What is Commissioning?

It is logical that we should start with a basis of just what commissioning is.
It is apparent over a number of years of actual commissioning on various types of
chemical plant processes and in various countries throughout the world that commissioning is
often viewed in different terms. I believe commissioning is best described when broken into
three categories; all three compose the whole, commissioning:

1. Pre-commissioning, activities carried out during construction that prepare and

enable the unit to move to the main commissioning phase. The range of precommissioning activities include: installation of filters, packing of distillation
columns, filling a reactor with catalyst, cleaning pipes and equipment, vendor
and factory acceptance testing, punch listing and instrument, electrical and motor
loop testing.
2. Commissioning, here the various systems and items of equipment are first put into
initial operation. Utility systems, instrument air, cooling water and general purpose
water are made live and the core process systems are first made operational, typically
with safe chemicals, air or water. The unit is leak tested, started up, shut down, distillation columns and scrubbing columns put into use, all to gain the confidence that when
process chemicals are introduced the plant will operate as designed and intended.
3. Start-up, the plant is brought into actual operation.
There are also two commissioning terms that are readily used which require explanation
and inclusion in this section:

Dry Commissioning
Tests and procedures that are conducted where there is no process or safe chemicals yet
introduced to the plant. Examples of these activities would be interlock and emergency shutdown tests, control system sequence checks and potentially initial running of major motors
and/or equipment and ancillary systems, such as compressor oil lubrications systems,
uncoupled from the turning mechanism.

Wet Commissioning
Water or some other relatively safe medium has been introduced to the process and initial
commissioning of the system and its major plant items can be undertaken, putting the process
through its operating scenarios to replicate in the most suitable manner possible the normal
operation of the unit.
It is correct to stress here that the general commissioning team for a project can be
made up of two completely separate parties. All pre-commissioning and some commissioning

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What is Commissioning?

can be done by the general contractor commissioning personnel, while most commissioning
and start-up would be managed by the client commissioning team with help from the
contractor commissioning personnel as and when required. A suitable and clear handover
must be developed so that all members of the combined team know the boundaries of each
separate group to facilitate a safe and coherent effort.
Countless projects have demonstrated that the start-up and ongoing successful
operation of a newly built chemical plant has a direct relationship with the quality and
effort of the work performed during the pre-commissioning, initial commissioning and
start-up phases. A complete, well-planned and accurately documented commissioning
effort is one of the key factors that can contribute to a trouble-free start-up and smooth
transition to a production unit manufacturing to full design rate and within product
specification.
This handbook will give complete and detailed descriptions of each commissioning
activity. It provides a methodology of working which will give optimal potential to bring the
new plant into beneficial operation, manufacturing to full process specification and capacity
in the most efficient and effective way possible. The detail within this handbook can also be
utilized and considered when commissioning new plant or modified equipment within an
existing facility, or items and systems being started up from perhaps a turnaround or overhaul
scenario. The handbook defines a proven methodology for commissioning developed over
many years and projects which should be adapted appropriately to the technologies within the
actual project being undertaken, taking due consideration of the hazards and risks associated
within its processes.
The HSE website (within the Operating Procedures section) in the UK gives indication of
what constitutes commissioning activities. These fall into the following key headings and
a brief explanation of what each section means is given within the text:

System configuration check

Instrumentation system check verification of alarms and trips
Flushing and cleaning of lines and vessels with water
Assessment of ancillary equipment
Calibration of vessels and instrumentation
Start-up protocol
Shut-down protocol
Chemical trials
Handover.

It is my hope that all sections mentioned above will clearly be explained in full during the
course of this handbook and indeed form the very basis of its methodology.
Chemical plant commissioning has developed significantly and at some pace over
the last 25 years, as the constraints of primarily cost and schedule bore heavily on
project management teams. A methodology had to be developed that no longer had the
luxury of distinct and separate construction, commissioning and handover to the operations group phases. This document therefore explains the guidelines, based on current
known best practice, of how the commissioning function can be best integrated within
the greater project, to fulfill the aim of always achieving an on-time successful plant
start-up.
Having described above what commissioning is, hereafter this handbook will approach
the topic of delivery of the actual commissioning process in three distinct stages:

What is Commissioning?

PREPARE

IMPLEMENT

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CLOSE OUT

Although the stages are depicted in a continuous flow path, many of the subtle steps within
each section overlap and potentially run in parallel to each other.
Each stage has been well used and tested. All the steps within each stage should be
considered for any project, of any size, to ensure all of the commissioning activities required
are included in the management system, thus generating the best opportunity of a timely and
successful plant start-up.
Commissioning of chemical plant is fun and wherever possible should be treated as
such. It is busy, bordering on hectic and at certain times is an all-consuming activity; however,
there are few other project disciplines that give its personnel the self satisfaction and reward
commissioning offers. Witnessing and more importantly being part of a successful commissioning and start-up team is, to me, the most rewarding of occupations.