Self-directed learning project - 2012
Revision as of 05:23, 12 November 2012 by Kevin Dunn (talk | contribs)
Three memos have been posted regarding group work and the SDL project:
| Memo date | Link | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 September 2012 | Group norms and cover letters | |
| 24 September 2012 | SDL project selection and report contents | |
| 24 October 2012 | Further details on the project and presentation | |
| 12 November 2012 | Further details on the project and presentation |
Informal hints
As you work through your project, here are some questions you should be addressing. Note that there is no structure to the questions here, these are just ideas that should lead you to think about your project topics.
- Where can I get a detailed flowsheet, especially showing the control loops?
- Size of the units: why are they that size?
- What is typical production capacity?
- Why are there redundancies in the flowsheet (redundant valves, pumps, are they in series or parallel)?
- What are the operating bounds of critical safety variables in the plant?
- Where are the safety systems (or deficiencies in the safety systems)? Alarms, interlocks, and relief values how are the instrumented, operated, and reacted to? Where is containment for the relief systems?
- Any recent troubles that occurred with product (troubleshooting), such as bad quality, off-specification product, or low throughput? What was the true/suspected causes?
- How is the process shut down and started up? What is the sequencing for it? How are integrated units, such as furnaces, recycle streams and heat exchangers operated during this time?
- What are some alternative ways of producing the product? Why was this flowsheet/technology/design selected?
- What are typical operating costs?
- Can you estimate the capital cost of this flowsheet?
- How would you run a HAZOP on an important unit in this flowsheet? Who would you involve in the HAZOP? What would be the likely changes required to bring the process to a state of "inherent safety"?
- Are there transitions from one operating point to another? Does the company/flowsheet produce multiple grades of products? How is this transition done (sequencing)?
- Does the flowsheet have some interesting operational characteristics? Such as utility integration (steam, electricity, chilled water), or different operating points to gain higher efficiencies. Why are temperature, pressure, flows (i.e. the state variables in the plant) held at certain points?