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Chemical Engineering vocabulary · Plant Equipment and Operations

Turnaround

Meaning in chemical engineering, with examples

/ˈtɜːrnəraʊnd/nounCommon term

In chemical engineering, turnaround means: A large planned shutdown of a plant, usually every few years, for inspection, maintenance, catalyst change, cleaning and installing new equipment.

In Turkish: planlı bakım duruşu, revizyon, genel bakım

How it is used

A major event in refineries and petrochemical plants that takes months of planning. People talk about the turnaround scope, schedule, budget and critical path. In the UK it is often called a 'shutdown' or 'outage'.

Example sentences

  1. Replacing the column internals is in the scope of the 2027 turnaround.

  2. The turnaround finished two days early and the unit was back on spec within a week.

Common collocations

  • turnaround scope
  • planned turnaround
  • turnaround schedule
  • turnaround interval
  • shutdownStopping a unit or plant, either in a planned and controlled way or suddenly because of a fault or safety system action.
  • foulingThe build-up of unwanted deposits such as scale, coke, polymer or biological growth on equipment surfaces, which reduces heat transfer and increases pressure drop.
  • catalystA substance that makes a reaction go faster, or more selectively, without being used up itself. In industry it is often a solid in pellets placed in a reactor bed.
  • commissioningThe stage after construction when equipment and systems are checked, flushed, tested and run with water or inert materials to prove they work before real start-up.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Plant Equipment and Operations

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