Mechanical Engineering at Kuwait National Petroleum Company - Assignment Example

Mechanical Engineering Practicum Report Student’s Name Mina Abdullah Refinery Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) Date Abstract The report details the findings of the industrial attachment carried out at Kuwaiti National Petroleum Company (KNPC) as a prerequisite for the completion of the degree in Mechanical Engineering, Edith Cowan University. The various sections of the report cover the managerial and technical aspects of the company with particular regard to the Mina Abdullah Refinery situated at the Abdullah Port. Moreover, the report provides pertinent information about the engineering aspects; particularly the functions, execution of engineering roles and its responsibilities. The Engineering Department plays a pivotal role towards resolving issues related to the electrical and mechanical systems within the company. The responsibilities of the department include the installation, maintenance, repair, specification and procurement of the different units of the refinery process such as the Hydrogen Unit, Desulfurization units, Tail Gas Treating Unit among others. The report focuses on the maintenance of the various units that make up the oil refinery process at the company. The maintenance operations are in accordance with the activities of the Mina Abdullah Refinery. The report also covers the handling of emergency situations such as unplanned system shutdown and the handling of adverse scenarios such as fire outbreaks and physical injury. Finally, the report summarizes the different skills acquired during the attachment with particular regard to teamwork, collaboration and hands on experience. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Background 4 KNPC Organizational Structure 6 Activity Description 7 Lessons Learnt 13 Benefits Gained during the Practicum Period 13 Reflection on the Learning Outcomes from the Work Experience 15 Conclusion 16 References 17 Appendix C 18 The Week’s Most Significant Event 20 List of Figures Figure 1: KNPC Organizational Structure 6 Figure 2: The Delayed Coker Units 8 Figure 3: The Refinery Layout 10 Figure 4: Procedural Unplanned Process Shutdown 15 Introduction Since its establishment in October 1990, the Kuwait National Petroleum Company has served as a hub of engineering activities associated with the mining, processing and exportation of oil and gas. As a result, KNPC boasts of its vast knowledge in engineering and oil refining thereby posing as an appropriate hub that offers hands on experience to engineering students. The report provides a summary of the maintenance activities carried out by the company under the maintenance department in Abdulla Port during the attachment period. It also outlines the benefits gained during the attachment period and the significance of the hands on experience to the engineering student and the entire engineering practice. Background At the time of its establishment, KNPC was a joint venture between the private sector and the government. The company engages in various activities associated with the refining of oil in Kuwait and suffices to be the national oil refining company to date. The sectoral restructuring of the oil sector in Kuwait tasked KNPC with the responsibility of gas liquefaction and oil refining to this date. KNPC also marketed petroleum products via its numerous filling stations in Kuwait. The company has also modernized the refining industry using the latest technologies. The Mina Abdullah Refinery is one of the refineries of the company that has undergone the revamping process to integrate modern technologies in the oil refining process. Following the completion of the modernization project for the Mina Abdullah refinery in 1986, the refinery in conjunction with the Mina Al-Ahmadi transformed the oil refining firms into state of the art refineries that made use of the latest technologies thereby exhibiting an increase in the production capacity as well as efficiency improvement. The company referred to the projects as MAA-RMP and MAB-RMP for the Abdullah and Al-Ahmadi refineries respectively. Following the completion of the two projects, there was a notable increase in KNPC’s capacity as well as the quality of its oil and gas products. As a strategy of increasing its domestic market dominance, KNPC in conjunction with KPC built several other filling stations to cater for the increasing domestic demand as well as market its products. The year 2004 saw the company adopt the privatization strategy by selling its assets in the local market to the private sector. Some of the local market assets transferred to the private sector under the privatization program encompass the filling stations and the Lube Oil Blending plant situated in Shuaiba. The year 2005 witnessed the privatization of 119 filling stations following the privatization of the Lube plant in the previous year. In 2006, KPNC in conjunction with KPC also privatized an additional 40 stations. The company endeavors to cultivate the privatization process until the transfer of the last filling station to the private sector. As a strategy of guaranteeing sustained quality improvement, the company decided to concentrate its efforts to the human resource sector. As a result, the current recruitment policy targets to provide the company with qualified and professional manpower that can implement its steady growth initiative. The main products of the company include liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethane, traditional fuel gas for powering generators, gasoline, petrochemical naphtha, jet A 1 fuels, diesels among others. There are also a number of specialty products that the company produces. They include bitumen, Sulphur, and petroleum