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Process Operability
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Process Operability

An integration of process design and operations

 

The material in this section provides teaching and learning materials for undergraduate education in process operability.  For the purposes of this presentation, operability is defined concisely in the following.

 

Operability encompasses characteristics that ensure the process has the capacity and flexibility to achieve a range of operating conditions safely, reliably, profitably and with good dynamic performance and product quality.

Operability must be considered at the design stage to ensure excellent dynamic operation can be achieved.  Therefore, the topic links the process control and process design courses, and the materials here are appropriate for either or both courses.

None of the content in operability is entirely new.  However, the integration of these many process systems engineering topics is novel.  They can be easily included in a process design course, with operability a natural topic after flowsheeting and before/integrated with equipment sizing and economic analysis.

 

In addition, the teaching and learning materials presented here are available at no cost to the student and to academic departments at not-for-profit academic institutions.

To introduce the operability concepts and present the compelling reasons for including operability in the undergraduate curriculum, a white paper and accompanying conference presentation are available.  If you are interested, they may be downloaded by clicking on the following icons.

Why is Operability Important, even Essential?

 

White paper

 

Presentation

Teaching and Learning Materials

 

These materials are copyrighted, but a special license for use is provided for the use at not-for-profit educational institutions.  For details, see PC-Education Disclaimer and Copyright.

Any other individuals or organizations should contact the author for terms of use.


Click on text for link to learning materials

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Operability topic

Class teaching visual aids*

Book chapter

 

 

 

Introduction

Introduction

1. Introduction

Operating Window

Operating window

2. Operating  Window

Flexibility

Process Flexibility

3. Flexibility

Reliability

Process Reliability

4. Reliability

Safety

The Safety Hierarchy

5. Safety

Pressure Relief

HAZOP – Identifying potential safety problems

LOPA – Selecting the appropriate safety systems

Process Control

See Section “Process Control Learning Support on this site

6. Process Control

Efficiency

Process Efficiency

X

Operations during Transitions

Operations during transitions

X

Monitoring and diagnosis

Process Monitoring

X

 

Process Troubleshooting

Refining TS Skills

9. Process Troubleshooting

 

 

 

 

 

Appendices

Process Control Equipment

See Section “Instrumentation for Process Control on this site

A. Process Control Equipment

*      Some of the teaching visual aids include copyrighted figures; the location of the original (URL or reference) is provided on the Power Point page with the figure.  The instructor is responsible for ensuring that the classroom use of these materials is consistent with copyright and intellectual property legislation (fair use, fair dealing, etc.) where the course is taught.  If not, the instructor is responsible for removing such copyrighted materials.