Trouble Shooting of Chemical Process Industry

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Trouble Shooting of CPI

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What is Trouble?
Deviation from Normal Plant Operation
Normal Plant Operation Abnormal Plant Operation
1.) Product Specs
a.) Composition NaOH (33%w/w) NaOH (32%w/w)
b.) Color White Yellowish
c.) Smell Sweetish Pungent

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What is Trouble?
2.) Process Parameters
a.) Pressure 2.5 kg/cm2 (g) 2.4 kg/cm2 (g)
(at Heat Exchanger Out)
b.) Temperature 105 oC 104 oC
(Distillation Column Bottom)

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What is Trouble?
3.) Material Consumption
a.) Raw Material ‘A’ 1.2 tons 1.3 tons
(Per Ton of Product)
b.) Sulfuric Acid (98%w/w) 0.5 kgs 0.55 kgs

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What is Trouble?
4.) Utility Consumption
a.) Steam 2.5 tons 2.6 tons
b.) Electricity 150 KWH 160 KWH

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What is Trouble?
5.) Hardware
a.) Centrifugal Pump No Sound Sound like Gravel or Marbles
b.) Distillation Column No Vibration Vibration in Valve Tray
c.) Pipe Line No Leakage Liquid leaking from valve

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What is Trouble?
6.) Miscellaneous
a.) Scaling of Condenser In pre-define limits Very High
b.) Pump Bearing Failure No Frequent
c.) Emergency Shut Downs No Frequent

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What is Trouble?
Some troubles can be easily sensed by
human senses like eyes, ears, etc.
while other needs to be worked out

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Typical Industrial Troubles
• Not getting production plant capacity
• Product quality is not acceptable
• Utility consumption is higher than committed
• Plant stoppages are frequent
• Frequent breakdown of plant hardware
• Plant require higher maintenance

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Types of Troubles
• Sitting over the problem and not aware about it
• Knowingly sitting over the problem
• Very much away from the problem
• Keeping self away from the problem
• Painted Problem or Concealed Problem
• Artificially created problem

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How to Identify Trouble?

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oTop-Down Approach
• Identification by Top Management
• Losses in Balance Sheet
• Lower Production Rate from Annual Production Report
•Communicated up to Shop Floor Persons for Identification
of exact trouble place

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oBottom-Up Approach
• Sensed by Shop Floor Person
• Pipe Line Leakage
• Sound in Operating Pump
•Communicated to Higher Management Persons for working
out severity of trouble for prioritizing activities

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For Effective Trouble Identification,
maintain good communication channels
between Top to Bottom/ Bottom to Top.

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Shooting or Solving the Trouble
What Shooting Requires?
• Clear View of Target (Trouble)
• Ability to Hit the Target (Solving the Trouble)

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 Far & Beyond
• Target from Far Distance
•Unable to see target
•e.g. Pump vibration from outside of plant campus
• Target beyond Self Experience
•Unable to differentiate between Normal & Abnormal
•e.g. Pump cavitation sound not experienced earlier
Experience to get more clarity of Trouble (Trouble is an Opportunity for Growth)

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 Vision Power
• Higher Knowledge Level
•Despite far distance, trouble can be viewed well.
•Distant symptoms are enough to view the trouble clearly
by higher level knowledge
 Far & Beyond

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• Ability to Hit the Target (Solving the Trouble)
 Skill Development by Routine Practice
• Fixed Target (Static Trouble)
•Relatively easy to solve as trouble is well defined.
•e.g. flow from Tank-1 to Tank-2 is not possible due to
insufficient elevation difference (Correct Elevation)
• Moving Target (Dynamic Trouble)
•Set of Causes

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Steps of Trouble Shooting
1. Identify the Trouble
2. Take Preventive Action
3. Determine the Cause
4. Correct the Trouble
5. Return to Service

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Engineering Approach for Trouble Identification
Troubled Area
Block Diagram

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Troubled Area
Process Flow Diagram

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Troubled Area
P & I Diagram

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Troubled Area
Incorrect Type of ReducerIsometrics

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 If required, Stop the complete plant
 Off Spec Product Produced
 Distillation Column Tray Vibrations
 Or Stop a Section of the Plant
 Recovery Section only
 Or Stop a Unit of the Section
 Stop Running Pump while operating with Standby Pump

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• Causes of Trouble Due to
• Material – Impure Input Materials
• Machine – Inadequate Preventive Maintenance
• Manpower – Untrained Operator

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• Causes of Trouble Entered During Stage of
• Plant Design – Wrong consideration of design parameters
• Equipment Selection – Low Pump Head
• Plant Erection – Wrong motor placement
• Plant Operation – Valve is not fully open
• Plant Maintenance – Placed Damaged Gasket

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4. Correct the Trouble

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Any Trouble ?

Trouble Shooting of Chemical Process Industry

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Trouble Shooting of Chemical Process Industry