coke (Al Arada et al., 2013). Based on the overview of the company, it is proper to state that KNPC is an ideal company for an engineering student that intends to attain industrial experience. Moreover, it is also an ideal destination for graduate engineers that seek to seek to improve their careers by gaining substantial and relevant engineering practice. The Organizational Structure of Kuwait National Petroleum Company At the helm of the company executives is a Chairperson that gets assistance from the other directors on the Board. There are five members on the Board. Right under the Board is a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) that reports directly to the Board after overseeing all the management functions of the company. KNPC also has seven deputy chief executive officers that head their respective sections. Figure 1: KNPC Organizational Structure The sections include projects, Mina Abdullah Refinery, Support Services, Shuaiba Refinery, Finance and Administration, Mina Ahmadi Refinery, Local Marketing and Planning. The organizational structure also comprises of senior and middle level managers below the deputy chief executive officers. The chart above summarizes the structure of the organization. Activity Description Description of Overall Activities in Kuwaiti National Petroleum Company Under the maintenance section of the Mina Abdulla Refinery, the hands on experience covered all the units of the refinery. The Crude Oil Distillation Unit (U-11) is one of the units of the refinery. The Unit boasts of a design capacity of 190,000 bpd with an existing unit that has a capacity of 80,000 bpd thereby giving the entire distillation unit a capacity of 270,000 bpd (KNPC, 2008). The activities of the Unit entail the distillation of crude oil from the Kuwaiti oil fields in a distillation tower. The distillation results in preliminary petroleum products such as naphtha, diesel, kerosene and petroleum gases. The bottom residues in the preliminary column are channeled for further processing and treatment under different pressure and temperature. The production units are responsible for upgrading the particulars of the primary petroleum products sourced from the distillation column so as to attain the international specifications. The upgrading of the old crude oil distillation unit to a production capacity of 80,000 bpd also incorporated other activities aimed at standardizing the processes of the old unit to the new one. The attachment experience also included the activities of the Delayed Coker Units of the refinery. While on the program, I realized that the unit was unique due to the fact that it was the first of its kind unit to be constructed in the Gulf area (KNPC, 2011). This heightened the significance of the Unit towards enriching engineering students and practicing engineer with the much required hands on experience. The figure below shows the Delayed Coker units at the refinery. Figure 2: The Delayed Coker Units The units comprise of two identical trains that have a combined capacity of 76,000 BSPD. The unit’s design reclines on the residum’s full thermal cracking from the vacuum rerun unit so as to yield profitable products such as kerosene, naphtha, gas oil, green coke and diesel. The activities in the units also include the condensation of the coke product in special drums to produce a porous solid. The removal of the porous solid requires the use of a cutting tool equipped with water jets that eject at high velocities. The primary activity of the unit entails converting the residue found at the bottom of the barrel to products that have a higher value besides the complete processing of the refinery slop oil. The thermal cracking process employed in the units is known as delayed coking (Albahri, 2016). It encompasses the process of upgrading the heavy residues to form distillate products that have a high value. The activities involved in the cracking process entails using the process heaters to thermal-crack the residues before transferring the residues to the coke drums for the completion of the cracking process that requires the allocation of sufficient residence time. The next activity entails tapping the vapors from the coke drums into the fractionators to carry out the fractionation process that yields liquid and gaseous product streams. The activity that occurs concurrently with the fractionation process is the removal of the coke product from the coke drum in accordance with the set changeovers and sending of the product to the facilities that handle coke. The resultant products of the unit include light naphtha, heavy coker naphtha, kerosene, diesel, gas oil and green coke. The attachment experience at the refinery also included dealing with the facilities that carry out the activities of the Atmospheric Residue Desulphurization Units (ARDs). The design of the unit enables it to process 75,900 BSPD using one common fractionators to fractionate high Sulphur at bottoms in low trains. While one train is in operation, the other train is down for the removal of Nitrogen and other metal compounds and catalysts. The primary objective of the unit entails reducing the content of Sulphur in the atmospheric residue to 0.5%. The activity takes place over a fixed catalyst bed reactor in the presence of hydrogen. At the period of the attachment, there was an ongoing project that targeted to revamp the ARDs using On Stream Catalyst Replacement (OCR) technology. The use of the technology is crucial to engineering students and engineering practice since the technology is the latest in the industry. The effect of the OCR technology entails increasing the capacity of each of the trains from 33,000 BPD to 42,000 BPD. The diagram below shows the layout of the refinery process at the