Project Synopsis
Provide process engineering support to improve and refine the design of a new bourbon distillery.
Project Summary
Process Engineering Associates, LLC (PROCESS) was contracted by the client, a detailed design engineering firm, to provide process engineering support for the development of a new bourbon distillery for the end client. PROCESS was tasked with developing the following deliverables:
- Develop a utility summary outlining the expected steam, cooling water, chilled water, and instrument air usage.
- Review the existing FEL-1 level P&IDs previously developed by others. PROCESS reviewed the P&IDs and made recommendations to reduce the cost of installation and improve utility flows by recommending the following:
- Eliminate unnecessary hot and cold wells, along with their associated pumps, from the cooling tower design.
- Eliminate unnecessary pressure relief valves.
- Provide general comments on design and equipment.
- Perform line sizing for all process and utility lines in the distillery.
- Assist in developing piping specifications for the facility.
- Evaluate cycle times for the slurry tank and fermentation area. PROCESS performed rigorous heat transfer calculations to determine expected heat up and cool down times for the mash cooking and fermentation processes. These calculations allowed the client to better understand fermentation capacity and optimize utility design for these processing areas.
PROCESS also developed a complete heat and material balance of the cooking (batch) and distillation (continuous) processes in CHEMCAD to assist in the above deliverables.
Industry Type
Food & Beverage Manufacturing
Utilized Skills
- Process design review and improvement
- Process engineering support of design/build projects.