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POSITION SUMMARY

Purpose

Reporting to the Facility Manager, process engineer is responsible for the day-to-day operation and technical support of the SMR, and ASU based on the Air Products Barauni Plant and ensuring production and efficiency targets are being achieved safely. The facility range across multiple technologies such as Hydrogen (HYCO) and Air Separation (ASU).

Nature and Scope

The Barauni Plant is Air Products first fully owned and operated plant in India; it represents a significant investment and includes “State of the Art” technology which makes it advanced Hydrogen Plant within the Corporation.

The plant consists of 2 main elements: -

• 1 x Large Technip Steam Methane Reformer (SMR) with Air Products PSA’s for H2 purification.
• An Air Products Air Separation Unit (ASU) Producing Nitrogen

The customer is Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Barauni refinery and the Air Products plant is located within the customer’s site. The products from the Air Products plants go directly to the customer as part of their refinery expansion. There is a high level of integration between IOCL and Air Products with respect to feedstock’s, products and utilities. The products are critical to refinery unit operations.

The plants run on continuous basis and there is a strong emphasis of high reliability and high efficiency with contractual penalties against Air Products for underperformance.

Air Products owns, operates and maintains Hydrogen Plants and ASUs around the globe with Operations in over 50 countries, in excess of 100 hydrogen plants and 350 ASU’s. As such we have a wealth of expertise and have well established work processes in place for the reliable and efficient operation of our plants.

Prior to facility operation the individual will have a period of training before plant commissioning begins, where they will have a role and involvement in the HYCO plant commissioning.

DIMENSIONS

Plant Products (Approximate):

H2:                               50        KTPA                                       

N2:                               4,000    Nm3/h  

Number of Direct Reports (approximate):  NIL.  He shall be one of the 4 shift engineers who work in shifts of 8 hours duration.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• A high regard for the safety of self and others.

• Understand and have working knowledge of Air Products EH&S systems processes including emergency preparedness and incident management.

• Identify productivity improvement opportunities and targets in production operations. Areas of emphasis includes manufacturing cost reduction, waste handling and reduction, raw materials, utilities consumption/cost/supply, production process reliability and capacity expansions.

• Conduct process engineering evaluation of production unit operations and facility utilities, investigate and identify process bottlenecks and constraints, map system capability and rank solutions with necessary cost-benefit analyses.

• Identify, develop and design improved operating and control strategies to achieve productivity targets. Develop tracking programs and metrics for plant optimization and efficiency and monitor the targets against budget/expected performance.

• Analyze plant performance and work with the operations team to ensure the plant operates optimally. Develop and install systems that ensure plant operators and line management understand the optimal run point for each process to achieve efficiency targets. Develop training modules and assist in training operators.

• Providing Plant Process Engineering support in the following areas:

• Knowledge of applicable standards, design tools and work processes.
• Some ORI/Commissioning experience and experienced in defrosting/restarting (where applicable) and can do this on the plants they support with limited assistance.
• Contributor in OPHRs and DHRs and ensures efficient action closeout.

• Provide support for the facility process safety activities through implementation of management of change associated with asset management projects, operating plant hazard review revalidation, execution of project hazards reviews, completing OPHR action items, and support of environmental permitting.

• Provide process-engineering consultation and support to the site Production organization, to help troubleshoot and resolve process operating problems. Assist operations to resolve product quality, reliability, and operability issues.

• Provide engineering support in conjunction with plant turnarounds.

• Actively participate in plant safety program by attending monthly meetings and assisting with BSP program compliance.

• Provide technical support to ensure the safe and reliable operation of equipment, processes, utilities, and controls is achieved.

• Provide technical leadership in supporting/leading investigations and Root Cause Analysis in order to identify & implement sustainable corrective actions.

• Responsible for the day-to-day operation of the plants in 8-hour shifts, including troubleshooting plant process problems, directly supervising daily plant activities and reporting to management. The Shift Engineer is required to be able to start up, shutdown or put the process into a safe position, escalating any abnormal situations to the Plant Supervisor.

• Support the commissioning of the Barauni plants to ensure the start-up is successful; the plants are properly handed over to Operations in accordance with Air Products standards and all outstanding testing, work and punch list items identified with a path to closure.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with 5-7 years’ experience in engineering or technical services in Ammonia, Hydrogen or Methanol process industries.

• Experience and knowledge in the technology, design, and operation of Steam Methane Reformers (HYCO), Ammonia and Air Separation preferred.
• Start-up, commissioning, or plant operating experience an advantage

• Excellent Communication skills.

• Able to handle communication with customer.

• Good technical knowledge in gas operations and engineering.

• Fluent oral English and excellent written English.

• Knowledge of Hindi will be an added advantage.

We are the world’s largest hydrogen producer with over 80 years of industrial gas experience. We are hydrogen and industrial gas experts delivering safe, end-to-end solutions, investing in real, clean energy projects at scale, and driving the industry forward to generate a cleaner future. 

At Air Products, we work in an environment where we put safety first, diversity is essential, inclusion is our culture, and each person knows they belong and matter. To learn more, visit About Air Products.