Plant Revamps and Upgrades — Engineering Considerations

The decision to revamp existing process plant rather than build new is driven by economics, constraints and strategic considerations. Where an existing plant has established infrastructure, permits and operational history, revamping to increase capacity or improve performance is often more cost-effective than a greenfield project.

Common drivers for revamp projects include throughput increase requirements, changes in feed composition or product specification, equipment reliability or integrity issues, regulatory compliance requirements such as emissions limits, and energy efficiency improvement programmes.

Revamp engineering begins with an assessment of the existing plant against the revamp objectives — establishing what the current plant can deliver, what the limiting constraints are, and what changes are required to meet the target performance.

This assessment — sometimes called a revamp study or pre-FEED — identifies the equipment and systems that require modification or replacement, the interfaces with equipment that can remain unchanged, and the constraints imposed by the existing infrastructure such as piping, structures and area plot limits.

Brownfield engineering — engineering within or adjacent to an operating plant — presents challenges not present in greenfield work. The engineering team must work with accurate as-built information for existing systems, understand the operating history and current condition of equipment, and design changes that can be implemented safely and efficiently within the constraints of the existing plant.

Scope definition is critical in revamp projects. Changes to one part of a process system frequently have implications for interconnected systems — hydraulic impacts on piping and relief systems, electrical load changes, structural implications of equipment changes, and control system modifications. A thorough scope review is needed to identify all secondary impacts.

Revamp projects can be executed under various delivery models — FEED followed by EPC, study and direct execute, or engineering and procurement with owner-provided construction. The selection depends on the project size, complexity, risk profile and owner preference.

Construction and installation on a brownfield site requires careful planning around plant outage windows, tie-in sequences and the management of interfaces between new and existing systems. The construction plan and commissioning sequence must be aligned with the process engineering to ensure a safe and efficient transition to the revamped operating configuration.

Some revamps involve upgrading the process technology within an existing plant — for example, replacing the electrostatic internals in a desalter vessel with a higher-performance configuration, replacing PSA adsorbent with a more effective material, or upgrading the control system for an existing adsorption or treating unit.

These technology-focused revamps can deliver significant performance improvements with relatively limited physical plant modification, and are an area where Howe Baker's process technology expertise adds specific value.

Howe Baker provides engineering and EPC services for plant revamps and upgrades. The company's engineering capability covers process assessment, FEED, detailed engineering and EPC delivery for revamp projects in refinery, gas processing, hydrogen and petrochemical plant. Revamp services are available for Howe Baker-designed equipment and for equipment designed by others.