Strategy behind P&ID

The piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) above were designed after performing the hazard study 2 on the area of study and finalised after
performing hazard study 3. It was designed with consideration of the major factors that can have potential hazards to the plant, production, and personnel.
The batch reactor, the storage tanks are the majors’ equipment of the crystallisation area that requires strong control in order to operate in stables
conditions
all type of reactor, temperature is one of the major parameter of the crystallisation reactor that needs to be controlled. In fact, increase or decrease of the
reaction temperature affects the products and may even cause damage to the equipment and workers. As the reaction is exothermic, a cooling jacket
would be required to remove the heat produce. The coolant flow is control by a control valve. In case of any temperature deviation, the flow rate of the
coolant is control via a cascade control strategy. This cascade control strategy consists of a temperature transmitter, installed on the reactor, sending the
temperature recorded via an electric signal to the temperature indicator controller which is in the control room. The temperature indicator controller in
turn sends a relay to the flow indicator controller which finally regulates the flow by monitoring the opening of the control valve hence allowing the exact
flow needed to remove the surplus heat. In case of failure of the control valve, the control valve should be designed to fail open in order to avoid the case
of rupture of the equipment. To notice failure of instrumentation equipment or the control valve of the reactor, a temperature indicator is installed on the
reactor to display the temperature of the reaction. The temperature indicator will be often checked to make sure all equipment is working properly.
Furthermore, the speed of the impeller must be controlled. The impeller speed can go above or below the normal operating rotational speed of the
impeller due to drop in efficiency of the motor or a certain problem with the impeller itself. In order to maintain the speed within the safe operating
envelope, a speed transmitter displays the proper speed of the impeller measured to the control room via an electrical signal between the speed
transmitter and the speed indicator controller. The speed controller in turn makes a judgment to allow the motor to deliver more or less power to the
impeller depending on the hazardous event.

In addition, a rupture disc is fitted on the top of the reactor in the case of deviation in pressure. The bursting disc is designed at a pressure below the design
pressure. So the pressure of the pressure relief system (rupture disc) is at 1.4 𝑏𝑎𝑟 whereas the design pressure is 1.6 𝑏𝑎𝑟. If the pressure of inside increase
in any means to 1.4 bar, the disk will break hence releasing the pressure to the atmosphere.

In addition, another important factor that might cause warn to the production is inadequate proportions of the raw materials to the reactor. As stream M
and stream H are filled simultaneously into the reactor, a ratio controller is used to maintain appropriate proportion of each of them inside the reactor after
filling time. The ratio controller works as follow: the flow transmitter sends a relay to the ratio controller which was already set with the ratio of reactant. In
turn, the ratio controller sends a signal to the other flow indicator controller which is located in the control room. This flow
controller acts on the control valve to allow the transfer of more flow or restriction of flow. As HCl enters the reactor after streams M and O are filled, the
control system put in place on the stream O is a simple flow ratio in a feedforward strategy.

HCl is filled after streams M and H because stream H contains water and a possible runaway reaction can occur when pouring water on strong acid.
However, the reverse way (Pouring acid on water) is not dangerous. Therefore the safer manner consists of pouring the streams containing water and then
the stream of the strong acid follows.
The reactor operating batch wise which means nothing can be added or removed to the reactor so in case of increase or decrease of the P H of the solutions
outside the standard operating envelope (SOE). However a good control of the flow of reactants will normally result in a P H inside the SOE. As show in the
P&ID diagram, the PH control strategy consist of the PH transmitter sending a signal to the emergency shutdown located control room in case of major
deviation of the PH.

A discharge manual valve is installed at the outlet of the reactor. This valve will be closed until the batch is ready to be transfer or in a major hazard event.
This discharge valve is also linked to the low-level control system puts in place
Storage tanks:

Only level controller along with low level alarm is required for the different storage tanks. These are incorporated in order to avoid the storages tanks to
collapse. When the Level transmitter level below the low-level set, the alarm triggered, an operator is therefore sent to close the control valve. In case of
operator error, a tripping system is installed to automatically stop the pump.

General observation

One general observation noticeable on the piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) is the position of the different check valves which are directly placed
after every pump on the area. Indeed, reverse flow degrades equipment performance and cause significant water hammer. Reverse flow are caused by loss
in pressure when the pumps trip out of service. Check valve is usually used to prevent such event. In fact, check valves start closing when the forward
velocity is near zero and the pressure at the outlet of the valve exceeds the pressure at the inlet of the valve. So the check valve install will prevent possible
pump failure and reverse flow.

Alternatively, a power assisted valve (PVA) could have been used to make the same job as the check valve, the only difference is that the PVA does not start
closing at the time of flow reversal, but start closing when the pump trips.

Check valve was chosen because of its fast respond time.

Moreover, all globe valves (control valve) are sized to operate ½ open.

Start up

Before starting the process, commissioning takes place which consist of practical test of adequacy of prior preparation. The commissioning is to make sure
that the area of the plant is fully operational, and it is ready for its purpose.
First thing to do during commissioning of the area is to make sure that the pipework and the major equipment are clean and fit for their purpose. After the
general checking of the equipment and pipeline, the heating and cooling systems are checked to make sure their can heat (for heat exchanger) to the
desired temperature (25℃) by controlling the steam flow rate via the Glove valves (GV-704, GV-705 and GV-706) and cool the reactor to the desired
temperature by regulating the flow rate of coolant via GV-707. During this experiment, all the other ancillary equipment (other valves, pumps) are checked
to verify their performance. The instrumentation systems are inspected and finally the flushing and cleaning of pipelines and reactor are performed to
remove any leftover materials.

after the commissioning is done and the equipment is ready, the process begins by simultaneous transfer of the streams M and H to the reactor. To do so,
the respective pumps and valves of these streams will activate and open respectively to allow flow to go to the reactor. Moreover after 30 min, the control
valves of these streams will close; hence the pumps will stop as well.

Moreover HCL will start flowing after that first 30 min and it will be allowed to flow during 30 min. the same procedure of pump and valve activation and
deactivation will happen for that stream.

After 1 hour, all the materials will be in the reactor in a good proportion if any hazardous event occurs, the motor of the impeller is then switch on by an
operator; thus the reaction starts.

Shutdown :

When the reaction reaches the reaction temperature, the speed decrease slowly until it stops rotating. Moreover, the drain valve of the reactor is then
opened which allow the product to flow out of the reactor for about 25 minutes. After that a general cleaning is performed on the area of the reactor for
about 20 min and the equipment is ready the following batch.

Emergency procedures :

In case of emergency in the deviation of the parameter, the plant is suitably fitted to carry out such event. For example in case rapid increase in pressure,
the bursting disc incorporated on the reactor will automatically release the pressure when the pressure reaches its bursting pressure. However, in case
these controls strategy fails to stop the emergency, automatic shutdown must be carry out manually by senior engineer. Moreover emergency protocol
must be followed. In case these are not planned, all workers must evacuate the area.