CHE 422: PROCESS EVALUATION,

DESIGN AND PROJECT

MANAGEMENT
LECTURE ONE

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 Introduction
The course unit consists of three sub-
sections:
• Process evaluation
• Process design, and
• Project management

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 Course Outline
A. Process Evaluation
1. Cost estimation:
2. Start-up expenses:
3. Interest & investment costs:
4. Taxes & insurance:
5. Depreciation:
6. Profitability, alternative investments &
replacement:
7. Balance sheets & income statement
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B. Process Design
1. Introduction
2. Anatomy of manufacturing process
3. Process design fundamentals
4. Use of process simulator(s) to:
– Model chemical process plants (PFD and
P&ID)
– Troubleshoot issues
– Optimize energy/material use & costs
5. Design of chemical engineering plant (case
study)
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 C. Project Management
1. Introduction
2. Project management
3. Project planning

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 Course Prerequisite
1. Transport phenomena
2. Heat and mass transfer
3. Engineering thermodynamics
4. Chemical engineering economics
5. Reaction engineering kinetics
6. Any other chemical engineering units

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 Assessment
1. Course work to be graded as follows:
a) Test: 20%
b) Assignment: 10%
c) Group Project:10%
2. Final exam: 60%
NB: Group projects will be assigned at the
beginning of semester

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 Recommended Books
1. W.D. Seider, J.D. Seader, and D.R. Lewin, Product
& Process Design Principles, 2e, John Wiley and
Sons, New York (2003), ISBN 0-471-21663-1.
2. Gavin Towler and Ray Sinnott, Chemical
Engineering Design: Principles, Practice and
Economics of Plant and Process Design, Elsevier,
Amsterdam (2008), ISBN 13: 978-0-7506-8423-1.
3. Coulson & Richardson’s Chemical Engineering.
Vol. 6., Design
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 Objectives and Expected Outcomes
By the end of the unit, learners should be
able to:
• Explain principles of project management
and the general characteristics of chemical
engineering process design problem and
strategy for the solution

• Manage a project of chemical engineering

nature
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• Generate a chemical engineering project
plan
• Ensure that all tasks of a given project are
completed on time and within budget
• Fulfill quality requirements of a given
project and satisfy stakeholders
• Accurately estimate project resources, time,
cost and risk by creating work breakdown
structures

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• Identifying project risks and developing
plans to minimize, eliminate or handle
them
• Incorporate the techniques in their final
year projects
• Produce a project report detailing the
design and documentation of a given
project.
• Create designs for chemical, biological and
manufacturing processes.
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• Theoretically and practically design
equipment by determining the sizes and
material/energy balances
• Estimate investment & production costs and
the associated taxes for a chemical
engineering project
• Draw balance sheets & write down income
statements for chemical engineering
projects.

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• Determine the economic feasibility of
chemical engineering projects
• Use process simulation programs, project
planning and cost estimating tools in
chemical process & plant design.
• Evaluate the safety and environmental
issues related to a design.

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 Basis of the study
• Chemical engineers concern themselves
with the management of chemical and
physical processes that turn raw materials
into valuable products.
• The necessary skills encompass all aspects
of design, testing, scale-up, operation,
control, and optimization

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 Overview
• The course unit utilizes knowledge of
several chemical engineering course units
studied from year one to-date
• Applies to the design of chemical
engineering plants and processes of
manufacturing and processing industries.

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The study is divided into three sections:
A. Process evaluation
B. Chemical engineering process design
C. Chemical engineering project
management

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• Process evaluation involves the economic
evaluation and feasibility of a given
chemical engineering project.
• Process design is the step-by-step
arrangement of how the process will be
implemented.
• Chemical engineering project management
deals with application of project
management principles to Chem. Eng.
project
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 A) PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Introduction
• The ability to manage complex projects is
vital to keep up with the chemical industry’s
demands and needs.
• Many chemical engineers have no formal
training in project management
• Therefore the need for skills required to
manage projects in time and within budget.
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• A project is an individual or collaborative
undertaking that is carefully planned to
achieve a particular aim
• It is a planned set of interrelated activities
that are to be executed in a given period of
time and within given costs and other
limitations such as personnel
• The key steps of successful project
management are: initiation, planning,
execution, monitoring, control and closing
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 Characteristics of a Project
Projects are usually self contained and
involve a set of related activities. They
therefore:
• Have clearly defined set of aims and
objectives
• Have a set completion date
• Are often unique or at least different from
routine activities

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• Involve a set of related activities which
make up “the project”
• Have resources specifically allocated to
them often in form of a project budget
• Involve a team of people, rarely completed
by an individual

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• The objectives, called specifications, are
imposed on the project manager from
above and may often be varied and in
conflict with each other
• The project can be large, such as
construction of a dam; establishing an oil
refinery plant; building a sugar factory;
construction of road highway; etc.