company. Figure 3: The Refinery Layout The effect of the technology is an increased cycle length for the fixed bed reactor from 11 months to 15 months. As a result, there is a 5% improvement in the yield of light distillates. Following the implementation of the project, the estimated annual profits are approximately KD 15.8 million. The attachment also exposes the practicing or student engineer to the activities of the Sulfur recovery Units (U-23). All the activities of the sulfur block target to ascertain compliance with the environmental standards (Al Salem, 2015). This entails recovering elementary sulfur from the acid gas of the amine regenerator to achieve an overall efficiency of 99.9%. The unit also recovers elementary sulfur from the overhead gas of the sour water stripper. Moreover, the system recycles gas from the Tail Gas treating Unit (TGTU). The next activity entails degassing molten sulfur and sending it to the flaking facilities in the MAA. The unit then sends the tail gas to the TGTU for further processing. There are three identical trains in the unit. Each of the units has a design sulfur intake of approximately 270 MT/SD. The unit also underwent modernization following the integration of the Oxygen Enrichment Technology in 2004. The industrial attachment experience at the maintenance department of the refinery also included the central control system of the company. In the Central Control Room (CCR), there are several CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) video consoles arranged in a set that comprises of four CRTs. The system uses the modern technology in accordance with the objectives of the Mina Abdullah Refinery Modernization Project. The system uses the latest state of the art technology in oil refinery. The system makes use of digital equipment, microprocessors and digital control systems with the aid of a computer to implement advanced controls over operations associated with oil refinery. All the respective groups of the CRT video consoles form a workstation. All interns and practicing engineers that seek to gain experience undergo training in one of the workstations that the company has set aside for training purposes (FCP Van der Host & Veer, 2008). In total, there are 10 workstations in the company. A single workstation comprises of three CRTs associated with the digital distributed control system (DCS). The DCSs enable the remote controlling and operation of the process units to a distance that does not exceed 5,000 feet. The system also entails a variety of information displays and process indications that control and monitor the refinery operations. Gathering substantial knowledge of the refinery also necessitates the understanding of the activities associated with the transport and storage of coke. The activities in the section include transporting coke from the delayed coker to the boundaries of the refinery via the conveyor belts. At the boundary, there are special carts that transport coke to the Shuaiba refinery for specialized storage in the warehouses. In essence, the main distillation units at the refinery include two crude distillation units, an RCD UNIBON unit, two Atmospheric Residue Desulphurization Units, Vacuum Re-Run Units, Hydro-Cracker unit and Kerosene Hydro-Treating unit. The other units include Diesel Hydro-Treating unit, the Naphtha Hydro-Treating unit, Delayed Coker, Mirox unit, the Hydrogen plant and the old Hydrogen plant unit. The Refinery also consists of the Hydrogen Recovery Unit, the Sulphur Recovery unit and the Tail Gas Treating Unit (KNPC, 2011). Lessons learnt Benefits Gained during the Practicum Period As an engineering student as well as a practicing engineer in the future, it is evident that the industrial experience played a pivotal role towards exposing me to the much needed hands-on experience in the oil refinery (Gumbe et al., 2012). The first learning experience was learning the significance of collaboration at the workplace. The practicum enabled me to understand the significance of collaboration as a prerequisite towards achieving the common goal of the organization. Besides enabling me to understand the effective ways of relating with other people at the workplace, the attachment also enabled me to understand the significance of teamwork on the part of all employees at the workplace. I also learnt the best procedures and practices associated with safety such as the wearing of protective gears while handling machines and other equipment at all times. As a student engineer, I understand that safety is a prerequisite for practicing engineers following their exposure to several workplace hazards associated with the moving machine parts and chemicals. On the safety learning experience, it is proper to state that the refinery had put in place the necessary safety measures to safeguard its employees against possible workplace hazards. The other learning experienced that I gained from the KNPC’s refinery at Abdullah Port entailed the understanding of the mechanics associated with the refinery process. For instance, I had the opportunity of having hands on experience with the several units at the refinery (Deloitte, 2015). The interaction was important to me since it enhanced my understanding of the functioning of the individual units of an oil refinery. The industrial experience also enabled me to understand the maintenance and inspection of the heat treatment furnaces, rotating machinery, hydraulics, overhead cranes, pumps, pneumatics, cooling towers among the other different components of the oil refinery process. Just like in the case of all the other inspections, the rationale of the inspections was to identify the faulty areas in the components thereby implementing the necessary corrective measures to prevent the adverse