Brine Treatment Plant Construction

A chemical company which manufactures industrial inorganic chemicals planned to construct a new Brine Treatment Plant to double their manufacturing capacity at their Delaware City, DE, plant. This chemical manufacturer planned to modify their existing salt handling and brine production area with the addition of a weir installation and other modifications to the brine saturator pit. Additional areas within the plant construction included: pre-coat and body feed systems, filter press operations, brine guard filters installation, filtered brine tank, BIE processing skid with columns, pure brine storage tank and a recycle process water tank. All new equipment was housed in an approximately 6,500SF prefabricated metal building built on a concrete slab with depressed areas to accommodate the process demands.

TAI provided the engineering and design work needed for the plant construction project including the site civil engineering, permitting application and expediting, process piping design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and automation & controls engineering all based on a design/build approach. In addition, TAI provided minor architectural and structural support.

A summary of the base scope of work included in this project are as follows:

• Purchase Specifications and Equipment/Vendor submittal reviews for the process equipment and instrumentation.
• Site Civil, Process, Mechanical, Electrical and Controls engineering and design to prepare “Issued For Permit & Construction” drawings for the Brine Treatment Plant Scope of work.
• Engineering Project Management to expedite and coordinate the development of permit and construction documents.
• Project scheduling and permit expediting work to accelerate the project schedule.

Specifically, TAI provided the following:

TAI provided a Project Manager and personnel to manage Quality Assurance. TAI also prepared designs in accordance with applicable codes and standards including, but not limited to:  ISA, NFPA, NEC, ASME, API, ICC, and IBC.

TAI performed a Life Safety Code Analysis of the proposed building structure requiring personnel circulation and Performed a topographical survey of the area of work that included the following drawings: Demolition Plan, Layout & Geometry Plan, Grading Plan, Drainage Plan with Profiles, Utility Plan and Profiles, Storm Water Management Plan, Erosion & Sediment Control Plan and Site Details. For Permitting services, TAI obtained Development & Planning Department approval of proposed construction. Also, TAI designed and gained permits of storm water management/treatment and erosion/sediment control in accordance with New Castle County/DNREC code requirements.

TAI provided Process Engineering as follows:

• Conducted a field survey of both the Kearney and Delaware City plants in preparation of providing the process design documents.
• Prepared a Design basis document for customer review and approval.
• Reviewed initial P&IDs prepared by customer; Modified to 100% completion.
• Reviewed the mechanical process General Arrangement drawing completed by the customer to indicate equipment placement.
• Prepared detailed piping specifications for multiple piping systems and prepared a piping insulation specification.
• Provided 3D HD scanning the Kearney pertinent skid and module installations at the Delaware City location to establish existing conditions.
• Completed a 3D model for the equipment and piping layout for all piping services and provided two (2) model reviews at the customer’s current Delaware site.
• Provided isometric drawings for installation of process piping systems.
• The piping isometric drawings were provided for all piping 2″ diameter or greater. The isometrics included a detailed Bill of Material.  Locations of welds were field determined.
• Sized and specified process relief devices for the three (3) bulk storage tanks.
• Provided standard pipe support and hanger details.
• Provided design for saturator pit module/pumps saturator concrete repair and re-design, and the filter press monorail per discussion at the pre-proposal meeting.
• Provided a piping tie-in schedule for connections to the existing Delaware City building piping locations.
• Provided engineering to develop equipment specifications, RFP packages, and data sheets suitable for purchase of the following:

Bulk Storage Tanks

• (1) One Filtered Brine
• (1) One Pure Brine
• (1) One Recycle Process Water

• Filter Press(es)
• Guard Filters
• Brine Ion Exchange Rubber-lined Columns
• Valves
• Pumps
• Agitators
• Compressed Air System

Drawings provided:

• Process P&IDs
• General Equipment Arrangement Drawings
• Piping Arrangements
• Piping Supports
• Piping Details
• Piping Isometrics with Bills of Materials

TAI provided the following Mechanical Engineering:

• Provided a utility study to determine the adequacy of the systems for the following utilities; plant/dry air, De-mineralized Water, Potable Water, Hot Water and Steam & Condensate. TAI provided Utility P&ID’s as applicable.
• Prepared calculations and provided design for the building heating and ventilation addressing code requirements and the need to maintain the building above freezing.
• Provided design for the sump and the troughs to direct effluent flow as desired.
• Prepared a fire protection sprinkler performance specification to solicit and receive bids for the sprinkler installation work.
• Provided design and specification for the needed safety shower installation requirements.
• Provided isometric piping drawings for utility piping systems. The utility piping systems included plant/dry air, De-mineralized Water, Potable Water, Hot Water and Steam & Condensate.
• Provided stress analysis calculations for the steam and condensate piping installations.

TAI’s Electrical Engineering included:

• Design and engineering personnel coordinated with process and mechanical drawings to acquire load information and allowable space dimensions for the electrical distribution equipment. Met with customer’s project and operations personnel to obtain clear input on the project’s requirements.
• Coordinated with the Building MEP engineer to ensure the entire project’s Electrical design, including grounding and Lightning Protection was complete.
• Designed the electrical distribution from existing plant power source to a new MCC for all process and building loads.  Responsible for the design of all electrical distribution and local motor control (HOAs).
• Provided a Cable tray design for power and control cable as needed in the processing area of the plant.
• Provided the Heat Trace design for a small amount of required heat tracing.

Drawings provided:

• Single line diagram
• MCC and Panel schedules
• Power Plan drawings
• Grounding Plan
• Lighting Plan
• Lightning Protection Plan
• Heat Trace Drawings
• Conduit block diagrams
• Conduit and tray routing details
• Conduit and Wiring Schedules
• Junction box layout drawings
• Termination detail drawings

TAI’s Instrumentation, Automation and Process Controls Engineering provided:

• TAI provided the following project Controls Equipment:
  • Level, Flow, Temperature, and Pressure Transmitters
  • High-Level Switches
  • On-Off Control Valves (with Limit Switch feedback)
  • Proportional Control Valves (with Position feedback)
• TAI provided agitator, pump and motor control details.
• TAI provided the design of instrumentation and controls wiring for all equipment.
• TAI provided specification and design for an I/O Panel, pneumatics Panel, junction boxes, and control room modifications with appropriate termination drawings, per the customer’s requirements.
• TAI provided all new DeltaV DCS hardware, configuration, and programming. This was an extension to an existing DeltaV installation. The programming for all new process equipment for operations was phased in as the new production equipment was available. The phased implementation allowed for the continuation of existing production that was eventually replaced by the new, extended facility.
• TAI provided a new Brine Ion Exchange (BIE) PLC and HMI for local visibility and control of this portion of the process. The new PLC was connected to the DeltaV system to allow graphical representation and supervisory control of the BIE process on the DeltaV operator interface stations.
• TAI purchased and installed all new instrumentation and controls equipment. TAI provided the start-up commissioning services to assure proper operation of the processes and comfort level of the operators using the new control system graphics.
• A full set of schematic drawings was provided.

Drawings provided:

• Electrical control & Instrument Location Plan drawings
• Conduit block diagrams
• Wire and Conduit Schedule
• Conduit and tray routing details (Coordinated with electrical)
• Junction box layout drawings
• Termination detail drawings
• Motor wiring diagrams

TAI provided the engineering and design work needed for the plant construction project including the site civil engineering, permitting application and expediting, process piping design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and automation & controls engineering all based on a design/build approach. In addition, TAI provided minor architectural and structural support. TAI’s multidiscipline services enabled the client a one-stop shop to streamline project requirements and complete the project on time and on budget.