Advise on How to become a "good" Process Engineer 18

[valene]

I graduated from Chemical Eng back in 1986 but ended up doing Instrumentation Sales specializing in Control valves/PSV's with the Fisher/Emerson organization for 15 years then moved on to become a Instrument Engineer with an Engineering company for 5 years. The opportunity came & I decided to take up the offer to become a Process Engineer after 20 years from graduation. I figured this will be something I want to do before the sun sets. It has been a struggle espcially on Hysys but other than that it is fun!
I would greatly appreciate some guidance from my peers here in this forum what steps should I take to help turn me into a Jedi of Process Engineering or at least a good student....thks

 

[rongyang504]

hello all
i am an new enginner and have three years working experance. in this years ,i found more and more things that i can't know. so i hope some one can tell me which books & codes can make me muture speedly!!

 

[pennpiper]

valene,
My background is Process Plant Piping Engineering and Design. I will offer the following advice to help you become "a Jedi of Process Engineering or at least a good student".
As a process engineer you will be or are the start of a very complex process that ends with the successful startup and operation of a process plant. Two of the tools you create and use are the PFD and the P&ID. These are tools of communication. You are communicating with the other major players (piping and others) what needs to be done.
The next major player is the piping engineering and design group who are (in most companies) responsible for converting the schematic (PFD and P&ID) into a real physical plant. If they get it right then everybody is happy and the Project Manager gets a bonus. If they get it wrong then nobody is happy. Some of the peons get fired and the process engineer spends the next six months under the gun at the job site trying to correct the mistakes.
The best process engineers I ever worked with knew and understood this. They all took a proactive approach to prevent problems before they happened.
Their approach was to hold a P&ID Review conference when they had the P&ID's about 85% to 90% complete. The attendees at this meeting were the leaders and workers who would be doing the actual detailed design and engineering. Paramount in this group was the piping designers who would be routing all the piping and locating the key instruments and controls.
The meeting was conducted by the process engineer who was responsible for the unit or set of P&ID's. The process engineer would discuss each piece of equipment as we proceeded and would "talk" each line, what was in the line, what it was supposed to do and what to avoid if applicable. There was ample time to ask questions and there was no lack of time or interest in giving answers. The P&ID was "yellowed" off and everyone took notes. These sessions served a valuable purpose and I am sure avoided costly delays later in the job.
I strongly recommend that you (and others) consider using this method to improve communications and the effectiveness your effort alone with that of the rest of the team.

 

[sheiko]

Consult eng-tips as often as possible!

"We don't believe things because they are true, things are true because we believe them."
"Small people talk about others, average people talk about things, smart people talk about ideas and legends never talk."

 

[Melimelo]

Hello everybody!
I'm also a new process engineer, completly novice and doing a lot of mistakes everyday...But I love this job and want to improve myself...)
I would like to thank you all for these advices that I have put on my archives.
I'm also going to buy the book: "Rules of thumb for chemical engineer" that looks very very interesting, I think it will be useful for me everyday...
If anyone has this book, could you tell me more about it?
Thanks a lot!
Méli )

 

[goldnwhite]

http://books.google.com/books?id=d9...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result

From Google books...preview of the book and its contents.

 

[Melimelo]

Thank you very much goldnwhite!
Méli )

 

[nbog]

0707 (Luis) - I did exactly the way you described.
It is unbelievable how much you can learn (being fresh from school) from operators.
I would just add:
Find 1 or 2 guys close to retirement, those are willing to transfer their knowledge, discuss the things and ideas with them - you might hear: "Ooo, young man, we did exactly that what you are proposing, it was back in 198x... and it didn't work because..."

And get Lieberman's books.

 

[climb1]

coming up through a quality into engineering role, I am suprised that there is not more of focus on quality anaysis. understanding all of the tests from quality and R&D towards product assurance is critical in understanding and controlling the process.
i am a huge fan of talking with operators and maintenance. people are not respected enough just because of a lack of theoretical education, but have seen more changes and failures in their years than any of us ever learned in class.

 

[Melimelo]

Hello everybody and especially nbog,

You spoke about Lieberman's books...They look very interesting but what do you think about these other books
(I'm asking for clear and simple books for a very novice process engineer like me, they were advised to me by another engineer):

GPSA and Crane Technical Paper 410 are both essentials.

Maxwell's "Data Book on Hydrocarbons" has a lot of good info in it. Kind of like a mini API for way less money.

Lieberman's "Working Guide to Process Equipment" and "Troubleshooting Process Operations" are both pretty good.

Cameron Hydraulic Data is another handy reference.

Thanks a lot,
Méli

 

[zoner82]

Good advice here, thanks all.