Reactor Design · Automation · Process Safety

ABOUT

Practical experience behind the engineering

I'm Kevin Bazazzadeh. For 13 years I worked in industrial R&D at Total Petrochemicals and SABIC. I built lab and pilot-scale reactor systems, wrote the control systems that ran them, and later served as the process safety engineer who reviewed every change made to them.

Practical Reactor Systems is where I write down what that work taught me: the details that decide whether a system produces good data, runs reliably, and stays safe.

Kevin Bazazzadeh outdoors
9 years

Reactor design and construction

I was the lead designer and builder on seven lab-scale reactor systems and assisted on three more. For each unit I owned the full path:

  • Concept and P&ID
  • Materials selection and equipment specification
  • Construction
  • The documentation package: SOPs, HAZOP documentation, materials and ratings
  • Safety review, shakedown, and startup

The builds included the reactor units, PLC controls and typically online GC analysis.

Service conditions included: Pure oxygen at low and high pressure, chlorine, aromatic hydrocarbons, LPGs, and hydrogen.

13 years

Control and automation

I built 15 reactor control systems and served as the site's subject matter expert on control systems.

  • Wrote the site-wide control system standard, covering hardware requirements, a logic template, and a 200-page programming guide
  • Verified that control and safety logic worked as designed before units went into service
  • Introduced Modbus for mass flow controllers, replacing analog signals
  • Consulted with other sites on control logic and troubleshooting

Platforms: Honeywell HC900 (Hybrid Control Designer and ControlEdge Builder), GE iFIX, SpecView, Opto 22, LabVIEW

4 years

Process safety

I was the sole process safety engineer for an R&D center running bench and pilot-scale systems.

  • Managed about 100 MOCs a year, including first-of-kind reactor systems and processes
  • Led every pre-startup safety review and facilitated every HAZOP at the site
  • Led the annual required training for the site's PHR reviewers
  • Owned the preventive maintenance program for relief valves, control systems, vapor monitors, and excess flow valves

THE PURPOSE

Why this site exists

Most design and process safety guidance is written for production plants. Lab and pilot systems are small enough that people assume their hazards are small too, and different enough that plant-scale rules don't always translate. The people building and reviewing these systems are often scientists and engineers learning as they go. This site is meant to shorten that learning curve.

Have a question about a system you're building or reviewing? Send it in. Good questions often become Engineering Notes.