Project Brief

The aim of this project was to design a tank farm, tanker intake, filtration, blending system and associated supporting utilities to facilitate the expansion of a large whiskey producer’s operation. The client advised projected volumes which need to be processed and FDT developed a phased expansion approach and detailed design on this basis.

The Solution

Identification of the right solution for the client was a collaborative process. FDT spent time with key operators and managers on site to ensure that all required functionality was delivered while minimising capital spend. For example, many different transfers were required but analysis demonstrated that many of these were quite infrequent and could be completed using a shared line. This minimised CAPEX without compromising the functionality of the plant.

A further innovative feature of the design was the blending, sampling and mixing design. Sampling is an important, and frequent, part of the whiskey intake and blending processes. The design allowed increased automated analysis as well as easy access for the operator to a single location for sampling. 

As part of the project the following activities were completed for each phase:

• Process design and P&ID development
• Process descriptions
• Detailed layout development
• HAZOP
• Commissioning the plant in conjunction with the automation team