2 replies to this topic

[Art Montemayor]

John:

If you are a student and have designed an ethane extraction plant, you must have finished (or be in process of finishing) a plant design course. That being the case, then I would be concerned that you have “sized” everything but yet have not finished the P&ID. This is not the normal path of a plant design project. You must develop P&IDs with a quality of “Release for Construction” – which is the point in the design where you “freeze” the P&IDs. It is at this point that you normally would start to determine the “size” of the equipment – which includes specifying all nozzles, power requirements, physical size, connections, etc. To determine (or specify) the size of equipment prior to obtaining an approved for construction P&ID is much too risky and needless because in the event the P&ID is changed, you would lose all the engineering design input and have to start all over again. That is why the design is frozen before any serious sizing is undertaken. A tentative layout may be done, but it isn't formalized until the P&ID is frozen.

Part of your plant design course should involve determining the Scope of Work and the Design Basis – two documents that are vital at the early stages for any plant design project. With these documents already in hand, you have defined where, how, and under what conditions you will receive all raw materials and supplies and also deliver all products and deliverables. You should also have defined such vital items as instrumentation type and quantity and how you will control the process – remotely, locally, DCS, PLCs, etc. This will involve determining where it is best to place your piping – both process and utility. You will also have defined the size and type of land, roads, access, climate, personnel needs, etc. With all this information (& more) you can now embark on locating the major equipment relative to the means of their control(s) and their needs for utilities and manual intervention. You locate the equipment with a focus on safety and operability – as well as economy of operation. All these steps should be carefully explained in your plant design course and by your professor – if he/she are worth their salary. I am surprised that you would expect an internet forum to teach you how to prepare a plant layout when you have studied the material already.

What this Forum can do to help you is address certain specific problem areas that you are experiencing and in which you have little training in the classroom. Most of these would, in my opinion, be in the arena of field experience – which a student normally has very little or none. If you ask specific questions on a specific subject, we can probably help you. But teaching you how to layout an ethane extraction unit is far beyond the capabilities of any Forum or Web site. You have to read the book, do the assignments and pass the course in university. Your request, as worded is far too general and vague.

I hope this helps orient you in the right direction.

Art Montemayor