Extended AbstractExecutive Summary

Development of Excel-Based Material Selection Software for the Engineering

Design of Oil and Gas Processing Facilities

Albert Amanto and Aditya F. Arif

IntroductionBackground

Construction material is an essential component of an engineering design. It is pronounced

among the determining factors for a successful operation of a processing facility. Utilization of a
suitable material for a particular process condition prevents the facility from mechanical failure.
Without a proper selection of the constructing material, the facility may not be able to operate for an
expected lifetime, not to mention the losses (economic and possibly, life) due to the failure.
Selection of construction materials needs to consider several process variables, process fluid
characteristics, and mechanical properties of the materials. The presence of corrosive substances
combined with the extreme operating conditions, such that found in the oil and gas processing
facilities in Indonesia, increases the complexity of the material selection. In light of this, several
companies (e.g. Granta, Honeywell, etc.) developed material selection software to assist the
engineers in selecting the construction materials, especially for oil and gas industries. Such software
was developed based on the international codes, standards, or conventions, combined with field
databases. However, commercial software is costly (USD $ 20,000/year), albeit functional for general
use.
Considering this matter, we propose to develop a generic material selection software based
on a simple platform. By developing our own material selection software, we will be able to reduce the
cost for purchasing software license. In addition, having a full-knowledge of our own software’s
algorithm helps us validate the reliability of software’s recommendation in non-general cases, hence
increasing the work quality. Such non-general cases happen quite often in the projects handled by
Rekayasa Industri.

Objectives

Objectives of development are to reduce annual cost and provide software that are easily
distributed and operated by engineer.

Methods

The software will be built on Microsoft Excel platform to allow easy distribution and utilization.
It will generate recommendation based on the following process and operating variables:
Temperature, pressure, chloride content, sulfide content, carbon dioxide content, flow rate, and gas to
oil ratio. The given recommendation will comply NACE MR-0175, NORSOK M-001, and DeWaard
Milliam model, supported by experiment data published in sci-indexed journals and Rekayasa
Industri’s database. The material database will include carbon steels, stainless steels, and nickel-
alloys family. T
his proposal is expected to be a long-term project, divided into three phase:
 Phase I (6 months): Development of the software based on NACE MR-0175, NORSOK M-
001, and DeWaard Milliam model
 Phase II (6 months): Addition of experiment data from sci-indexed journals and Rekayasa
Industri’s field data into the database
 Phase III (from year-1 onward): Maintenance and database update based on the latest
findings and field data

Expected output

The output of this proposal is an excel-based material selection software with an easy useran
easy user interface. The expected users are those working in the engineering design of oil and gas
processing facilities.

Eligibility of the engineers

Albert Amanto, S.T., is a product owner and process engineer in the Refinery, Oil, and Gas Marketing
Division. He is familiar with software management and development, as he served as the IT manager
in the Department of Chemical Engineering ITB.
Aditya F. Arif, Dr. Eng., is an expert in corrosion engineering who has been serving as a product
owner in the Refinery, Oil, and Gas Marketing Division since 2009. As a researcher based in
Hiroshima, Japan, he has a wide access to sci-indexed journals.