Design Basis

Design Basis Considerations

• The development of a Design Basis Memorandum (DBM)
should be done for every project undertaken
• The DBM documents the project requirements, expectations
and philosophies
• The DBM benefits and protects the project sponsors and
project designers by establishing communication

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 The Importance of Design Basis
• The design basis has tremendous impact on all aspects
of a project-
• Investment and Operating Cost
• Safety Basic Engineering
Design Construction
• Operability Feasibility
Concept Operation
• Constructability Study Maintenance
• Maintainability Concept
Revamp/
HAZOP
• Profitability
• The conceptual and feasibility stage help to set up the
design basis.
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 The Impact of Initial Phase of
Design Activities
• The development of design basis is often overlooked by the owner as well as the
engineering consultant.

• The conceptual and feasibility stage help to set up the design basis.

• Every single line in a design basis should have thought and analysis behind it. A
thorough study of key issues is needed to establish a proper design basis.

• The graph in the next slide shows the impact of actions taken in early stages of
project.

• The best cost reduction exercise can be done at the design basis stage itself.

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 The Impact of Initial Phase of
Design Activities

Concept, Design Basis

and Basic Design
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 Key Issues for the Process
Design Basis
1. Project Description 4. Raw Material Source and Composition
• Raw Material Source
• Project Name • Transportation Mode
• Ownership • Raw Material Composition
• Brief Description
5. Products
2. Plant Capacity Related • Product Slate
• Capacity • Product Specification
• Stream Factor • Product Destination
• Turndown Ratio • Dispatch Mode
• Operating Philosophy
• Safety Management Philosophy 6. Battery Limit Related
• B/L Definition
3. Location and Site Data • B/L Temp. and Pr.
• Location Map • Raw Material & Products
• Site Map • Utilities & Storage
• Site Data
• Surrounding Details 7. HSE
• Access • Environmental Permit / Regulatory Requirements
• HSE (or other) project commitments (EIA, QRA, other?) 6
 Capacity Related Parameters
• Capacity is decided based on market survey and projection, which is part of feasibility study.

• Capacity is defined in a number of ways depending on the type of project.

• Oilfield-
– In oilfield it is described by oil production in BPD or MMTPA, Gas Oil Ratio (e.g. SM3 gas per M3 oil) and
water percent.
– Production profile over field life also is important capacity parameter.

• Refinery-
– Crude Processing capacity in BPSD
– Product Slate

• Petrochemical Plants-
– Often defined by product capacity
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 On-Stream Factor (Plant Availability)
• On-Stream factor depends on-
– Planned maintenance shutdown requirements.
– Unplanned shutdowns.

• Normally in a complex process plant, 330 days a year is considered a good basis.

• Some may require operation for a few months or even a few weeks a year.

• But certain critical projects may call for 365 days a year. It is quite common in oil/gas production
facilities.

• On-Stream factor has a huge influence on the process concept and costs of the project.
– Sparing Philosophy
– Layers of Protection & Safety Shutdown systems

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 On-Stream Factor - Exercise
• A basic scheme for oil and
gas production is given
below. The owner wants to
M Cooling
be able to deliver gas to Gas
Gas to
Dehydrator
the gas pipeline 98% of the Pipeline
HP Compressor
time. What are things to Separator
–
consider given:
LP
– vessels have a 99% Availability.
Separator Water Oil (Liquid) Separator
Dehydrators require 8 hour regeneration Water Atm.
time every 2 days. Treatment Water Storage
– Oil Oil /Liquid
Historical data shows rotating equipment is
Dehydration Pipeline
M
available 90% of the time Water discharge
Pump
– valve loops can fail multiple times
Control Or re-injection
per year and take a few hours
to repair each time
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 Impact of Site Data on Process
Design and Costs
• Critical site data for process design are-
– Contour diagram
– Elevation
– Maximum Design Ambient Temperature
– Minimum Design Ambient Temperature
– Ambient Pressure
– Humidity
– Wind Direction
– Rainfall data
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 Case Study
How Site Affects Design & Cost
• The scheme below had to be implemented….
Natural gas Gas M Cooling Gas to
Dehydrator Pipeline
Well Fluid HP Compressor
Separator
(15 bar)
LP
Separator
Water Oil (Liquid) (3 bar)
Water Atm.
Treatment Water Storage
10 MMTPA 600,000 M3 Oil /Liquid
Oil
Pipeline
Dehydration
Water discharge M
Or re-injection Pump

• In a hilly terrain like this…. Any advantage of the terrain?

