burden for the plant to subsidize such facilities. Cultural facilities
of the community are important to sound growth. Facilities such as religious centers,
libraries, schools, concert associations, and other similar groups do much to make a
progressive community. The efficiency, character and history of both state and local
government should be involved. The existence of low taxes is not in itself a favorable
situation unless the community is already well developed and relatively free of debt. Social
infrastructures including residential, recreational, health care and educational facilities are
under construction in the SEZ zone.

Other major incentives and facilities available to SEZ developers include:

1. Exception form custom/excise duties for development of SEZs for authorized
operations approved by the BOA.
2. Income tax exemption on income derived from the business of development of the
SEZ in a block of 10 years in 15 years under the Section 80-1AB of the Income Tax Act.
3. Exemption from minimum alternate tax under Section 115JB of Income Tax Act.
4. Exemption from dividend distribution tax under Section 115O of the Income Tax Act.

8.1 SITE LAYOUT

The process units and ancillary buildings should be laid out to give the most economical flow
of materials and personnel around the site. Hazardous processes must be located at a safe
distance from other buildings. Consideration must also be given to the future expansion of the
site. The ancillary buildings and services required on a site, in addition to the main processing
units, will include:
1. Storage for raw materials and products: tank farms and warehouses.
2. Maintenance workshops.
3. Stores, for maintenance and operating supplies.
4. Laboratories for process control.
5. Fire stations and other emergency services.
6. Utilities: steam boilers, compressed air, power generation, refrigeration, transformer
stations.
7. Effluent disposal plant.
8. Offices for general administration.
9. Canteens and other amenity buildings.
10. Parking space.

Costs: The cost of construction can be minimized by adopting a layout that gives the shortest
run of connecting pipe between equipment, and the least amount of structural steel work.
However, this will not necessarily be the best arrangement for operation and maintenance.

Operation Equipment: That needs to have frequent operator attention should be located
conveniently to the control room. Valves, sample points, and instruments should be located at
convenient positions and heights.
Sufficient working space and headroom must be provided to allow easy access to equipment.
Safety Blast: Walls may be needed to isolate potentially hazardous equipment, and confine
the effects of an explosion. At least two escape routes for operators must be provided from
each level in process buildings.

Plant Expansion Equipment: Should be laid out in a sequence to suit the process flow.
Fluid requirement, for example, gravity flow systems, pump suction heads and thermosiphon
system, often dictate relative elevations and provoke the need for structures. Limitations of
pressure or temperature drop in the transfer line decide of furnace, reactor, etc.

Hazardous and Toxic areas: Equipment items considered a possible source of hazard
should preferably be grouped and located separately, if possible and economic. Example are:
Finances, flare stacks, or other direct fired equipment containing an open flame, rotating or
mechanical equipment handling flammable or volatile liquids which could easily leak or spill.

Control rooms: 15 meters or more from equipment which is operation or drying

maintenance can create a hazard. Ensure maximum cable run to any instrument is not more
than 90 meters.

Buildings: Example offices, first-aid rooms, cafeterias, garages, fire station, warehouses, gas
holders, and workshop a minimum of 30 meters from any hazard. Unpressurized substation
and switch rooms minimum of 15 meters from any hazard. Definition of dangerous areas and
their safety requirements shall be in accordance with the Institute of petroleum safety codes,
or where this is not recognized, to the applicable national code(s), local bye-laws and fire
office whose requirements may be more stringent or specific than the above codes shall take
precedence.

Economic Consideration: Apart from process restrictions, position equipment for maximum
economy of pipe-work and supporting steel. As compact a layout as possible with all
equipment at grade is the first objective with standard clearances, construction and safety
requirements. Minimum runs of alloy pipework and large bore without the introduction of
expensive expansion devices. Optimize use of supporting structures in concrete or steel by
duplicating their application to more than one item of equipment and ensuring that access
ways, platforms, etc. have more than one function. Space saving can be achieved by locating
equipment over the pipe rack. Pumps should, in general, be located with their motors
underneath the main pipe rack.

Access: Overall plant arrangement must be reviewed for constructions, operation, safety, and
maintenance. Consider large items of equipment or towers for which special lifting gear will
be required. Provide adequate access to lift these into place. Large equipment positioned
close to boundary limits may require erection from outside. Check to ascertain whether
sufficient space will be available at the construction phase.

