Assessment task description - Assessment

Unit learning outcomes addressed:

• Perform Hazard Identification
• Carry out a Hazard and Operability study.
• Work through a P&ID diagram, design of safety systems
• Understand an Environmental Management System
• Perform Environmental Impact Assessments
• Quantitatively predict the effect of a process on the environment.

Overview -

This task is an individual exercise which evaluates your understanding of the process of identification, assessment and control of safety and environmental hazards.

You are a Process Engineer with company Ethanol QED proposing to construct a new distillery adjoining the Rocky Point sugar factory 50 km south of Brisbane. The distillery will use steam from a previously mothballed low pressure boiler and there will be a new bulk storage of final molasses on site. New adjacent land will need to be purchased and approved to fit the new plant. It is currently planned that the distillery will use conventional technology to produce 30 Mega litres of ethanol per year. Additional sources of molasses will be required which will be delivered using road transport from other suppliers.

There is a fed batch process involved in which a fermentation tank is supplied with yeast and diluted molasses and is converted to dilute ethanol and other products, with carbon dioxide being exhausted from the tank. Temperature control is required for optimum ethanol production. Once a tank is full, it will be disconnected from the front process, and accessed by the ethanol distillation plant.

What you will do

1. You will need to understand and explain the basic process for a sugar cane molasses distillery producing 95% ethanol as its main product. Identify the key components of safety and environmental legislation and regulations under which the facility will likely be captured. Develop preliminary process information to inform the safety and environmental hazard assessment. This may include:

a. A brief process description;

b. Description of key unit operations;

c. Process & instrumentation diagram;

2. Description of process materials including raw materials, process additives, products and waste streams. For the production rate given above and investigated ratios of chemical production, estimate the production rates of chemical flows (in kg/s). You do not need to calculate heating flow requirements. Undertake an initial safety hazard assessment of the proposed facility including:

a. Identification of key hazards;

b. Assessment of raw material, chemical storage requirements and product transportation issues.

Please reference your source(s) of process information.

3. Once you have the above information, carry out a HAZOP of the equipment and process shown in the attached process flow diagram. Make the required additions to the diagram.

4. Describe the steps required leading up to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as described in the Queensland Government website and as noted in your lecture notes. Carry out an EIS. Include:

a. Assessment of potential impacts of the facility on water, land and air systems;

b. Assessment of process waste streams; You will need to include the consideration of options for the disposal and/or reuse of the byproduct 'vinasse' after the mash is fully processed, as well as the product chemicals noted in the attached process flow diagram and

c. Mitigation options for the issues that have been identified including consideration of process alternatives.

As an indication, the main body of the report should be approximately 3000 words not counting tables, figures, drawings, references, etc. The report should include:

• Title page
• Table of contents
• Table of figures / tables
• Executive summary
• Main body of the report
• Conclusions
• References
• Appendices if required

Assignment Files -

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6z9vhonc2j6biqr/Assignment%20Files.rar?dl=0

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar