In this department, highly experienced experts provide a range of engineering services for industrial projects (EPC and consulting); in particular, those involving the process of minerals (copper, gold, and iron ore). The services include data collection regarding the conditions of the site, financial/technical studies and offers, basic and detailed engineering services, procurement engineering, and project start-up process.

The I&C Department, drawing upon the technical expertise of its experienced crew, independently handles the projects which fit into the company’s technical and process resources. For other projects, the I&C Department seeks to cooperate with foreign companies (know-how suppliers and technology providers) and bases its services on such collaborations. The engineering team in this department, over the few past years, has spent more than 80 thousand man-hours giving engineering services to projects.

Areas of Expertise:

• Instrumentation
• Advanced Process Control (APC)
• Distributed Control Systems (DCS)
• Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC)

• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)

Areas of Studies and Engineering Documentation:

• Conceptual Design: In this phase, the financial feasibility of the project is studied and the approach for the basic design is prepared.
• Basic Engineering Design: In this phase, the criteria for the design of instrumentation and control systems (and their architecture for process functions, and processing the performance), which serve as the prerequisite to the FEED phase, are determined

• Front End Engineering Design (FEED): In the FEED phase, the technical specifications of the instrumentation, the control system, the communication network, and Tele-Control are written. This phase includes the following activities:

• Control Philosophy
• Instrument List with Process Data
• Control System Equipment list
• Instrument Location Layout
• I/O List
• Control System Architecture
• Detailed Engineering Design: This phase includes the following:
• Control Valve Sizing
• Instrument Datasheet
• Control System Equipment Datasheet
• Instrument Hook-Up Diagram
• Control Loop & Wiring & Termination Diagram
• Logic Diagram
• Installation Procedure
• Procurement Engineering: This phase includes:
• Material Requisition – MR
• Technical Bid Evaluation – TBE

• Commissioning and Start-up Assistance: In this phase, all instrumentation is inspected, the control cycles are tested, and the system is started.

The following software is used:

• Control Valve Sizing S/W

• Automated Instrumentation Design S/W

Supervision phase:

• Control System & Instrument Installation Supervision

• Instrumentation Calibration

The basis of every industrial project is the engineering design, so the role of engineering department is crucial. The Mechanical Engineering Department at NIPEC is an indispensable part of engineering. The majority of engineering services are devised and managed in this department. The services provided by this department in Equipment, Piping, HVAC & Safety sections are given below in short:

• Mechanical Engineering Department’s services for EPC projects:
  • Basic and Detailed Engineering: the department goes through the following stages for the basic and detailed engineering of the projects:
  • Preliminary studies of Process Flow Diagrams from the Process Department, or foreign Technology Providers
  • Completion of Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&ID) from the Process Department by pipe sizing calculations and Valve selection (in the absence of foreign Technology Providers)
  • Preparation of basic documents, such as design criteria, technical specifications, conceptual design, Data Sheets, etc. for the following:
    1. Fixed equipment: containers, heat exchangers, Tanks, Towers, Vessels, Sumps, etc.
    2. Rotating equipment: pumps, compressors, blowers, fans, etc.
    3. Special equipment: cranes, jaw and cone crushers, ball mills, hydro cyclones, filter presses, flotation cells, Thickeners,
    4. Material conveying systems: conveyors, hoppers, shoots, vibrators, feeders, skips and wagons, belt scales, magnet separators, metal detectors, etc.
    5. Dust collectors: ducting, fans, bag filters, sump pumps, Fume Extraction systems
    6. Piping: piping, supporting, Stress Analysis
    7. HVAC & safety: HVAC, Plumbing, ETP, WTP, Utility facilities, fire extinguishing systems, filtration systems, pressure reducing stations, air separation units, etc.
  • 3D modelling using PDMS or Solid Works for the following purposes:
    1. Developing 3D model review sessions
    2. Clash Checking by Foreseeing potential conflicts between different fields of Mechanical Engineering, structure, power and electricity, and instrumentation through the modelling of all parts of the site and related Operation and maintenance necessities
    3. Compilation of the complete list of piping items using PDMS and ensuring precise purchasing
    4. Awareness of new and passive needs of contractors, consultants, and the project team, based on the observations of the plant’s 3D model
    5. Avoiding duplication of activities in different phases of engineering, procurement, and installation
  • Provision of plant’s equipment layout and handling of plot plans, general arrangement drawings, sectional layout, and equipment arrangement drawings (based on the experience from similar projects and Lesson Learns)
  • Providing the Electricity and Power Department, Instrumentation and Control, and Civil Engineering Department with the information necessary for them to start designing.
  • Provision of document and detailed Document for all parts
  • Procurement documentation and supporting documents
  • Supervision of As-Built drawings
  • Procurement Engineering: the following procurement services are offered:
  • Bids assessment
  • Participating in clarification sessions with bidders
  • Technical bid evaluation and giving technical scores to them
  • Collaboration with the procurement unit at the transaction commission and finalizing the choice of manufacturers

• • Examination of manufacturers’ documents and giving technical advice throughout the stages of equipment manufacturing

• Technical Inspection: upon the request of the Inspection Department, the Mechanical Engineering Department engages in the following:
• Detailed examination of bidding documents, contracts, and manufacturers’ documents
• Inspection of the manufacturers’ Quality Control Plan and giving advice to improve that
• Technical inspection of equipment on the basis of the approved Quality Control Plan

• • Giving technical advice to manufacturers

• Site Engineering Services: the following design services are offered:
• Collecting the data necessary for the design from the site
• Attending coordination meetings

• • Cooperation with site engineering and supervision team for troubleshooting installation and operational problems

• Mechanical Engineering Department’s services for consulting and MC projects:
  • Review of contractors’ engineering documents according to the contract and the Plant’s needs
  • Review of time schedules contractors’ set for their activities

o    Review of engineering documents and Drawings, manuals, and calculation files

• • Attending meetings with employers and contractors based on the needs of the project

• Mechanical Engineering Department’s bidding services:
  • Review of tender’s technical documents
  • Attending the tender’s briefing session and visiting the site
  • Providing technical bids
  • Providing procurement bids for financial estimates
  • Preparing and reporting the total man-hour needed for a project
  • Preparing Technical Documents and weights for tender
  • Attending tenders’ coordination and transparency meetings

• • Collaboration with the Procurement Department in necessary estimations to propose final price

The Civil Engineering Department is active in three areas of civil engineering, structure, and architecture. The staffs are equipped with necessary skills to provide all engineering and consulting services required by industrial projects. The team’s major tasks are providing technical bids, carrying out conceptual studies, writing design principles based on the climate and nature of the project, basic and detailed design, and site engineering. In doing all tasks, the team draws upon its up-to-date knowledge and software of modeling and design. Throughout all stages, the main objective of the department is to come up with solutions which are technically and economically optimal, and materials and equipment which are easily accessible and efficient.