Methodology for Determining the Integrity of Process Engineering Design

Abstract

In the past decade, Australian industry, and particularly the mining industry, has witnessed the development of several large “super-projects”, most in excess of a billion dollars. These large super-projects include the exploitation of Australia’s mineral wealth in alumina, copper, iron, nickel, uranium, and zinc, through the construction of huge complex industrial process plant ranging in cost from one to two billion dollars. Although these super-projects create many thousands of jobs resulting in significant decreases in unemployment especially during construction, as well as projected increases in the wealth and growth of the Australian economy, they bear a high risk in achieving their forecast profitability through maintaining budgeted costs. Most of the super-projects have either exceeded their budgeted establishment costs, or have experienced operational costs far in excess of what was originally estimated in their feasibility prospectus scope. Some of the more significant contributors to the cost “blow-outs” experienced by these super-projects can be attributed to the complexity of their engineering design, both in technology and in the complex integration of systems, as well as a lack of meticulous project management.