Some Problems We Find in A Processing & Production Plant

As a process engineer or production executive, we shall always hope and wish that the plant will be smooth. A processing or production plant will always have a problem whether we like it or not. What will the problem be? Are they thought in the university? Can you get them in the text books? I bet you would not get those valuable informations anywhere there?

So, how can you get them? You'll actually get them when you work and experience those problems yourself. Another way of getting those precious information is by asking and learning it from experience executives and engineers.

I've been working for almost three years in my current work place and I observed all these problems. I think it might be useful if I share all those plant problems with you guys. There are a lot of problems and I shall post it in this blog from time to time. The problems varies and comes from various angles and areas such as (without any particular arrangement):

1. Utilities problems :
power, natural gas, steam, water, chemicals, LFO, diesel, processing aid, air etc. Processing cost can increase the overall production cost.

2. Maintenance & Equipment problems :
Pump, piping, instrumentation, pressure transmitter, level transmitter, temperature indicator, NPSH, cavitation, control valve, steam trap, leakage, insulation.

3. Human resource problems :
Disciplinary, Late coming, absent, failure to obey instruction, negligence, psychology.

4. Report & Documentation problems :
Daily report, monthly report, quarterly report, yearly report, ISO & GMP related documents.

5. Communication problems :
Miscommunication, instruction, network, PC, server, bad relationship with up line, down line and colleagues.

6. Quality problems :
Laboratory, lab checking, quality control, testing error, solution/chemical contamination.

7. Supplier problems :
Raw material - product - goods out of spec, cheating.

8. Supporting equipment problems :
Deterioration of cooling tower performance, heat exchanger performance.

9. Planning problems :
Administration interruption, supply demand, market, margin.

10. Control system problems :
Supervisor Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Human machine interface (HMI) and PC, IT, network, softwares.

11. Stock, raw material, storage tank problems :
Network, false information, over flow, insufficient storage tank, contamination.

12. Stress, Pressure & Health Problems :
Meeting deadline, lack of time, inadequate knowledge, 24 hours alert and standby, meetings, reports, various crisis, inability to manage pressure from top management.

OK. That would be some very general and surface introduction on what problems we can expect from running a plant. I'll try to update and add more on those details from time to time. I welcome anybody who want to share problems that they faced in their plant. We can discuss it here and share it with the rest of the readers.

The European Refining & Fuels Conference on Low-Carbon Fuels Implementation

If you are interested in the energy industry, there'll be a very interesting conference coming on this May. Check out the detail below (which I received in my mailbox):

HART Energy's World Refining & Fuels Conference The European Refining & Fuels Conference on Low-Carbon Fuels Implementation returns to Brussels for the 11th consecutive year and promises to be, once again, the premier exchange platform between key energy policy-makers and industry leaders.

Topics include:

* Europe's Low-Carbon Fuel Strategy - Hear from key Members of Parliament
* Methodology for GHG Emission Reduction from Fuels - EU Commission Keynote
* The U.S. Low-Carbon Fuel Standard - Learn from California's experience
* Integrated Carbon Reduction Approach - Point of view of Major oil companies
* Panels:
o Upstream Carbon Reduction Efforts
o Downstream Low-Carbon Product Options
o Vehicle Pathways for CO2 Reductions
o Life-Cycle Analysis Debate

Registration to the conference includes our unique Dinner Debate at the European Parliament. Don't miss it!

Date: May 27, 2008 - May 28, 2008
Location: The Stanhope Hotel
Rue du Commerce 9
1000 Brussels Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 2 506 91 11
Fax: +32 (0) 2 512 17 08
info@stanhope.beClick here for information on The Stanhope

To register or to to get more information, click here.

Plate Heat Exchanger Cleaning

This video is soda blasting a sugar mill heat exchanger plate removing heavy scale new SS range Soda Blaster from Australian Soda Blasting Supplies. Notice how they can remove the scale without any damage or removal of the rubber seal on the outer edge. ASBS are the only design and manufacturer of Soda Blasting machines and Soda in Australia. See the new SS4, SS2 and the small SS09 in action. Visit www.asbsupplies.com for further details.

Various Heat Exchanger News and Updates

Here are some links related to heat exchanger updates around the globe. Check it out:

Wigwam Mills is keeping it green
City water that comes into the plant at a temperature between 40 and 50 degrees is sent to the heat exchanger, and the hotter the water in the holding tanks
Continue reading...


Green Line: answers to readers' environmental questions
This is a system where a fluid runs through the solar panels and through a heat exchanger in my special solar water tank. The solar panels do not convert ...
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Energy upgrades
When the stagnant and fresh air pass one another in the system, they are pushed over a heat exchanger, which transfers about 70 percent of the heat from the ...
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Super Soaker Inventor Invents New Thermoelectric Generator
An important efficiency-boosting design element is the regenerative heat exchanger located between the hot and cool zones. This allows the hydrogen gas ...
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Heat scheme not just a pipe dream
The idea would need the backing of building owners and the infrastructure would need to be installed in shops and the tunnel. heat exchanger...
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Ionia revisits wood as fuel
Water comes from one of Ionia's two independent wells and, when heated, circulates past a five-pass heat exchanger contained within the Garn boiler vessel. ...
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Georgia Tech Implements a Cool Solution for Green HPC with IBM
Georgia Tech designed a unique cooling solution incorporating both standard air conditioning and IBM Rear Door Heat exchanger, enabling a compact solution ...
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CADWorx Plant Design Suite 2008 to Be Featured at COADE Discovery ...
Future tour events featuring CAESAR II for pipe stress analysis and PV Elite for pressure vessel and heat exchanger design and analysis are scheduled for ...
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Personal Daq data acquisition systems available from Scientific ...
Finally we measure the oil temperature going into the engine and another at the output to the heat exchanger.” On the plane, engineers also monitor static ...
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Some Engineering Define
Vaporizer of Evaporator, Vaporizer of Evaporator is heat exchanger for the purpose of using steam that is generated by fluid evaporation caused by heating and latent heat given. Condenser, Condenser is a heat exchanger that condense ...
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Malt to Mouth Part 3
Yeast transfer heat exchanger. Pumps the yeast from the fermenters to the yeast tanks, while lowering the temperature using glycol for best storage practices. Fermenter transfer heat exchanger. Pumps and cools the “green beer” from the ...
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Brightsource FAQs
Utilize long rows of curved glass mirrors to heat synthetic oil, which is piped to a heat exchanger to produce steam at about 375° C. This steam is used to drive a steam turbine to produce electricity.
Continue Reading...


