Design factors, process plant building

If the plan of the building (and the same applies to its cross-sectional features) is precisely and inflexibly related to the initial plant layout and the production processes known at design stage, non-adaptability to later desirable changes in use is clearly a durability factor. 

Until about the second World War chemical processes were developed in an evolutionary way by building plants of increasing size and capacity. The capacity of the next plant in the series was determined by a scale-up factor that depended mainly upon experience gained from scale-ups of similar plants. Due to a lack of predictive models for chemical processes and operations, processes had to be scaled up in many small steps. This procedure was very expensive and the results unreliable. Therefore, large safety margins were incorporated in scale-up procedures, which often resulted in a significant unintended overcapacity of the designed plant. 

The technical part of the feasibility study considers the alternative processes, and the equipment that constitutes the chemical plant in each case. At this stage it is necessary to identify any items of equipment that pose particular or unusual design problems, or which are very expensive or hazardous. The feasibility study should determine whether it is possible to design and build a chemical plant for a particular manufacturing process. Any external factors that may influence the operation of the plant should be noted, e.g. discharge levels, stability of raw materials supply, etc. 

Rational plant design is concerned with safety factors and with the need for minimizing such building and equipment hazards as corrosion, fire, explosion, and personal hazards from fume and poison. Process leaks and spillage hazards, hazards due to poor lighting, and reduction of... 

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