Providing the best option for project design: FEL & FEED Q&A with Brindley Process Engineer, Marina Poluektova
Marina Poluektova brings meticulous Process Engineering expertise to the Brindley Engineering team. We recently sat down with her to learn more about her role and Brindley Engineering’s FEL and FEED programs.
The FEL (Front End Loading) or FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) approach to projects is commonly used in the chemical and petrochemical industry to vet possible solutions and provide the best option for project design. This project management tool focuses on doing high level design work early on in the project so that both the intended scope and the overall cost of the project are better defined before beginning detailed engineering work. This helps companies identify viable solutions, control project costs, and saves time by quickly abandoning options which are outside of the intended budget.
Q: Can you please describe your role at Brindley Engineering?
A: I am a Process Engineer at Brindley Engineering. Most everyone knows that process engineers work with and update P&IDs, but more importantly, the process engineers make sure that the overall project addresses the desired scope. We check hydraulics to define equipment sizing, identify safety and project risks depending on the chemicals or materials involved, determine requirements and specifications for relief devices, and rely on engineering calculations and best practices to ensure the equipment will function as expected.
Q: What is FEL? Is it different than FEED?
A: Colloquially, FEL and FEED are used interchangeably. When we are talking about an engineering project, FEL or FEED refer to the step-wise approach where a high-level design basis is completed and reviewed with client stakeholders so that an overall project cost can be estimated before proceeding to more time consuming and expensive detailed engineering stages.
By the technical definition, “FEED” is the Engineering and Design phase of the overall FEL process, which is said to start near the end of FEL-2 and through FEL-3 phases. In traditional project management, FEL-0 and FEL-1 are often thought of as business case reviews – defining the problem statement and exploring opportunities for improvement. In the engineering world we often start sketching out possible solutions “on the back of an envelope” even when we first start discussing various options. So perhaps in our line of work we tend to start the “FEED” work earlier in the FEL timeline.
Q: What types of projects fall into the FEL service?
A: Any project that is complex enough to have multiple possible design options to achieve the final goal is a good candidate for the FEL approach. Starting design work at a high level and adding more definition and detailed calculations in stages is a great way to ensure all project requirements are met and all the stakeholders have a chance to give their comments early on.
Additionally, FEL service is recommended when a project cost estimate is required for the capital and expense budget planning.
Q: Does Brindley Engineering execute FEL or FEED work?
A: Of course! Quite a lot of my projects in the past year have been in the FEL category.
I find it curious that official FEL guidelines, for example the Project Management Institute, imply that FEL-1 and sometimes FEL-2 are to be performed by the client, before an engineering contractor is engaged. However, remember what I said about the work of the process engineering department? In the chemical or manufacturing industry, it can be crucial to have a process engineer included in the FEL-1 and FEL-2 discussions so that important operability or scope items aren’t missed from the project plan in the early stages.
Some of our clients have larger engineering departments who are able to begin the high level design work internally, but other sites can run very lean, and the site engineers can be busy and handling multiple priorities at the same time. Brindley Engineering can help move projects along in these cases, even at the early FEL stages. As an example, I once worked on a project where the client intended to use an existing pump for a new operation, and only near the end of the design phase it was found that the existing pump would not be a good fit for the new material. Instead, a new pump had to be purchased and incorporated into the design, causing schedule delays and additional cost to rework the design.
Q: What makes BE a good choice for this type of work?
A: BE maintains a field focused approach in our design work, meaning that we are always considering operability and maintainability when we begin project work. My experience before BE comes from field operations and I always consider how my projects will impact the plant operators, engineers, and mechanics.
From my past experience as a plant engineer and now as a Brindley process engineer, I believe it is critical to get the FEL-2 design on the right track. BE is well suited to perform good quality work for these early-stage projects, having all the major engineering disciplines in-house. The process team works with the client to narrow down the best design cases for the specific location and process requirements while relying on experience to recommend best practices or improvements. Brindley’s civil and structural team can assess the requirements for containment, drains, equipment pedestals, access structures and pipe supports. Meanwhile, the piping group estimates tie in locations and preliminary pipe routing for the project. All of this is then used by the project controls group to work up a project cost estimate allowing the client to understand the required budget for the selected scope.
FEL-2 projects are typically accompanied by a +/-30% project cost estimate which becomes the basis for the project budget. If there are any gaps in the FEL-2 plan, or even if a more efficient approach is later identified, it may be too late to update the direction of the project in the later phases because the stakeholders already have an expectation of the project definition. Therefore, Brindley Engineering could be quite helpful in FEL-stage design work to make sure the design is optimal from the onset of the project.
Q: Can you give us an example of FEL work at BE?
A: I recently worked on an FEL-2 project tasked with building a small 6-tank raw material tank farm for a client in the chemical industry. The client had identified the required capacity of the storage tanks, and BE took the project development from there. Between the different engineering disciplines, we assessed the stored chemicals, reviewed code requirements for the tanks and relief devices, incorporated specialty equipment as required, and worked out preliminary details for diked containment, drainage, access platform, pump power and instrumentation wiring.
Project status meetings with the client stakeholders ensured that the client was involved and had approval over every design decision and variation. This approach ensured that the client had a preliminary design that would work for their purposes and a cost estimate for the overall project to be able to proceed with budget requests.
- Want to Talk about Brindley Engineering’s FEL work with one of our experts? Get in Touch today.
Share this post