Faculty of Chemical Engineering

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Chp. 7:
Plant Maintenance
 Course Outcome
Identify the basic principles of process hazard analysis and
safety related to the chemical engineering / environmental
issues (A4).
Explain the issues and solutions in managing the chemical
engineering / environment using the basic principles of process
hazard analysis and safety (C6).
Present solutions related to the chemical engineering /
environmental issues using the basic principles of process
hazard analysis and safety in a report (C6).
Course Learning Outcome
The student should be able to :
Compare the types of maintenance programs
Describe maintainability and reliability
State reliability and failure distribution
Assess key elements for effective PSM
Evaluate safety management audit and safety audit
Maintenance

Definition
The act of maintaining or the state of being
maintained.
The work of keeping something in proper
condition; upkeep.
All actions necessary for retaining an item or
equipment in or restoring it to, a specified
condition
 Objectives of Good Maintenance
Management
Collect necessary
maintenance cost
information
Optimize capital Minimize energy usage
equipment life

Identify and implement Optimize maintenance

cost reductions Objectives resources

Minimize inventory on
Provide accurate hand
equipment maintenance
records Maximise production at
the lowest cost, the
highest quality, and within
optimum safety standards
Maintenance Philosophies

Reactive Maintenance
Corrective Maintenance
Preventive Maintenance
Predictive Maintenance
Reactive Maintenance
In far too many cases, equipment is run until it
breaks down.
There is no preventive maintenance; the
technicians react, working only on equipment
that is malfunctioning.
This approach is the most expensive way to
coordinate maintenance.
Equipment service level is generally below
acceptable levels, and product quality is usually
impacted.
Corrective Maintenance
Corrective maintenance activities are generated
from planned inspections, routine operational
requests, and routine service requirements.
These activities make up the maintenance
backlog and should be planned and scheduled
in advance.
This approach is the most cost-effective way to
perform maintenance, reducing performance
costs by 2-to-4 times compared to reactive
maintenance.
Corrective Maintenance
When the majority of maintenance activities fall
into this category, equipment service levels can
be maintained.
Corrective maintenance consists of the action(s)
taken to restore a failed system to operational
status.
This usually involves replacing or repairing the
component that is responsible for the failure of
the overall system.
Corrective maintenance is performed at
unpredictable intervals because a component's
failure time is not known a priority.
 Corrective Maintenance
The objective of corrective maintenance is to restore the system
to satisfactory operation within the shortest possible time.
Corrective maintenance is typically carried out in three steps:
Diagnosis of the problem. The maintenance technician must
take time to locate the failed parts or otherwise satisfactorily
assess the cause of the system failure.
Repair and/or replacement of faulty component(s). Once the
cause of system failure has been determined, action must be
taken to address the cause, usually by replacing or repairing the
components that caused the system to fail.
Verification of the repair action. Once the components in
question have been repaired or replaced, the maintenance
technician must verify that the system is again successfully
operating.
Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance, unlike corrective
maintenance, is the practice of replacing
components or subsystems before they fail in
order to promote continuous system operation.
The schedule for preventive maintenance is
based on observation of past system behavior,
component wear-out mechanisms and
knowledge of which components are vital to
continued system operation.
Cost is always a factor in the scheduling of
preventive maintenance.
Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance includes the lubrication
program, routine inspections, and adjustments.
Many potential problems can thus be corrected
before they occur.
At this level of maintenance, equipment service
levels enter the acceptable range for most
operations.
The primary goal of preventive maintenance is
to prevent the failure of equipment before it
actually occurs.
It is designed to preserve and enhance
equipment reliability by replacing worn
components before they actually fail.
Preventive Maintenance
In addition, workers can record equipment
deterioration so they know to replace or
repair worn parts before they cause system
failure.
Recent technological advances in tools for
inspection and diagnosis have enabled even
more accurate and effective equipment
maintenance.
The ideal preventive maintenance program
would prevent all equipment failure before
it occurs.
 Preventive Maintenance
There are multiple misconceptions about preventive
maintenance.
One such misconception is that PM is unduly costly.
This logic dictates that it would cost more for regularly
scheduled downtime and maintenance than it would
normally cost to operate equipment until repair is absolutely
necessary.
This may be true for some components; however, one should
compare not only the costs but the long-term benefits and
savings associated with preventive maintenance.
Without preventive maintenance, for example, costs for lost
production time from unscheduled equipment breakdown
will be incurred.
Also, preventive maintenance will result in savings due to an
increase of effective system service life.
Preventive Maintenance
Long-term benefits of preventive
maintenance include:
Improved system reliability.
Decreased cost of replacement.
Decreased system downtime.
Better spares inventory management.
Long-term effects and cost
comparisons usually favor preventive
maintenance over performing
maintenance actions only when the
system fails.
Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance allows failures to be forecast through
analysis of the equipments condition.
The analysis is generally conducted through some form of
trending of a parameter, such as vibration, temperature, and
flow.
Preventive maintenance differs from predictive maintenance
in that it focuses on manual tasks whereas predictive
maintenance uses some form of technology.
Predictive maintenance allows equipment to be repaired at
times that do not interfere with production schedules,
thereby removing one of the largest factors from downtime
cost.
The equipment service level will be very high under predictive
maintenance.
Safety in Maintenance
The conduct of the maintenance work may introduce its
own hazards to the chemical plant/ oil and gas installation.
The maintenance activities may be a hazard for the
personnel involved in them.
It is necessary to exercise careful control of maintenance
work in order to eliminate hazards to the facilities and to
the personnel.
The consequences of failure to exercise this control can be
serious.
The Piper Alpha disaster was caused by failures in isolation
procedures, the permit-to-work system and the handover
system associated with maintenance work.
Systems of Control
Maintenance Procedures
Any regular maintenance task should be governed by a
formal written procedure.