Richard Rogers National Assembly Building for Wales, Cardiff
The ground is used as a heat source/sink in the form of earth heat exchangers, coupled with heat pumps to reduce the size of conventional boilers and dispense with the need for chillers. The ground source heat pump system (GSHP) will ...
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Sunshine solutions
A working fluid (thermal oil, water or molten salt) passes through the tube, being heated as it does so, this is then passed through a heat exchanger ...
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Plate Heat Exchanger at Lonsdale Energy Corporation

The following photos of equipments (which include plate heat exchangers) and information are taken/supplied by Mr. Douglas Dunn from BCExplorer.org. Thanks for contributing/sharing.

It is about a system operated by Lonsdale Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of the City of North Vancouver BC, Canada. Lonsdale Energy Corporation or LEC is a wholly owned city of North Vancouver corporation working in partnership with Terasen Utility Services to deliver energy services to the Lower Lonsdale area of North Vancouver.

In 2004, the City retained the services of the Lonsdale Energy Corporation and their operating partners to provide a district energy service as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability. The Lonsdale Energy Corporation (LEC) is a state-of-the-art heating system that delivers high efficiency energy to its customers. It uses a series of boiler mini-plants to circulate hot water and heat the buildings that are connected to the LEC system.

There are several units of plate heat exchangers in the company. All of the plate and frame units are manufactured by a Canadian based company called Armstrong. Armstrong also have branches in UK, USA, Australia, India and China. Check out the equipments utilized by LEC:

These 4 units provide Domestic Heating for Commercial and Residential buildings in the complex, they are equipped with flow monitors used to bill the customers for usage. The plate and frame heat exchangers are very clean and well managed.

This unit is connected to the primary loop for the boilers, as well as the district distribution network. The boilers are designed to use a variety of clean-burning fuels allowing LEC the opportunity to switch to more economical fuel sources.

Pictures of the boilers that feed these heat exchangers (Viessmann Vertomat Condensing Boiler).

System pumps (centrifugal) utilized in the project

Large Plate and Frame Exchanger (Orange hard hat covering pipe connection)

Check out the a video explaining the system...

Compact Plate Heat Exchangers for Refinery Heat Recovery

I stumbled upon an interesting article about compact plate heat exchanger which was published in engineeringnews.co.za. The article was about Compact Plate Heat Exchangers used for Refinery Heat Recovery:

The use of compact-plate heat exchangers (CPHEs) enables refiners to tackle the increasing emphasis on reducing energy consumption while maintaining a positive environmental profile, indicates a report by industrial process technologies supplier Alfa Laval.

CPHEs properties make them more efficient than, and provide a compact solution to, traditional shell-and-tube (S and T) heat exchangers.

CPHEs, which are much smaller in size than traditional heat exchangers and can be fitted in the footprint of existing installations, can increase capacity and recover more heat by using fewer heat exchangers.

Savings in fuel consumption and reductions in emissions, owing to greater energy recovery, give attractive investment payback periods.

Continue reading the entire article here.
You can subscribe to Engineering News here.

Plate Heat Exchanger Is My Favourite Equipment

For this one month period, I'm going to focus my post more towards my favourite equipment in a processing / production plant - plate heat exchanger. I am very passionate and possess high interest in this equipment. A plate heat exchanger do not uses electricity and that's why it is also called economizer. The heat energy is exchanged from the hot fluid to the cold fluid in a very well and carefully arranged plates (between plate heat exchanger frame). How much kilocalaries or kW energy transferred really depends on the fluid inlet properties and the plate heat exchanger design.

For a start, I list out all of my previous plate heat exchanger related entries for your references. Then in future entries, I will slowly and progressively share my experiences dealing this interesting equipment.

Heat Exchangers: Introduction and Basic Concepts
Chemical Engineering Related Photo Sharing
Learning Process From Cleaning Plate Heat Exchanger
Preparation Work For New Plate Heat Exchanger
My New Baby Plate Heat Exchanger
Disappointing New Plate Heat Exchanger
Disappointing New Plate Heat Exchanger Is Now OK...
How Do You Analyze Your Heat Exchanger Performance?
Fixing Plate Heat Exchanger Gasket
High-Temperature Heat-Transfer-Fluid Systems

Sometimes, I feel like switching my job and work for a heat exchanger company and make myself a plate heat exchanger specialist. But that position is very limited. Well, if you are still a student and plant to work with a heat exchanger related companies upon graduating, hold on to my blog for one month. I'll try my best to discuss about it (my version, my scope)....

I'm also working out to make a list of all plate heat exchanger companies, manufacturers, agents, distributors (all around the world) for easy reference. If you are one of them, please contact me and provide details of your products and company. I'll be very happy to include you in the list.