I think this is my first time I learnt about Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB). I’ve ever learnt about anaerobic wastewater treatment, however I don’t have any idea about UASB and what the differences are. Since I am responsible as engineer in wastewater treatment package, I need to learn about UASB (there is a possibility that this system will be included in the package).
What is Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket? Read More
You always need to find a bright side of a simple task. For example, copy, paste, and modify piping material specification, specification for coating and wrapping, and piping design. Yesterday I did this! At the first time I thought this was a very ridiculuous task yet unimportant. I’ve ever seen a drafter did this. But I found a bright side of this task which is a chance to learn.
My objective is very simple. I want to understand what other people are talking about, when piping is their topic. I want to undestand the terms and imagine what they are looked like. That’s all. I think this is a good step to learn about piping.
Piping system has a lot of terms. So, it is impossible to write and describe all of them. In this post I want to share a brief explanation about piping system. As long as I understand them, it’s oke 🙂 Read More
Now I undestand. People said experience is the best teacher. I think that’s true.
I have already follow procurement of several equipment package since the beginning. I compared my preparation and others (especially preparation of engineers from our head company). My preparation was way way incomplete. I felt the effect right now.
One of my colleague asked me if the internal of pressure vessel in water treatment plant will be spark tested or not. The purpose of spark testing is to determine if there are leaks in the rubber lining and identify the locations. It is a mandatory test in rubber lining tanks.
So, what is the problem? The problem is, for any reason, the appointed vendor cannot perform the test. They just give us the guarantee that there will be no leaks in the lining.
I have googled and found that some vendors perform pre- and post-cure inspection for rubber linings. I got to understand that the test was very important.
Back to the topic. I wish I could turn back time and wrote on my technical bid tabulation and requisition, and data sheet about the point. I did not have spend time to focus in such details. That’s something which is not our concern at the beginning and at the last it became a problem.
Lesson learnt: be detail in making technical bid tabulation. Consider many factors. Ask your colleague or somone who has more experience than you.
Yesterday I had enough time to increase my basic knowledge in chemical engineering because I had finished my works. Then, I stumbled upon this link and started to think about my piping and instrumentation diagram. I realized I had make a fundamental mistakes. I felt useless.
I am writing this post so that I will remember my mistakes and never try to do it again. Hope you find it useful.
Remember everyone! Pressure gauge shall be installed after pump discharge nozzle and before check valve. The consequence is if you have two pumps (one is running and another is stand by, then you have to install two pressure gauge). The reason is:
Yesterday I got a quite tough and long discussion with one of fire extinguisher product vendor. I learned that I need to define what I really want, what scope of supply is, and what scope of works is. The discussion became very unefficient at the beginning because of those issues. My action was late so that I could not control the discussion. Fortunately, it was clear at the end.
I have created material take off for fire extinguisher and other related products, such as hose reel, potable fire extinguisher, manual alarm pull station, smoke detector, hydrant pillar, hydrant box, siamese connection, and water spray for the tanks. However, there were several issues that has not been addressed. Honestly, the discussion broadened my knowledge because the vendor has a lot of experience (I think). In this post, I want to share to you some of the points. Read More
I want to share you something important that maybe you’ve already known: job description and qualification of process engineer. My boss reminded me this at company’s manual meeting two weeks ago.
Qualification of Project Engineer (Including Process Engineer) Read More
The opportunity to witness Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) of pumps came to me. About a week ago I visited our vendor’s factory at Industrial zone in Pulogadung, Indonesia. Our plan was to witness the performance of three different pumps.
Our pumps were not API pumps therefore the performance test procedure was quite simple and quick. The performance test of one pump took less than 30 minutes. However, the preparation, such as mobilization of pump, installation, make sure there’s no leak in the pipe, took longer time than the test itself.
There are several parameters to be checked during test, suction head, discharge head, rpm, power, voltage, bearing temperature, vibration level, and noise level. The pumps were operated under different flow rate, such as 0%, 25%, 50%, 100%, and 120% capacity, and at minimum flow. Those parameters were checked at different flow condition.
After we got the actual parameters, we plotted on the graphs. Then we compare the actual performance with design performance. The deviation shall not more than 6%.
Today, the project manager our EPC project asked me to participate in water chiller inspection in Cileungsi, Bogor, Indonesia. It was my first time. So, I felt a bit excited as well as confused. On that inspection, my role was to inspect the equipment and the technical aspects. I actually did not have any idea about the equipment, except the function.
Simply, we can say water chiller is a refrigeration device. It is used to cool a process fluid. A chiller will use either a vapor compression or absorption cycle to cool.
Type of Industrial Chiller
Figure blow shows type of industrial chiller.
Component of Chiller
The basic component of chiller are compressor, evaporator, condenser, and thermostatic expansion valve.
A few weeks ago I got a discussion about wastewater treatment system in our proposed plant. I discussed with one of my colleague. He said, “Let the nature works! Let it process the wastewater by itself”. It sounds weird at the first time. But he’s right and he’s a bit wrong.
He’s right because the natural water in streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoir have a natural waste assimilative capacity to remove solids, organic matter, even toxic chemicals in wastewater. He’s a bit wrong because the process takes a really long time. That’s why we need wastewater treatment system to make it quick (read more in Water and Wastewater Calculation Manual). Read More
I just got an opportunity to witness hydrostatic test for boilers in my recent EPC project. Hydrostatic test is the most common procedure used to qualify newly manufactured pressure pressure. The purpose is to make sure here is no leak in the boiler.
The procedure was quite simple yet important. Pressure parts shall be subjected to a hydrostatic test pressure which at every point is at least equal to:
1.5 times the MAWP (Maximum Allowable Working Pressure) for ASME section I code.
1.3 times the MAWP for ASME section VIII Div. I code
(The MAWP may be assumed to be the same as the design pressure)
The design pressure of my boilers is 10 barg. When this test applied, the QC engineer increased the pressure of boiler to 10 barg and hold it for 15 minutes. They checked visually the internal of boiler if there’s a leak. Unfortunately, there’s no digital recorder available to record the pressure of boiler during the test. So, we needed to check by our naked eyes the pressure gauge.
After 15 minutes, the increased the pressure to 15 barg at hold it for an hour. After that, they decreased the pressure to 10 barg again, hold it for 15 minutes, then decreased again to 1 barg. The inspection was done visually.