Maintenance Documentation
The maintenance procedures should be supported by the
necessary documentation.
This should include:
Documentation on the procedures themselves
The piping and instrumention diagrams
The instrumentation and electrical system diagram
The documentation, whether procedures, diagrams or
records, should be kept up to date.
Systems of Control

Permit system
Maintenance work should be governed by a
formal permit-to-work system.
The purposes are:
To see that proper consideration is given to the job, its
hazard and the precautions.
To ensure that these are understood by all persons
involved.
To facilitate effective communication between parties
concerned.
Systems of Control

Hand-over system
Process plant/oil and gas installations operate
round the clock on a shift system.
It is essential that information on the state of the
plant be communicated by the outgoing shift to
the in coming shift. A formal handover system is
necessary to ensure this.
The lack of such system was held to have been a
cause of the Piper Alpha disaster.
Systems of Control
Control of workforce
The core maintenance workforce of company employees
maybe supplemented by contractors.
Current trend shows the increasing use of contractors,
not only on construction work but also on routine
maintenance jobs.
It is necessary that before new personnel from a
contractor start work, they are properly trained in the
systems of work implemented.
The need for this was highlited by the Piper Alpha
disaster, where a two-man team of contractors was
carrying out testing and recertification work on pressure
relief valves on the platform, but the senior of the two
was on his first tour as supervisor and had not received
adequate instruction in the permit system.
Preparation of Maintenance
Identification of Equipment
Process plants/oil and gas platforms often seem a
confusing maze of vessels and pipework.
It is often difficult to identify equipment simply by
tracing the course of pipework or by the use of other
clues.
Many incidents occur due to errors in the identification
of the equipment on which work is carried out.
It is necessary to adopt a more positive policy for the
identification of equipment.
One method is to attach a permanent identification to a
particular equipment.
Identification should be consistent. There are certain
standards and code of practice for the identification of
equipment.
Preparation of Maintenance
Identification should be consistent. There are certain
standards and code of practice for the identification of
equipment.
Much maintenance work involves breaking into pipe
joints. Permanent identifiers are not as suitable in this
case. Another method of identification, therefore, is the
identification tag. This is particularly useful for joints, but
applicable to other equipment also instead of permanent
identification.
The identification tag system is not foolproof. The person
putting identification tag can make a mistake.
The use of identification tag is preferable to merely
pointing out to the maintenance worker the equipment
to be repaired.
Incidents have occurred which suggest that this is not
always adequate.
Preparation of Maintenance
Isolation
The equipment to be worked on should be
isolated.
This include:
isolation of vessels and pipework from process utility
fluids
Isolation of machinery from its power sources
Isolation of electrical equipment.
Emptying of liquid
If a vessel contains liquid, the liquid is usually
pumped away to another part of the plant or to
storage, or if non-hazardous, to drain.
Preparation of Maintenance
Removal of solids
Solid residues in the form of deposits and sludges
can be flammable or toxic.
It is necessary to remove them by cleaning.

Gas Freeing
Carried out by:
Forced ventilation
Flushing with water and forced ventilation
Purging
Steaming
Self Study

Why companies are now investing in

reliability and maintenance management
program?
Find a past petrochemical industrial
accident where a lack of attention to
equipment maintenance could lead to a
major disaster