Front-end engineering design FEED

RAM (Reliability, Availability and Maintainability) Study This systematic methodology predicts the performance of the plant, with the given configuration, in terms of reliability, availability and maintainability. Reliability is the probability that theplant/equipment will perform the required functions, under specified conditions, for a stated period of time. 

Availability, in general, is defined as the ability of the plant/equipment to perform its required function over a stated period of time. Maintainability is the probability that a failed item can be restored to operation effectiveness within a given period of time when repair action is performed as per the specified procedure (Smith, 2011). Software is available for performing RAM studies. For smaller projects, spreadsheets can be used. Reliability and process safety are interlinked, and so combined RAM and safety (RAMS) studies can be performed with the RAMS software (Sikos and Klemes, 2010). It considers many factors affecting the plant performance such as equipment performance, redundancy, demand requirements and logistics. RAM analysis is based on statistical failure data such as mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), mean time to failure (MTTF) and mean down time (MDT). Wherever possible, failure data available within the company should be used for RAM/RAMS study. If not, typical failure data available in the literature/software can be used. 

Value Engineering Value engineering VIP is a flexible, organized and multi-disciplinary team effort (Green and Perry, 2008) to critically examine the project scope by careful consideration of project objectives and removal of unnecessary job scope. Its main purpose is to minimize project cost without any compromises on the project objectives. Some examples are  

PHA (Process Hazard Analysis) Study PHA study during FEED stage is crucial as it may require changing some or a major part of the project due to process safety risks. It has potential to escalate the project cost significantly. PHA study is conducted by the PHA leader, who is a highly qualified process/safety engineer with many years of operations and 

Review of the original plant PHA and all plant modifications from the plant start-up 

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B. Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) during Front-End Engineering Design (FEED)... 

A feasibility study completed in 2011 identified a range of shut-down/start-up and other flare reduction opportunities for the QG2 and QG3 4 LNG mega-trains. A dedicated Flare Reduction Project was subsequently initiated in 2013 to implement these opportunities and study others identified by Asset Operations. The Flare Reduction Project is progressing to the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) phase and is tentatively eiqiected to become operational in the end of 4th Quarter 2015. 

Preliminary hazard analysis As already discussed in Chapter I (also Chapter III), this can be utilized during conceptual design, front end engineering design (FEED), or R D stage. As stated earlier, one of the major purposes of preliminary hazard analysis is to identify the extent or boundary limits of complex hazards and analyze the risks and hazards associated with all the processes involved (see Clause 4.0 of Chapter I). 

The first step in a new major project is overall concept design what do we expect the plant to look like A front end engineering design (FEED) project stage then develops an overall concept, including the definition of the plant hazards (i.e., what accidents are conceivable) and their necessary prevention and mitigation measures... 

Safety aspects of front end engineering design (FEED) QRA = quantified risk assessment ALARP = as iow as reasonably practicable. 

Project management is described in Chapter 18. The design phase of a project, particularly during Front End Engineering (FEED), is the best time for considering and applying the principles of inherent safety (Figure 9.2). 

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