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• It may also be small, such as purchase and
installation of distillation unit; cracker;
pyrolyzer; construction of a rural water
well; painting the administration block;
etc.
• A manager is therefore central for the
successful completion of a given project

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 Project Management Process

• Project management is the art of handling

resources, processes, methods, knowledge,
skills and experience in order to achieve the
project objectives.
• The project objectives could be defined in
terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits.

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• The project manager is expected to deliver
the project on time; within budget; and on
target in terms of objectives of quality
standards
• The project specifications frequently clash
during project life.
• For example, if the project falls behind
schedule in terms of completion date, it
should be rectified and the project brought
back to schedule
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• This can be done by increasing the costs;
reducing targets; etc.
• Similarly, if the project becomes over
budget, it can be brought back under
control by altering requirements
• The project management task therefore
becomes simultaneous achievement of the
three requirements and not just a trade-off.
• The following are therefore major tasks of a
project manager:
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• Ensuring that individual activities are
completed on time so that overall project is
completed on time
• Identifying potential problems before they
occur so that appropriate corrective actions
can be taken
• Have an effective monitoring system for the
project so that progress can be assessed
easily and effectively at any time

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• React promptly to planned or accidental
deviations from the project and assess
options for re-establishing control
• Plan resource requirement to fit into the
project time scale to ensure that critical and
scarce resources are in the right place and
at the right time

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• Prioritize between different activities and
their resource requirements
• To meet these requirements and
simultaneously achieve the three project
features, the following steps will be
required for effective project management.

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 Define the Scope
• The very first question to a project manager
is: what is it that is supposed to be achieved
or accomplished in the project?
• What is/are the project objective(s)?
• What is not to be included in the scope of
the project.
• All these are obtained from the CEOs if not
then seek clarification where assumed
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 Determine Available Resources
• What human resource, equipment and finances
are available for achieving project objectives?
• As a project manager you may not have direct
control over these resources but have to
manage them.
• Find out how difficult/easy that will be. These
may constitute project limitations.
• Employ principles of matric management to
effectively manage the resources
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 Check Timelines
• When is the project supposed to
commence and end?
• Fix deadlines but have flexibility in using
time in your plan.
• If overtime is utilized check it against
budget limitations

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 Assemble Project Team
• Put the project team together and begin
discussions.
• These are usually technical experts assigned
to the project by your supervisor or the
project owner.
• Your task is to manage so that project
objectives are achieved effectively, efficiently
on time and within budget.
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 List the Big Steps
• What are the major parts or tasks of the
project, the answer can be from team
discussions.
• These should be listed chronologically as
they will occur in the project although the
order may be changed later

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 List Smaller Steps
•  List the smaller steps in each of the bigger
tasks, chronologically to help remembering
them.
• The depth and detail of each step depends
on the project size and complexity

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 Develop Preliminary Project Plan
• Assemble all the steps above into a plan
beginning with what is to be done first, the
next step, etc.
• Identify which steps can be done at the same
time with different resources,
• Who is to perform each step, how long will it
take.

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• Software packages can be employed to
automate the detail.
• Enquire from other project managers what
they are using if possible.
• The plan should include activity (scope),
schedule (duration) and cost as performance
measures.

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 Create Baseline Plan
• Obtain response and feedback about the
preliminary plan from the project team
and other stake holders.
• Adjust the timelines and work schedules
where necessary to fit the project in the
available time, people and budget.

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• Make other adjustments incorporating all
feedback to the preliminary plan and
generate baseline plan.
• Baseline plan provides roadmap/direction
for project managers and other
stakeholders to follow,
• It is a tool for controlling and
communication throughout the project life
and sets the course of action for the
project.
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• It is a major work product that is
communicated to all stakeholders before
start of project.
• Other products include risk management
plan, quality plan, procurement plan
staffing and communication plans.

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 Request Project Adjustments
•  In most cases, project resources are never
enough and the project manager is usually
tasked to do more with the limited
resources than expected.
• This may create unrealistic demands and
unlikely limits placed on the project by the
project owners.

