Pre-Commissioning and Commissioning

1. Preparation

• Project should be broken into systems and sub systems
• Engineering lists, equipment, instrument, line, and cables list, should be provided

2. Execution

During execution, there is a punch list including work not conforming to contract specifications with priorities of A , B, and C.

Hot work: involves working with a source of ignition like sparks or open flame.

Cold work: no source of ignition

Pre-Commissioning

• Conformity Checks (CCK): Equipment, cold alignment, package, structures/buildings, installation, and cabling checks
• The material should be ordered by the customer. The material has to be checked by TÜV with the following documents in the warehous. After the approval of TÜV, the equipment items can be given to the company for the montage and tests.In the warehouse, there are 6 meter and 12 meter pipeline.
• As there are only 6 and 12 meters pipeline in the warehouse, the rest of the pipeline, 2 meters,.., can be stored in the white and black warehouses. In the white warehouse, stainless steel should be stored, while in the black warehouse, C- Steel will be stored, since the rust from c-steel should not damage the stainless steel.
• APZ (Abnahmeprüfungszeugnis): is a proof of quality of pipeline or any other equipment. Every pipeline should have an APZ-number. If you cut a pipeline, the pipeline should be checked from the manufacturer: Rotational check/Earthing/Sealing/Direction/Material (Piping class)/Ex-Check
• ZÜS (Zugelassene Überwachungsstellen)
• Provided material from manufacturer should be delivered in the warehous. TÜV controls the most equipment items. After the Then, they will be sent to the prefabrication hall for hydrotest (mostly with water). The welding will be done in the prefabrication hall. It means that all welded valves and pipes should be assembled. The required checklists, such as non destructive test (zerstörungsfreie Prüfung) for welding points, should be conveyed. At this point, pre-fabrication is finished.
• Piping from workshop (pre-fabrication), the pipes should be assembled in the field. Then, a corrosion protection should be added for C-steel pipeline using a zinc layer or painting. After that, the isolation should be added to the pipeline in the field. A hydro-test has to be done again.
• Piping Tests (PIP): Piping hydro tests , vessels and tanks static tests, equipment flushing and cleaning, and gross air leak test after re-instatement of valves.
• WPS (Welding Procedure Specification): is a procedure proved by TÜV, which should be used for every welding. The welding point should be like V in order to convey welding with electrode.
• If the pipeline should be welded, the temperature of welding material should be checked accoridng to the pipeline list to see whether it can tolerate the operating temperature.
• Post weld heat treatment (PWHT) is a controlled process in which a material that has been welded is reheated to a temperature below its lower critical transformation temperature, and then it is held at that temperature for a specified amount of time. In this process, the heating rate and the rate are very important to have the required crystals.
• Zersörungsfreien Prüfung (ZFP), Nondestructive Test: the range of the NDT tests is wide varying from visual examination to radiography and even ultrasonic tests for the finished products.
• Kerbschlagprüfung (Charpy impact test): is a standardized high strain-rate test that determines the amount of energy absorbed by a material during fracture. It is just like a penetration to check the toughness of a material.
• Eindringprüfung (Dye penetrant inspection): is a widely applied and low-cost inspection method used to check surface-breaking defects in all non-porous materials. If a welded valve should be dismantled, this test should be conveyed to check the cracks.
• Cold Cutting (Kaltschneid-Technik) refers to cutting pipe without the use of heat from a torch (hot cutting) where open flame is used. A series of serious incidents have contributed to the development of cold cutting technology to advance pipeline repair safety. A main contributor of these incidents is the presence of hydrocarbons (a basic building block of energy products) in pipelines that creates a potentially hazardous situation when pipeline repairs, modifications or decommissioning are needed.
• For the transport of pipeline, the flanged valves should not be installed, because the sealing surface should be flat for installing the sealing. In case of the installation of flanged valves,the sealing surface would not be flat.
• Pressure test (Hydro-test): The test pressure is highly dependent on the medium and compressibility, gas or liquid. Since gas ist incompressible, the test pressure should be 1,3 times the design pressure, while for liquid, it is 1,5 times the design pressure. After testing, all lines shall be completely drained. Since the ambient temperature has an influence on the pressure in the pipeline, a profile of temperature and pressure will be measured to see, whether there is a leakage during performing the test.
• Pressure test (pneumatic): is only done, when water is not available. During this test, a high temperature drop causing metal failure should be avoided.
• Chemical cleaning: includes acid cleaning, pickling, passivating (a protective film in chemically cleaned surface for C-Steel) and degreasing through the use of soap like trisodium phosphate. Before cleaning, material test exposed to the cleaning solution for 24 hours should be done. For chemical cleaning, all flanged valves and orifices must be replaced by spool pieces and spacers.
• Drying: to dry the system before reinstatement.
• Reinstatement: installation or re-installation of removable pipe spools, valves, vents, drains, spectacle plates, blinds, flange spacers, Strainer, meter tube, straightening vanes, flow meter, orifice fitting, Pressure Indicators, Temperature, Temperature Indicatiors,etc. Check for proper functioning of pumps and rotating equipment, check for correct installation of all valves, check all strainers for proper mesh size …
• After reinstatement, all revelant DCS and ESD functions should be checked for flushing.
• For flushing, there is an inspection and test plan (ITP) to define the sequence of inspection steps to be performed and the range of specifications.
• Flushing (water): the removal of all construction dirt with acceptance criteria for flushing: a velocity of 1.5 * operating velocity, which can be gaind by use of an extra pump or reduce of pressure drop. If there is a need to open the manhole and have a visual inspection, some safety programs such as Freimessen (measurement of the component concentration) should be done prior to opening manhole or closing (box-up).
• Flushing (steam): Pipe class should be checked. The pipe class should be also designed for vacuum. Steam can be condensed and this causes vacuum.
• Air blowing: the removal of all construction dirt with acceptance criteria for flushing: a velocity of 1.5 * operating velocity , when water is not available. It should be substituted for steam blowing, if the steam velocity ( 3 times maximum operating velocity) is not achievable.
• Leak test: check for any leak after reinstatement. Nitrogen for lines connected to flare and air for the rest. The temperature drop causing metal failure should be avoided
• Static tests (STS): Electrical insulation tests, E/I/T continuity tests, instrument calibrations, and equipment alignments

