Process Design Basis - How To Proceed

An important process engineering deliverable is the document called "Process Design Basis". This document summarizes the process engineering related activity for the given project. For large projects it is an extensive document. In certain cases it includes HSE related information where a separate HSE design basis is not part of the engineering documentation.

The "Process Design Basis" is a structured document and is developed sequentially for ease of understanding and guiding the process engineering team in developing other process engineering deliverables for the project.

It is however necessary to understand that it is not an isolated effort from the process engineering discipline. A lot of inputs from other disciplines such as Instrumentation and Piping go into the making of the process design basis.

Its importance cannot be over-emphasized, since it is not only useful for the engineering personnel but a lot of information is available to the commissioning and operations personnel to successfully start-up and operate the plant..

The starting point for the document could be one or more of the following:
1. Tender document
2. Project report
3. Process description
4. Concept or Feasibility Studies
5. Licensor process details
6. Process Block Diagrams
7. Preliminary Process Flow diagrams and Overall Heat and Mass Balance

I had the opportunity to prepare a "Process Discipline Manual" where one of the major items was preparing guidelines and flow charts for process deliverables. While guidelines were descriptive word documents the flowcharts were work flow charts on how to generate different process engineering deliverables.

The flowcharts were challenging since they were meant to be self explanatory. I am attaching the flow chart for process design basis. Two revisions have been considered for the flow chart , the first one is called "Issued for Comments" and the second one is "Approved for Design".

The two abbreviations used in the flow chart which might not be familiar to readers are:
1. SDC - This is the abbreviation for "Single Discipline Check" which means an internal check by a senior or lead process engineer to check the quality of the document.

2. IDC - This is the abbreviation for "Inter Discipline Check" where other disciplines such as Instrumentation, Piping and Electrical provide their comments for correcting any anomalies and / or enhancing the quality of the document.

Enjoy reading the flow chart and don't forget to provide your comments. Any comments to improve the quality of the document are welcome.

Regards,
Ankur.