effects associated with the use of faulty systems (Ahmad & Rashid, 2011). In the case of faulty equipment and machine parts, the recommended preventive measure was to replace them with immediate effect so as to avert any possible component mishaps. The table below shows a scheduled procedure for unplanned shutdown of a process at the Abdullah refinery. The procedure is an example of an emergency shutdown process that necessitates immediate maintenance in the event that there is a faulty unit or component of the system that requires replacement. Unplanned shutdowns occur in instances where the unit requires maintenance before the allocated maintenance period. At the refinery, an emergency shutdown call necessitates coordination between the mechanical engineers tasked with the maintenance role and the employees in the affected unit to guarantee the success of the process. It is proper to state that the attachment provided me with the practical skills and knowledge associated with the maintenance of machine components and parts in the entire field of mechanical engineering. Most importantly, the attachment also enabled me to establish several contacts. Professional engineers formed the majority of these contacts. Apparently, the contacts will be important to my engineering practice in the future. No Description Year Dec 2015 Remarks Date 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 Shutdown 2 Blinding, Remove top elbow & Open top cover 3 Entry permit 4 Remove basket and clean 5 Install back the basket 6 Install top cover, & Elbow & Deblind 7 Start up Figure 4: Procedural Unplanned Process shutdown Reflection on the Learning Outcomes from the Work Experience I still believe that I made the right decision of selecting KNPC as an attachment choice for my industrial experience. At the company, I was able to have hands on experience in the engineering practice besides improving my teamwork skills. The attachment enabled to understand the effective ways of relating with others and the significance of collaboration as a prerequisite and incentive to better teamwork performance. At the company, I also learnt how to resolve conflicts and follow the chain of command. I also gained real world knowledge and experience with regard to the safety of engineers at the workplace. I believe that the knowledge and experience will play a pivotal role to my engineering practice since the engineering syllabus does not cover the safety measures as comprehensively as the hands on experience gained at the company. It is also worth noting that the industrial attachment offered the opportunity to learn the effective ways of developing maintenance programs and the use of modern maintenance techniques following the understanding of all the modern equipment used in oil refinery at the company. I also learnt how to conduct the different tests carried out during inspections. Conclusion Industrial attachment is important to the successful completion of undergraduate education. The significance of the experience emanates from the fact that it offers practicing engineers and other students an opportunity to gain hands on experience on the real world scenario of the workplace environment of their profession. The experience also enhances the understanding of the theoretical aspects learnt in the classroom. The attachment also enables practicing professionals to understand other issues associated with their professional area such as the safety and health measures. As a result, I am grateful for the opportunity since it also enhanced my courage in dealing with machines, an important virtue in my future career as an engineer (Avallone et al., 2007). References Ahmad, M. F. B., & Rashid, K. A. A. (2011). Lecturers' Industrial Attachment Programme to Increase Lecturers' Soft Skill and Technological Competencies for Global Stability and Security. Journal of Sustainable Development, 4(1), 281. Al Arada, M. M., Al Otaibi, B. D., Al Refai, F., Haggag, S., & Ray, A. K. (2013, March). Corrosion Management of Refinery Process Units by Using Integrity Operating Window (IOW). In CORROSION 2013. NACE International. Al Salem, S. M. (2015). Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission sources in Kuwait from the downstream industry: Critical analysis with a current and futuristic view. ScienceDirect. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544215000079 Albahri, T. (2016). Modern Refinery Layout. Chemical Engineering. Kuwait University. Al-Salem, S. M. (2015). Carbon dioxide (CO 2) estimation from Kuwait's petroleum refineries. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 95, 38-50. Avallone, E. A., Theodore, B. I., & Sadegh, A. M. (2007). Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers (11 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Deloitte. (2015). becoming irressistable: A new model for employee engagement. Retrieved from: http://d2mtr37y39tpbu.cloudfront.net/wpcontent/uploads/2015/01/DR16_becoming_irresistible.pdf FCP Van der Horst, H. A., & Veer, R. V. (2008). When strangers meet": John Bowlby and Harry Harlow on attachment behavior" (PDF). Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 42(4), 370–388. Gumbe, S. M., Svotwa, T. D., & Mupambireyi, F. P. (2012). Students’ Perspectives of the Industrial Attachment Programme: A Study of University of Zimbabwe Faculty of Commerce Students (2010-2011). International Journal of Physical and Social Sciences, 2(9), 12-36. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). (2008). 2 Billion USD Overseas Award. Investor Relations. Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). (2011). Mina Abdulla Refinery. Retrieved from: http://www.knpc.com.kw/en/refineries/pages/abdullahrefinery.aspx Kuwaiti National Petroleum Company (KNPC). (2010). Leading Role in Refining Industry. Appendix C Date Significant Event Description 30th Nov-4th December 2015 Orientation Introduction to the departmental heads The orientation started with the introduction of the senior and junior staff followed by the outlining of the terms and services to the interns. The orientation also included the introduction of the various heads of departments of the company. 7th-11th Dec 2015 Issued with the company name tags Stationed at the initial work venues Each of the interns was issued with a company name tag. The interns were distributed at each of the organizational structures of the company. 14th-26th Dec 2015 Filling invoice of the required tools for the maintenance Monitoring and maintaining mechanical components such as delayed cooker and Naphtha hydro plants Since the company needed new tools, there was need to fill invoices for the specific tools that were necessary. The interns also gained experience on temperature regulation with the use of catalysts. 28th Dec – 6th Jan 2016 Weighing the LPG cylinders Monitoring operations at the crude refinery unit We had to weigh the filled LPG cylinders before releasing them to the market to ensure that they had the proper weights. We also gained first-hand experience at the distillation center that yields end products such as diesel, tar, kerosene and gasoline. 8th Jan – 10th Jan 2016 Filling of insurance forms Meeting with the manager where team relations and spirit are enhanced The manager ascertained that all the workers had duly filled the insurance forms. We also met with the manager that heightened the importance of team spirit and relations at the workplace. 11th -15th Jan 2016 Handling oil leakages Repair of crude distiller Repair conveyance pipes We realized that there were several cases of oil leakages. Therefore, we had to replace the leaking tanks and the worn out pipes. We also repaired the distiller because it was worn out. 16th – 17th Jan 2016 Physical injury: one of the student interns got hit by a machine component A session on how to handle physical injuries One of the interns walked carelessly on the machine floor area and hurt his foot. We rushed him to the healthcare facility of the company for further inspection of the extent of the injury and treatment. This was followed by a brief session on the physical safety of the workplace. 18th – 19th Jan 2016 Fire risk: One of the student suffered minor burns from a fire incident One of the interns failed to regulate temperatures using catalysts in the catalytic chamber thereby causing a fire outbreak. The experienced employees used the fire extinguisher to put out the fire followed by a session on how to avert incidences of fire outbreaks as well as dealing with the outbreaks. 20th Jan– 10th Feb 2016 Operationalization processes at the desulphurization unit Under the session, we learnt about the procedures associated with reducing the emission of harmful substances by the catalysts. 12th Feb – 24th Feb 2016 Operationalization processes at the ARDs, RCD UNIBON unit, Hydro-Cracker unit and the Naphtha Hydro-Treating unit All the interns underwent intense training on the activities and the processes in the units The Weeks Most Significant Event Situation-What Happened? We participated in a workshop where the engineers and the manager motivated all interns basing on the challenges that they face in the engineering practice. They used talks and past life experiences to motivate us. From the seminar, we learnt that it is important to create positive relationships with other workers or employees at the workplace to guarantee collaboration and teamwork. We also learnt from the Managing Director that it is possible for an engineer to have the required engineering skills but fail to interact positively with other employees at the workplace. In such a case, the individual will find it difficult to cope with the workplace environment. Affect-Why was this Significant? It was apparent from the workshop that student engineers and junior engineers ought to interact with senior engineers and other senior employers at the workplace since successful senior employees act as role models to the junior ones. As a result, they provide the required direction that is pertinent towards advancing the professional skills of the junior employees. Moreover, we learnt the essence of involving the right authorities to address particular issues for better outcomes. Interpretation-What did you learn? The primary lesson that we learnt was that all the employees of an organization have a common purpose. As a result, all engineers just like the other employees in the company should work towards achieving the common goal. By so doing, there would be appropriate division of labor and specialization that ensures the maximization of the company’s profits as well as minimizing the costs incurred by the company. Having a common goal is also a prerequisite for quality products. I also learnt that the engineering practice necessitates discipline that manifests through punctuality and professional competence. The engineer should also cultivate self-drive and passion virtues while in the engineering practice. Decision-What will you do? From the learning experiences, I decided to be disciplined as a student engineer as well as a practicing engineer after completing my course. Towards achieving the objective, I decided to cultivate punctuality, self-drive and competence virtues within myself. Moreover, I decided to adhere to hierarchy and the chain of command during my engineering practice in order to deliver excellent services to the company. After realizing the essence of teamwork and collaboration, I also decided to work in unison with my workmates upon graduating and entering the engineering practice. Read More