Chemical Engineering July 2015 - 48

TABLE 5. dECoMMissioning-PhAsE ConsidErATions For WAsTE MAnAgEMEnT in
CAPiTAL ProjECTs
Facility optimization
philosophy
Camp decommissioning and
abandonment
A philosophy that abandonment is part of the facility optimization and
operation needs to be followed, and the operating organization should be
framed with this in mind.
All project-development camps (all camps except for the facility's final
operating camp) will need to be decommissioned and abandoned, as
discussed earlier. The decommissioning costs are typically borne by the
contractor that developed the camp if they still occupy it, or the operator, if
the operator is occupying the camp.
Facility rationalization and
partial abandonment
Strategic abandonment
planning
Asset-retirement wastemanagement
plan
A facility rationalization plan is required to provide guidance in optimizing
facilities as production starts to decline.
Financially, asset abandonment has been found to be best done in tandem
with operations. Production sharing contracts, partnership contracts, tax
incentives and financial reporting typically incentivize a company to abandon
as they go, instead of abandoning at the end of an asset's life.
An asset-retirement plan that includes waste-management planning is
required, based on the facilities rationalization and optimization plan. What
scrap yards, and other facilities are required, where, when and with what
throughput or capacity? How can infrastructure " log jams " be minimized
by optimizing the distribution of facilities to be retired, and aligning plans
with other capital projects?
environment and infrastructure of
the area. how difficult will it be to
obtain permission to operate? What
will be the cost in time and equipment
to support project activities?
these are key questions that need
to be answered in the initial evaluation
of a new venture. Can these
risks be reduced to manageable
levels or will the costs be too high?
in some cases, a local office in
the country will be arranged for
workers to start the process of introduction
of the company to the
local government and get a realtime
understanding of the issues that
can arise. although often of limited
size and scope, this office complex
will typically be the first activity the
company will have related to waste
management within the country of
operation, and can provide insight
into future problems. From a waste
perspective, table 1 describes some
of the actions that should be taken.
FEED-level activities
FeeD activities relate to the BoD
and the beginning engineering of
the project facilities and pipelines, as
well as baseline studies as needed,
and a full-project eshia program if
required. accordingly, the project
often has an increased demand
for rooms and lodging, increased
travel in and out of the country
and various contractors arriving for
both short and long assignments
to collect information and conduct
research. typically, the FeeD con48
tractor
will manage a large part of
the baseline work from an engineering
standpoint, including evaluating
soil types, water levels, weather and
land data and so on. the company
will manage other studies, such
as the full-project eshia work and
increased regulatory and social efforts,
to make sure the project
moves forward. table 2 provides
some considerations for FeeD-level
waste management.
the initial activity involves developing
an itt package for contractor
bids for pre-FeeD and FeeD items
and for the development of a BoD
document. environmental considerations,
including waste management,
need to be included in the
development of these bid packages
and BoD documents.
Construction phase
During the construction phase, the
largest expansion of personnel usually
occurs, and the volume of waste
generated is often at its maximum.
the types of waste that must be
handled will expand to include remaining
waste streams from the
completion of work on early-phase
infrastructures, and now full-blown
construction waste streams, as
well as domestic waste streams.
large volumes of used oils, lubricants,
waste filters and used tires,
as well as scrap wood, plastic and
concrete are generated. although
the volume of hazardous waste increases,
the main types of waste
streams are still common ones (for
instance, used oils). the principal
waste problem now becomes one
of logistics, movement and handling.
table 3 addresses some items that
must be accounted for during the
construction phase.
Operations phase
operation of the facility usually results
in demobilizing the construction facilities
and consolidating residual waste
streams into the permanent waste facility
during closeout. some residual
construction may continue with a reduced
construction camp. the camp
and associated equipment may remain
onsite with the anticipation of
expansion needs or may be removed
completely, depending on operator
strategy. the volume of waste will
be reduced considerably; however,
with the startup of operations, other
waste streams will come online that
may be more hazardous (process
wastewater streams, solvents, tank
bottoms and so on) that may require
additional third-party contractors and
possibly expanded recycling and or
treatment facilities. table 4 explains
of the waste-management concerns
that arise once the capital project
becomes operational.
Decommissioning
planning for capital-project decommissioning
(including asset retirement)
has historically been done to
meet facility operating requirements,
often in response to a sudden need
for the facility to ratchet down its
operating parameters to accommodate
production decreases. the industry
has recently begun to initiate
asset retirement in a more planned
and proactive fashion. as a result,
wastes related to decommissioning
and asset retirement require more
advanced planning and earlier management,
while the waste-generation
rate peaks at a lower rate. table
5 lists some considerations related
to decommissioning.
Closing thoughts
Waste management is generally not
viewed as a " make or break " item
for capital projects. however, if not
managed correctly, it can be a major
frustration and distraction to the
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