Case Studies : Value Engineering - Chemical Industry

An existing chemical facility in South Africa was to be redesigned to produce slightly different products. A key requirement was that the new design should operate at a higher efficiency than the existing facility. The plant operator had completed conceptual engineering and had performed considerable test work and simulation to finalise the process flow scheme.

When it was suggested that value engineering might improve the design there was considerable scepticism. However, the client was open-minded and the engineering team persuasive and it was agreed that the exercise would proceed. The value engineering facilitator prepared the relevant documentation and functional flow diagrams.

A representative of the operator who was intimately involved with the conceptual design and several contractor engineers from different disciplines met for 2 sessions, each of which lasted for 4 hours. During these well-planned and carefully facilitated sessions, 12 ideas were generated, of which 6 were deemed practical. The most significant idea that emerged from these focused brainstorming sessions was to change a column configuration from parallel to series, thereby saving significant condenser and reboiler costs and improving the energy efficiency tremendously.

The idea was refined and implemented. Overall, the capital cost saving was about R1 million (5% of total capital), with an operating cost saving of about R4 million/year.

A case study from AVEC – adding value through innovation