Operation and maintenance: Should be reviewed by the eventual operating company. Give
consideration to maintenance access to air fins, etc., above pipe racks. Consider the location
of equipment requiring frequent attendance by operating personnel and relative position of
the control room to obtain to obtain the shortest and most direct for operators when on routine
operation.

Safety: Provide sufficient clear areas between critical or high-temperature items of

equipment. Clear routes for operators with two or more escape ladders or exits at extremities.
Clear routes for access by fire-fighting equipment.

Do not allow: Areas classified as hazardous to overlap the plot limits or extend over railways
where open firebox engines are likely to be employed.

Site consideration: Ascertain soil loading considerations and site contours before fixing the
final layout. Considerable variations occur in allowable soil loads throughout site areas. It
may be advantageous to locate heavy equipment in the best soil loading area. Use existing
contours, so that the quality of earth movement due to cut and fill may be substantially
reduced by intelligent positioning of the equipment.

Insulation: Insulation may be applied to vessel supports or stanchions of structures for fire
protection purposes, thus decreasing free space for access, sitting of pipework, instruments or
electrical equipment.
In particular, note thickness of insulation of very high temperature or low-temperature piping,
which may considerably increase o/d of pipe to be routed. For insulation, additional clearance
must be provided around valves, instrumentation, etc. consider additional weight of insulation
and reduced centers of supports necessary to support heavily insulated pipe.

Columns and drums (vertical/horizontal): Columns are usually self-supporting external

structures. Circular or segmental platforms with ladders are supported from the shell.
Maximum allowable straight run of the ladder before a break platform should not exceed 9
meters. Factors influencing column elevation are the provision of gravity flow system and
insulation of thermosiphon reboilers. Depending on plant arrangement column may have to
be elevated to a height in excess of the normal requirements to allow for clearance from the
low-level piping off-takes.

Exchangers: Tubular exchangers usually have standard length tubes of 2.5, 4, 5 and 6
meters. Whenever possible locate exchanger at grade to facilitate maintenance and tube
withdrawal. Two or more shell forming one unit will be stacked, or otherwise arranged as
indicated on the exchanger specification sheet. Exchangers on dissimilar service may be
stacked never more than three high, except for fin-tube units. Horizontal clearance of at least
900 mm will be left between alternate exchangers, providing sufficient space is left for
maintenance and inspection access. Tube bundle removal distance will be minimum tube
length plus 900 mm. Minimum removal distance plus 600 mm will be left behind the rear
shell cover of floating head exchangers. Where rear shell cover is provided with a davit,
allow clearance for full swing of the head. Set overhead vapor exchangers or condensers so
that underside of exchanger tube is self-draining. Arrange outlets to a liquid hold pot or trap,
so that fixed end is at the channel end. Vertical exchangers should be set to allow lifting or
lowering o tube bundle. Consult vessel section as to the feasibility of supporting vertical
exchanger channel preferably, pointing towards access areas or roads. If exchanger is situated
well within the plot, leave a free area and approach for mobile lifting equipment.

Preferably, air fin exchangers should be located in a separate room outside the main
equipment row, remote from the central pipe way. Consider the location of air fin exchangers
over the central pipe way if plot space is very limited.

Pumps: Locate pumps close to the equipment from they take suction possibly under
structures or with motor ends under a pipe rack allowing an access aisle for mobile handling
equipment. Suction lines are generally larger than discharge lines, to avoid problems arising
from low NPSH. End suction, top discharge is preferable for pumps taking suction directly
from tanks or vessels located at grade. Pumps should be arranged in rows with center line of
discharges on a common line. The clearance between pumps or pumps and piping shall be a
minimum of 900 minimum.

Piping: All piping within a process area should usually be run above grade. Pipe racks and
supports to be of the simplest form. Pipe racks may contain two layers of pipework. Avoid
triple layer of pipe way except for very short runs. Run piping external to the process areas at
grade on sleepers (300mm high). (Piping at grade is cheaper but liable to interfere with
access).
Locate large bore piping as close to stanchions as possible. Lines requiring a constant full
(relief headers) can be run on cantilevers from pipe rack stanchions or on vertical extensions
to pipe track stanchions.