Modules in process industry - A life cycle definition

The chemical and biochemical industry has to face the challenges of globalization, short product cycle times and volatile markets. Therefore, the lead time of development projects has to be shortened. Modules and module-based plant design are widely discussed to enable shorter time-to-market by reuse of engineering effort and standardization. In this paper general requirements on modules in process engineering and modules for particular applications in the chemical and biochemical industry are reviewed. This includes the impact of modules on the planning process and examples of realized modular equipment concepts. Based on this, a general terminology definition of 'modules' and of specific module types for the process industry is presented, whereas modules on various 'aggregation levels' are accounted. A 'block representation frame' stores information and tracks information fluxes along the whole process and plant life cycle and on different 'realization levels' from laboratory studies over miniplant validation to production plant design and operation. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.