ABSTRACT

Plant commissioning is the final phase of the shutdown and it is one of the most critical stages of a successful shutdown completion as it confirms and verifies whether the newly installed facility would be able to meet the performance criteria and established goals� On completion of the shutdown, the plant should return to a fully operational state with the absolute minimum of problems, ensuring trouble-free operation thereafter� The success of a shutdown can be measured by the problems experienced during start-up� However, this phase sometimes receives little attention with short upfront planning from the contractor due to other competing priorities until it is time to start the plant up� In some cases, the contractor’s forces have left the site resulting in repeated trips�

Before a schedule start-up after a shutdown of the unit, one must ask a number of questions that must be answered in the affirmative� Some of them include

• Has all of the work been completed? • Has the work been completed according to the original design? If

not, then is change of design documentation available for review? • Has the work been inspected? • Have relevant tests been conducted on the process equipment? • Has the documentation and instructions for new equipment been

prepared? • Have the operators and technicians been trained on any new equip-

ment that has been added to the process? • Has the instrumentation been checked? • Are the process analyzers working correctly? • Have control valves been stroked? • Have the electrical systems been tested and inspected? • Have all pressure tests and leak tests been completed? • Has the piping been connected, inspected, and blanks removed?