Plant Layout and Spacing

The arrangement of machinery and equipment is part of a detailed plant layout. Appropriate segregation is important for plant safety. The following presentation 

It makes sense to position the equipment in a process plant following the P I diagram. This minimizes the transport of materials, which is desirable from both the point of view of economy as well as that of safety. 

explosions and toxic releases may have impacts inside the plant. For example, they may alfect installations adjacent to their place of origin and thus lead to the so-called Domino elfect. Since their intensity diminishes with distance (e.g. inversely proportional or inversely proportional to the square), distances between equipments make sense from the safety standpoint. On the other hand, they produce costs because of increased space requirements and higher energy consumption for the transport of materials. 

Methods for assessing the effects of fires, explosions and toxic releases are dealt with in Chap. 10. The results obtained with the methods described there can be the basis for a rational planning of the distances between process units. 

In some cases experience-based recommendations for distances exist [32] and, in particular, for the storage of flammable materials in [33]. 

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Lewis, D. J. (1979). The Mond Fire, Explosion and Toxicity Index Applied to Plant Layout and Spacing. i3th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, April 2-5, 1979, Houston, TX, 20-26. Loss Prevention, No. 13. New York American Institute of Chemical Engineers. 

Inadequate plant layout and spacing may lead to congested process and storage areas, lack of isolation for e.xtra liazardous operations mid areas, sources of ignition that are too close to liazm ds, and lack of proper emergency facilities. 

Several industry standards, codes, and company internal standards were used in developing the information in Table 1.2. These include internal company standards NFPA 30, Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code (Ref. 22) NFPA 59A. Liquefied Natural Gas (Ref. 23) API 2510, Design and Construction of Liquefied Petroleum Gas(LPG) Installations (Ref. 24) iRlnformation IM.2.5.2, Plant Layout and Spacing for Oil and Chemical Plants (Ref. 25), and Factory Mutual 7-44, Spacing of Facilities In Outdoor Chemical Plants (Ref. 26). 

IRInformation IM.2.5.2. Plant Layout and Spacing for Oil and Chemical Plants. Hartford, CT Industrial Risk Insurers. 

Lewis, D. J. (1979b) Loss Prevention No. 13 (AIChE) 20. The Mond fire, explosion and toxicity index applied to plant layout and spacing. 

Inadequate Plant Layout and Spacing Congested process and storage areas... 

XL Global Asset Protection Services (XL GAPS). GAP 2.5.2, Oil and chemical plant layout and spacing. Stamford, CT XL GAPS 2007. 

The indexes can be used to identify those units which require the highest priority for attention from a viewpoint of safety review. They are also useful in designing layout and spacing of equipment in process plants to avoid domino effects following an incident [2,3,252-254]. 

The nitric acid plant is relatively small and should not occupy more than 1 hectare. Even this small area should leave plenty of room for expansion. Figure 5.5 shows the equipment layout for the nitric acid plant. The plant layout includes space for a parallel production train should the market expand sufficiently in thefuturesuch that a second plant is required. 

Many of the problems involved in maintenance are often caused by a lack of thoroughly evaluating the original design and layout of plant and equipment. Sufficient space for maintenance work on equipment and facilities must be provided in the plant layout, and the engineer needs to consider maintenance and its safety requirements when making decisions on equipment. 

The intent of this book Is to help train, on an accelerated basis, the young engineers and technicians entering the field of process plant layout and piping design. It also updates equipment spacing requirements and addresses the latest feature of elearonic data transfer for the experienced layout designer. 

The standard requires plant layouts to minimize material travel and handling, synchronize material flow, and optimize value added use of floor space and to use a multidisciplinary approach for developing plant facility and equipment plans. 

The cylinders are arranged on the main frame of the compressor to provide balanced crankshaft power loading (when possible), access for maintenance, piping convenience, and floor space to suit plant layout. Common designations by position of the cylinder are... 

The quantities of main consumables used. Electricity, water and gas will be included in this item but of more importance to the plant layout are those items that occupy site space. Fuel oil is such an item, and it is... 

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