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• The project manager needs to make his/her
case clear and present it to the bosses
• Request for changes at the beginning of the
project and not later in the middle of during
project life

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 Work Your Plan
• Project plans can be changed where need
arises, keeping the scope and resources in
mind.
• Work your plan, don’t be rigid on it
• There are three steps to get your project
done on time:

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 Build Work Breakdown Structures
• A Work breakdown structure (WBS) is the
breakdown of the deliverables into manageable
units of work
• It is a list of project tasks organized in a manner
that lets you understand and visualize the
connections between the various tasks and
sub-tasks.
• It is used to define and organize the tasks
needed to complete the project.
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• This is accomplished through the following
steps:
– Determine the desired project results
– List the major steps, this gives the
framework that can be used to think and
organize the smaller tasks
– Determine the smaller tasks of each major
step
– Continue the process

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• The WBS are small activities or parts that
constitute the entire project objective.
• It is the breakdown of the big task into
small manageable activities.
• It is the process of continuously reducing
an immense task or objective into its
component parts that can be handled and
estimated in terms of effort; resources;
cost and duration.
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• The WBS provides an understanding
needed to handle complex and
overwhelming tasks or projects.
• It also provides the foundation for
planning; monitoring and controlling the
project.

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• It is best done through team work and
provides a common understanding of
how to go about a given project.
• It is the foundational or first activity and
provides basis for project planning and
other project management functions.

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• The WBS provides the project manager
and his/her team with necessary
framework required for making detailed
cost estimates and activity scheduling.
• The WBS process helps to generate and
capture the necessary tasks based on
project requirements or objectives

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 Assignment
State the Advantages and Disadvantages of WBS
• Forces the team to create details about the
project and eliminate ambiguities and unclear
situations about the project.
• The activity creates dialogue that clarify
ambiguities and identify critical issues
• It lays the foundation for developing proper
project budgeting and appropriate activity
scheduling.
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 Characteristics of WBS
• The WBS involves organizational levels or
hierarchies.
• The key characteristics of WBS are:
– Hierarchical Levels: contains three levels
of work in a top-down decomposition of
outputs

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 – Defines outputs and not processes
– Numbering Sequence – uses outline
numbering as a unique identifier for all
levels:
• Level one is 1.0, which illustrates the
project level.

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 • Level two is 1.X (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.),
which is the summary level, and often
the level at which reporting is done.
• Level three is 1.X.X (1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc.),
which illustrates the work package
level.
• The work package is the lowest level
of the WBS where both the cost and
schedule can be reliably estimated.

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• Lowest Level Descriptions – expressed
using verbs and objects.
• The lower levels and inputs to the higher
levels
• Responsibility for each activity is assigned
to individuals
• Budgets is assigned to each output
• Can be structured e.g., in form of tree
diagram or organizational chart
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 Example of WBS
Provision of catering service to a wedding party
reception
The objective is to provide catering service to a
wedding party

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• How far does one go? When do we stop
breaking the tree?
• Continue with the WBS until the first word
is a verb.
• Also, stop at the level of detail where the
resulting activity will not take long and can
be estimated in terms of effort; duration
and cost.
• The WBS is then used to generate the
activity log
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• Note that a huge complexity may arise for
some projects where an activity may be
more than four levels below the top level.
• This may require huge piece of paper for
proper visualization.
• Usually, wall papers are used, which may
enable interchanging and/or deleting
some elements of the WBS where
necessary.

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• Organize the WBS with labels for each
level, numbering sequentially and
chronologically.
• This gives unique identifiers that represent
the position of the activity in the WBS.
• The most detailed levels are used as basis
for activity list while higher levels are used
for summary and reporting.

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• Producing the WBS as team exercise forms
part of initial team building sessions.
• It brings together the depth of experience
from individual team member.
• This leads to proper planning and reduced
levels of risks, leading to a successful
project.

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• Getting the WBS right allows the project
manager to delegate subsequent project
definitions and planning activities with
better clarity.
• At the end of the WBS process, the project
team should feel less overwhelmed and
less worried about the project.
• A clearer vision of what the project will
look like emerges.

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 Provision of Catering Service
Activity Log
Activity Description Duration Predecessor
A Assemble working team    
B Meet party owner to agree on menu    
C Meet party owner to agree on budget    
D Brief working team & brain storm    
E Meet working team to assign roles    
F Dispatch working team    
G Purchase food items    
H Purchase drinks    
I Hire service utensils/cutlery, etc.    
J Hire transport van    
K Peel bananas    
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 Activity Log (Cont.)
Activity Description Duration Predecessor
L Sort rice    
M Prepare other food items, Irish, etc.    
N Cut meat; fish; spices; etc    
O Cook meat; fish; etc    
P Chill drinks    
Q Fuel van    
R Load the van    
S Transport team, food, etc., to venue    
T Off-load van    
U Dispatch workmen to service points    
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 Activity Log (Cont.)
Activity Description Duration Predecessor
V Prepare service points/tables    
W Serve food at service points    
Z Collect & sort all used    
T Load used items onto van    
Z Transport all items back to office    
A1 Off-load used items from van    
B1 Sort, clean & store used items    
C1 Pay team workers    
D1 De-brief: Strengths/weakness    
E1 Celebrate & close    

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