"The project has been a tremendous success for our team, through all phases from Scoping to Operating. It has created significant goodwill between our client and their stakeholders, who are regularly updated regarding the plant's improved performance."
Geoffrey Constable
Technical Director
Scoping (Laboratory Testing), FEED and Detailed Design
Confidential
18 Months
$ Confidential
We were engaged by our client to investigate confidential quality problems that they had been experiencing at their onshore facility. This initial Scoping work included upfront investigation of the system chemistry and a suite of laboratory testing to confirm findings. Work then continued into FEED and Detailed Design for the changes required to bring the facility back within operating limits, and included further laboratory testing and iterations of the facility design as favourable results were achieved, and the client looked to lock in these operational improvements.
The initial (Scoping) phase of this project was led by our process team. The team was briefed by the client, and we recommended they undertake some laboratory testing to better understand the chemistry of the problem they were experiencing. After completing background research we recommended the testing to be performed, which was agreed with the client. Uniquely we were then able to mobilise our process team to site to complete the laboratory testing, instead of calling upon a third party laboratory to do this work.
The laboratory testing was successful and provided many insights. This allowed us to complete further iterations of testing, all the while problem-solving for the issues that arose during each subsequent iteration. After a number of iterations we were then in a position to advise the client on what a proposed plant modification would look like, which was agreed to.
At this stage we engaged our multi-discipline team of process, piping, rotating equipment, civil, structural, electrical, and instrumentation, to complete the FEED and Detailed Design activities, with the design including:
As is typical for projects of this type, it was important to progress the work expeditiously, to show all stakeholders that progress was being made. Our team showed outstanding commitment to the timeline required by the client, plus the need to regularly travel to the site for extended periods to support the assignment.
The project, with its initial emphasis on developing an in-depth understanding of the process chemistry, followed by devising laboratory testing, interpreting the test findings, and then coming up with a concept design for a plant scale solution was a good fit for us. The leadership, analysis, and problem-solving shown by our process team was world class, and this team was well-supported by the other engineering disciplines, as they were each brought onto the project.
The project has been a tremendous success for our team, through all phases from Scoping to Operating. It has created significant goodwill between our client and their stakeholders, who are regularly updated regarding the plant's improved performance. Due to this success, which resolved the key items of concern, our client has retained us to work on subsequent issues that have been uncovered.