Debottlenecking Project Support

It is standard practice for processing facility operators to enhance their operating capacity and profitability through debottlenecking and modernization projects. These projects often involve significant changes to the equipment design, layout, operating conditions of the unit or facility in question and may be in response to changes in feedstock or desired products. Changing any of these parameters generally results in a change to the facilities process safety systems as these systems are heavily dependent on the process details, not commonly over designed and are often identified as one of the major bottlenecks for a throughput increase project.

Inglenook helps our clients identify the specific emergency shutdown, blowdown, pressure relief and effluent handling system components associated with specific changes to the process. A typical project may include the identification of rate- and, if applicable, composition- dependent scenarios requiring a relief system update, potential changes to the facilities emergency shutdown and blowdown philosophy as well as an evaluation of the effluent handling system design basis to ensure its accuracy in light of any changes to the blowdown or relief loads that may be required.

When required, Inglenook provides recommendations to resolve any bottlenecks identified with respect to the facilities process safety systems. These recommendations typically include the replacement of the existing relief devices with larger orifice areas to increase relief capacity, pressure vessel rerating to allow higher set pressure and process changes to reduce relief requirements. Occasionally, recommendations pertaining to the effluent handling system may be necessary. In these cases, Inglenook will identify specific pipe segments that may require modification and when possible alternatives that could also be employed such as reducing a blowdown valves flow rate or switching to a relief valve that can handle higher back pressure. Alternatively, Inglenook can determine the maximum throughput the unit can operate at without exceeding the capacity of these existing relief systems.

During the course of the project, Inglenook will update the emergency shutdown and blowdown philosophy, relief system design basis and effluent handling system design basis documents for the agreed upon changes to the process, ensuring that the client has a complete and accurate set of process safety information for the completed project.

Check out our Resource Library, particularly our Fireside Chats blog, for more insights.

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