Many organisations are not in a position to invest significant capital sums to add or upgrade an existing plant. Therefore, optimising their existing processes can often be a fruitful means of improving safety, productivity and efficiency with modest levels of investment.
- Examples of where we’ve helped clients with their existing processes:
- Checking actual vs design performance. For example, a pump running well away from its curve or a distillation column where there is significant deviation between number of actual and theoretical plates.
- Reconfiguration of process and utility streams to improve energy recovery.
- Identification of bottlenecks with practical value-adding solutions. For example:
- Cooling tower limiting production rates during summer
- Reboiler heat exchanger that may need frequent cleaning causing the plant to have planned shutdowns and subsequent lost production.
- Option evaluation for all the above examples with benefits and risk analysis plus selection of the most practical and cost-effective option.