WELCOME TO

THE COURSE FOR

UTILITIES DESIGN &
CALCULATON
MUHAMMAD HANI
SR. PROCESS ENGINEER
B.E.(Chemical), MBA (Finance), M.E.
(Chemical)

COURSE OBJECTIVE
To learn
What

are different utilities

required in processing plants?
Why are they required?
How these utilities systems
design and works?
How we calculate/determine
capacity of utility system?

DIFFERENT UTILITIES
Following are different utilities
required in processing plants:
Plant

& Instrument Air System

Nitrogen Generation System
Raw/Treated Water System
Cooling Water System
Products Storage & Metering
Systems
Fuel Gas System

PLANT & INSTRUMENT AIR

Why is it required?
Plant

air required for

maintenance purposes.
Instrument air required for
pneumatic control of plant, used
in
Control Valve
Shutdown Valve
Blowdown Valve

Control Valve

Shutdown Valve

Blowdown Valve

Overview of Plant Air &

Instrument Air System

Instrument Air
Compressors

Plant Air Receiver

Normally size for10
min retention time.
Used in workshops,
utility stations, etc.

Instrument
Air Dryers
Dry
instrument
air to -40 C
dew point.
One (01) on
absorption
and Other
on
Regeneratio
n.

Instrument Air
Receiver
Normally size for
20 min retention
time.
Used in control
valve, shutdown
valve, blowdown
valve, etc.

Requirement Calculation-I
Plant air requirement is random, hence not
calculated.
For Instrument Air, different methods are used and
common in industries.
Method-1:
1.35 SCFM for each panel mounted small case
controller
0.65 SCFM for each field transmitter, controller,
and manual loading station
1.00 SCFM for each valve positioner or
transducer using under 40 psig air
2.00 SCFM for each valve positioner or
transducer using over 40 psig air

Requirement Calculation-II
Method-1I:
70%

of control valve operates in stable

condition hence requires steady state air
consumption only, while 30% is in unstable
condition hence requires transient air
consumption.
Shutdown valve / Blowdown Valve
Lets say 100% of the valve will operate
simultaneously for normal air demand
calculation.
Control valve in stable condition 0.3 scfm
Control valve in unstable condition 7 scfm

Requirement CalculationIII
Method-1II:
Most common method:
Control

valve 0.75 scfm

Shutdown valve / Blowdown
Valve 2 scfm
Take straight 30% margin on total
calculated value for design
capacity of Instrument Air
System.

Receiver Vessel Sizing

The receiver volume may be calculated using
the formula
where
V = volume of the receiver tank (cu ft)
t = time for the receiver to go from upper to
lower pressure limits (min)
qs = air flow (scfm)
pa= atmospheric pressure (14.7 psia)
p1 = maximum vessel pressure (psia)
p2 = minimum vessel pressure (psia)

Receiver Vessel Sizing

The table
below indicates
normal receiver
volumes at
given
consumptions.
The table is
based on a
design
pressure of 140
psig (9.5 bar).

NITROGEN GENERATION
SYSTEM
Why is it required?
Mainly used for
Purging

of equipments / piping
Blanketing of vessels / tanks
for safe operation.
Purity required is 99.9% pure.
Maximum oxygen allowable is 200
ppm.

Overview of
Nitrogen Generation System

Pre-Treatment

Pre-Filter Coalescer
Filter

Carbon Bed Filter

After

N2 Membrane

Nitrogen Receiver
Normally size
for 20 min
retention time.
Used for
purging and
blanketing for
safe
operation.

Requirement Calculation-I
Purging is of commonly two (02) types.
Displacement Purging:
The

nitrogen volume required to purge

equipment with a simple cross section is
determined using the following formula:
V = VoP/14.7

Where:

V = Total nitrogen volume required

(scf)
Vo = Water volume of pipeline (cf)
P = Absolute pressure of nitrogen in the
pipeline during purging (psia)

Requirement Calculation-II
Pressurization Purging:
Determined

by using this formula:

V = 1.2nVoP/Pa
Where: V = Total nitrogen volume required (scf)
Vo =

Water volume of vessel or tank (cf)

P = Absolute pressure after pressurization with
nitrogen (psia)
Pa = Absolute pressure after exhaust (psia)
n = Number of purges = C log C o/(log Pa log
P)
Co = Initial content of gas to be removed
C = Final content of gas to be removed

Blanketing (In-Breathing /
Out-Breathing)
In-breathing and out-breathing
calculations are carried out by API.
Depends on vessel pumping in / out
flow rates.
In pumping out nitrgen in-breath to
avoid vaccum and during pumping
in nitrogen out-breath to avoid over
pressure.