Commissioning

After mechanical completion, commissioning activities can be perfomed.

• Preliminary Checks (PRC): Witness pre-commissioning tasks, sub-system walk down, and review pre-commissioning dossier
• Functional Test (FTS): Electrical loop tests such as stroke test for controlling the actuator force and response time of actuator, electrical motors solo runs, instrument loop tests, and telecommunications tests. For pumps and compressors, the rotating direction will be checked, as the motor is not coupled to the pump. Then, the switch, vibration, … will be checked,
• Piping and Vessels (PVP): Tightness tests at maximum operating pressure, drying out and inerting, and loading of chemicals
• Tightness tests at maximum operating pressure: is done due to existing pipelines with lower design pressures than the new ones, which must tolerate the maximum operating pressure.
• Drying: to bring the dew point of a linw with air below 0 in wintertime
• Inerting/Conservation: removal of oxygen through nitrogen purge/blanket for a long period of time, while steam can be used for conservation for some days. It is forgotten to use a warm steam, a vacuum occurs, which results in deformation of equipment items.

Pressure cycle purging is used to reduce the concentration of gas component (for instance CO) very quickly by pressurizing and venting. Through this effect, the mixture in the reactor will be diluted and the N2 and the gas component will be mixed and vented. If the propylene in the reactor should not be vented, the process must be conveyed more slowly.

The minimum number cycles to decrease the mole concentration from x0 to x by pressurizing to Ph and depressurizing by Pl. Please see the following website for the details:

https://www.chesolver.com/plant-purging-guide

The amount of inert gas required:

• Operational Test (OT): Test of sub-system under normal operating conditions to check mechanicals performance such as: vibration, noise, heat generation. Different cold and hot test procedures including medium tests, shut down tests should be prepared to test the functionality of the regulation system and etc.. Cold tests are refering to the tests without the process medium.

I. Safety functional test is a test, which is done after all the mentioned above tests.

II. Before an visual inspection, it is necessary to do safety program, free measurement of o2 concentration and required cooling procedure. In addition, the required spare parts, such as manhole sealing, should be provided.

III. After the visual inspection and before “box up”, a number of control sheet lists should be done.

For an exact measurement of pressure in critical vessels, the nozzles to the monometers should be flushed reguraly to remove any debris.

Coordination with the company:

Pre-commissioning and Commissioning Management:

• The preparation of the implementation of PTW procedure
• HSE Requirement
• The preparation of SIMOPS
• Start-up sequence
• Commissioning sequence based on Start-up sequence
• Sub-system list
• Factory Acceptance Tests procedures with a FAT- protocol: The test takes place at the manufacturer’s location (i.e., the factory) and is performed by the buyer. Document verification , Visual verification(Machine’s nameplate data, Specification of individual components, of both mechanical and Electrical, Mechanical overview, P&ID verification, Verification of Electrical components like sensors, motors driver PLC, HMI, etc.), Individual component operation verification (Safety system and alarm verification, Electrical system like motors, temperature systems, and VFD operation, PLC and its modules, Human-machine interface and its software, Data recording, storage, and display, Door operation), Machine operation verification
• List of CAF (Contractor Authorized Fluid) and COF (Company Only Fluid)
• Project schedule and personal mobilisation plan
• Vendor coordination
• Pre-commissioning and commissioning witnessing matrix
• Identification of interfaces with other parties

Pre-commissioning and Commissioning Engineering:

• Job Risk Analysis
• Flange management procedure
• Isolation procedure
• List of critical valves
• Acceptance criteria for pipe cleaning
• Preservation procedure and records
• List of spares
• Leak testing procedure
• Preservation procedure
• Definition of operational test procedure
• Black re-start procedure
• Transfer of Operation and Maintenance

Factory/workshop testing phase:

Pre-Commissioning and Commissioning execution phase:

TQR (Technical Query Request): Every change should be reported for more costs and time.

NCR (Non Conformity Request): if there is a non-conformity, the manufactuer should be reported.

RCA (Root Cause Analysis): is a method of problem solving used for identifying the root causes of faults or problems

GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice): are the practices required in order to conform to the guidelines recommended by agencies that control the authorization and licensing of the manufacture:

• Manufacturing facilities must maintain a clean and hygienic manufacturing area.
• Manufacturing processes must be clearly defined and controlled

Bottleneck in the production: is a process in a chain of processes, such that its limited capacity reduces the capacity of the whole chain