Process Design Scope

The term process design is used here to include what is sometimes referred to as process
engineering. Yet in some process engineering operations, all process design functions may not be
carried out in detail. As discussed, process design is intended to include:
1. Process material and heat balances.
2. Process cycle development, correlation of pilot or research data, and correlation of physical
data.
3. Auxiliary services material and heat balances.
4. Flowsheet development and detailed completion.
5. Chemical engineering performance design for specific items of equipment required for a
flowsheet, and mechanical interpretation of this to a practical and reasonable specification. Here
the process requirements are converted into hardware details to accomplish the process end
results at each step in the product production process.
6. Instrumentation as related to process performance, presentation and interpretation of
requirements to instrument specialists.
7. Process interpretation for proper mechanical, structural, civil, electrical, instrument, etc.,
handling of the respective individual phases of the project.
8. Preparation of specifications in proper form and/or detail for use by the project team as well as
for the purchasing function.
9. Evaluation of bids and recommendation of qualified vendor.
Most of the functions are fairly self explanatory; therefore, emphasis will be placed only on those
requiring detailed explanation.
Role of the process Design Engineer
Although the working role of the process design engineer may include all of the technical
requirements listed above, it is very important to recognize what this entails in some detail. The
process design engineer, in addition to being capable of participating in evaluation of research
and pilot plant data and the conversion of this data into a proposed commercial process scheme,
must also:
1. Prepare heat and material balance studies for a proposed process, both by hand and by use
of computer programs.
2. Prepare rough cost economics, including preliminary sizing and important details of
equipment, factor to an order of magnitude capital cost estimate, prepare a production cost
estimate, and work with economic evaluation representatives to establish a payout and the
financial economics of the proposed process.
3. Participate in layout planning for the proposed plant
4. Prepare final detailed heat and material balances.
5. Prepare detailed sizing of all process equipment and possibly some utility systems. It is
important that the process engineer visualize the Row and processing of the fluids through the
system and inside the various items of equipment in order to adequately recognize what will take
place during the process.
6. Prepare/supervise preparation of draft of process flow sheets for review by others.

7. Prepare/supervise preparation of piping or mechanical flow diagram (or P and ID), with
necessary preliminary sizing of all pipe lines, distillation equipment, pumps, compressors, etc.,
and representation of all instrumentation for detailing by instrument engineers.
8. Prepare mechanical and process specifications for all equipment, tanks, pumps, compressors,
separators, drying systems, refrigeration systems. This must include the selection of materials of
construction and safety systems and the coordination of specifications with instrumentation and
electrical requirements.
9. Determine size and specifications for all safety relief valves and/or rupture disks for process
safety relief (including run-a-way reactions) and relief in case of external fire.
10. Prepare valve code specifications for incorporation on item 6 above, or select from existing
company standards for the fluids and their operating conditions
11. Select from company insulation standards (or prepare, if necessary) the insula~onco des to be
applied to each hot or cold pipe or equipment. Note that insulation must be applied in some cases
only to prevent operating personnel from contacting the base equipment.
12. Establish field construction hydraulic test pressures for each process equipment. Sometimes
the equipment is blanked or blocked off, and no test pressure is applied in the field, because all
pressure equipment must be tested in the fabricators or manufacturers shop per ASME Code.
13. Prepare drafts of line schedule and/or summary sheets and equipment summary schedules,
plus summary schedules for safety relief valves and rupture disks, compressors and other major
equipment.
14. Prepare detailed process and mechanical specifications for developing proposals for purchase
by the purchasing department.