20 M

• Cooling considerations
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 Case Study
Maximum Design Ambient Temp
• Metrological department gives temperature profile around the year for several
years.
• Designer should recommend maximum and minimum design ambient
temperatures and maximum solar radiation temperature.
Air
Cooler
• Propane Refrigerant Make-up Plant
• Desert Location
PACKING
• Maximum Design Ambient Temp.
LPG Feed Propane
TRAYS
taken as 55 oC
• Required propane temperature < 50 oC
Butane
• Turnkey skid mounted supply.
• Solar radiation requires protection
against thermal expansion
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 Wind Direction
• Gas Processing Plant producing LPG
out of natural gas
Prevailing
• Wind direction reported 75% times Wind Direction
South East to North West
• Large Flare to be located 90 M away.
• Where shall you locate the flare
stack? Control Room?
Administration Building?
• Muster Points
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 Wind Direction
• Bhopal MIC leak was a major disaster.
• Thousand died or were affected. Prevailing
Wind Direction
• Lesson Learned: Location of a plant Leaked MIC
dealing with hazardous materials
must:
– Have Emergency Management Plans that
• Identify mitigative measures to manage
risks
– Buffer zones around the plant - downwind
• Emergency Response Plan that includes
– Train operators so that they can save
themselves. – understand evacuation plan Operators Escape
and importance of wind direction.
– Community Involvement – ACC Right to 14

Know
 Raw Material and Product
Specification
• Processing scheme and operating conditions are dictated by
product specification.
• The plant needs to be designed with some flexibility on raw

• material and product specifications.

The flexibility need to be spelt out in the design basis. Example-
–
– Range of production
Gasoline natural gas composition for a gas
facility in a refinery to processing
produce toplant.
Indian spec as well
as international spec.
• Resultant product quality considerations include:
– The need for online analyzers
– Sampling points
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– Possibly even the need for check tanks
 Utilities and Storage
Utility Related Issues
• Fuel / Power / Steam
• Instrument and Plant Air
• Raw Water Specification
• Cooling Water
• Sea Water
• Process water
• Effluent Discharge Specifications
• Flaring Philosophy
• Major Effluents Summary
• Effluent Treatment Requirements
Storage and Handling
• Raw Material Storage Criteria
• Raw Material Receipt
• Product Storage criteria
• Product Dispatch
• Intermediate Product Storage
Criteria
• Chemical Storage Criteria
• Yard Piping
• Emission Limitations
– Tank Design
– Vapor Recovery 17
 Other Issues
• Operation and Maintenance • Buildings and Misc. Offsites
– Equipment Sparing Philosophy – Office
– Instrumentation and Control – Maintenance Facilities
Philosophy – Fire Fighting Facilities
– Safety Shutdown Systems – Entry Gate
– Operating Philosophy – Control Room

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 Utilities Design Basis
Key Issue
• Optimization between Fuel, Power and Steam is of great
importance at today’s energy cost.

• Combined cycle power generation and waste heat utilization are

key issues.
• Cooling Water vs. Air Cooler is also a key issue.

• Keeping the utility parameters floating at design basis stages helps

in evolving cost saving concepts.
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 Storage Design Basis
Key Issues
• Storage has a cost both in terms of investment and inventory cost.

• Storage design basis is dictated by-

• Internal operational requirements

• Downstream operators limitations
• Engineering limitations- what size of tanks?
• Tanker logistics – requiring operations research studies.

• Storage could also be dictated by strategic reasons.

• Keeping the utility parameters floating at design basis stages helps in evolving cost saving
concepts.
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January 17, 2013

 Operating Philosophy
Design Basis Key Issues

• Highly automated or not?

• Unmanned remote operation totally changes instrumentation
concept.
• Unmanned concept is common in oil and gas production, pipelines,
small plants in remote areas.
• SCADA with telemetry tele-control concept is utilized in such cases.
• Rotating machinery is avoided as far as possible.
• For example, remote operated well platforms have solar power
instead of generator for instrument power.
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 Summary and Conclusion
• The Design Basis Communicates Expectations, Requirements
and Preferences
• Decisions made in the development of the design basis affects
the concept and cost of the process plant.
• Critical Economic Analyses are needed to develop the design
basis
• Time spent upfront to develop comprehensive Design Basis will
prevent significant costs in rework later in the project.
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