Plant layout design basics

The Vamamo Demonstration Plant is the first of its kind in the world. The plant is aimed at demonstrating the complete integration of a gasification plant and a combined cycle plant, fuelled by biomass. The basic idea is to demonstrate the technology rather than to tun a fully optimised plant. Flexible and conservative solutions were chosen for the plant layout and design, to ensure the success of the project and Co make the plant suitable for R D activities. 

Procurement of the major process equipment items began immediately, based on extrapolation of previous project data (without waiting for project-specific flowsheets and mass balance to be finalized). The basic data for the equipment would then become requirements for flowsheet and data sheet preparation, rather than vice versa. Design details arising out of plant layout could still be accepted several weeks after purchase commitment. 

Today, the learning cycle is even more constriaed, educing exposure to the design basics that are so issential to the development of the plant layout de-igner. 

Marked items marked are considered minimum data required for a HAZOP or What-If review to occur. This data basically contains the layout (plot plan) of the facility, the process design (P ID and process description) and how it will be controlled during an emergency (SAFE chart and fire protection plant). With this information the "experts" can understand the design and operating principles of the facility. Since the emergency isolation, depressurization and fire protection features are provided, it can be readily deduced how the facility will fare from a catastrophic incident. 

The selection of the production process and its layout is dictated in part by the volume of product needed and the flexibility needed in the production design. The level of capacity is another basic decision. This will dictate response times to customers and it will determine the volume of product the plant needs to be profitable. A final operating characteristic discussed is the presence of a physical bottleneck in the plant. This bottleneck controls the flow of work through the plant. The relevant issues about bottleneck and constraint management are discussed in greater detail in the next chapter, specifically relating to strategic selection of constraint locations. 

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