Blanketing (In-Breathing /
Out-Breathing)

Receiver Vessel Sizing

The receiver volume may be calculated using
the formula
where
V = volume of the receiver tank (cu ft)
t = time for the receiver to go from upper to
lower pressure limits (min)
qs = air flow (scfm)
pa= atmospheric pressure (14.7 psia)
p1 = maximum vessel pressure (psia)
p2 = minimum vessel pressure (psia)

Liquid Nitrogen Storage

Storage vessels are available on rental
basis and for purchase with typical sizes
i.e. 10 m3, 20 m3 .
Main components of system are:
Storage
Air
Or

Vessel

Vaporizer (capacity < 1000 Nm 3/hr)

Water Bath Heater (higher capacity)

Design pressure = Discharge pressure*1.1
or discharge pressure+1.8 kg/cm2,
Design temperature = -196 C
Operating conditions = -173 C @ 101.5
Psig

Main System

FUEL GAS SYSTEM

Why is it required?
Mainly used to fulfill energy
requirement
Burning

in Heaters/Furnaces
Power Generation
Compressor Engines
Fuel gas was also used for blanketing
purpose but now avoided because of
safety concerns.

Overview of
Fuel Gas System

Fuel Gas
System

ESSENTIAL OF FUEL GAS

Concept of Heating Value
Btu/scf
Efficiencies:
Combustion

Efficiency (~ 80%)
Burner Efficiency (~60%)
Turbine Efficiency (~ 55 65%)
Engine Efficiency (~ 40 %)
Above are typical efficiencies,
vendor provided actual efficiencies
based on their design.

Essential Of Fuel Gas

Electric Heater is required during
black start with raw gas available to
meet dew point at consumer battery
limit.
Pressure control valve in fuel gas
system is critical because of high
differential pressure to avoid brittle
fracture and hydrate formation.
Methanol injection points are
provided at upstream / downstream
of pressure control valve.

Requirement Calculation
Calculation of fuel gas requirement
is just applying efficiencies.
First requirement is calculated
from formula below:
Fuel flow = Heating duty / Heating
value
Typical heating value of fuel gas
(natural gas) is 970 Btu/scf.

Fuel Gas Vessel Sizing

Fuel gas vessel is size as typical
two (02) phase knock out drum.
Where,
K = Separation Factor
(Typical K = 0.2 0.35)
Vt = Terminal Velocity (m/s)
Dp = Droplet Size (m)
C = Drag Coefficient
QA = Actual Gas Flow (m3/s)

RAW/TREATED WATER SYSTEM

Why is it required?
Mainly used to fulfill water
requirement for
Cooling

Water System Make-up

Plant Water
Fire Water
Drinking Water
Demin Water

Types Of Treatment
Filtered Water
Multimedia Filters (30 Micron)
Contains three layers of media
consisting of
Anthracite

coal

Sand
Garnet
Gravel

(non-filtering) for
supporting

Types Of Treatment
Maintenance
Normal pressure (clean): 3-7 psi
Maintenance: 10 psi (above clean)
A backwash is performed by
reversing the flow of water.
The ideal backwash rate is 12-15
gpm/sq ft.

Types Of Treatment
Activated Charcoal Filters
For Color, Taste and Odor
Most activated carbons are made
from raw materials such as
nutshells, wood and coal.
Not regenerated by backwash but
removes any fines or suspended
matter.

Types Of Treatment
Cartridge Filters
Final filter element before Reverse
Osmosis.
Remove upto 0.5 micron
to 5 micron.

Types Of Treatment
Reverse
Osmosis
Passing high
pressure
water
through a
semi
permeable
membrane.

Types Of Treatment
Demin Water
Completely free (or almost) of dissolved
minerals by De-ionization Process.
Also called Hungry Water.
Deionizers (DI) remove both cations
and anions, releasing hydrogen ions
(H+) in exchange for the former, and
hydroxyl ions (OH-).
Deionizers categorized as "mixed bed",
containing both cation and anion resin
in a single vessel.

Types Of Treatment
Drinking Water
It requires UltraViolet (UV) treatment
after RO for bacteria (microorganism) removal.
Water Requirement
Typical requirement for calculation is
considered as 50 gallon per person
per day.
Typical gardening water requirement
is 3 gallon per ft2 per day.

STORAGE TANKS
Cone Roof Tanks Most Common
for atmospheric storage.

STORAGE TANKS
Floating Roof Tanks For Low
flash point fluids like naphtha,
gasoline, etc.

STORAGE TANKS
Dome Roof Tanks- For higher
pressure than atmospheric i.e.
pyrolysis gasoline, reformate, etc.

Condensate Flowmeters
Orifice Flow Meter
TheTurnDown Ratefor orifice plates
are less than 5:1. Their accuracy are
poor at low flow rates.
Turbine Flow Meter
The turndown ratios may be more
than 100:1 if the turbine meter is
calibrated for a single fluid and used
at constant conditions. Accuracy
may be better than +/-0.1%.

LPG or Liquified Gases

Flowmeter
Coriolis Flow Meter
The Coriolis flow meters are in general very
accurate, better than +/-0,1% with an
turndown rate more than 100:1.
The fluid to be measured runs through a Ushaped tube that is caused to vibrate in an
angular harmonic oscillation. Due to the
Coriolis forces, the tubes will deform and an
additional vibration component will be added
to the oscillation. This additional component
causes a phase shift on some places of the
tubes which can be measured with sensors.

Gas Flowmeter
Senior Orifice Flow Meter
Themost commonly use flow
meter.
Called senior orifice because
orifice can be changed online.