03/10/2022 21:39 What is Front End Engineering Design or FEED Engineering?

FEED vs Detailed Engineering (PDF)

What is Front End Engineering Design or FEED

Engineering? FEED vs Detailed Engineering (PDF)
whatispiping.com/front-end-engineering-design-feed/

Anup Kumar Dey February 3, 2021

Front End Engineering Design or FEED is an engineering design approach adopted

prior to detailed engineering, procurement, and construction. It is an important
engineering design phase that is used to control project expenses and thoroughly plan a
project before bid submission. Benchmark studies have shown that FEED constitutes
roughly 2% of the project cost but properly executed FEED projects can reduce up to
30% of costs during design and execution. Front-end engineering design is a basic
engineering phase conducted after conceptual design or feasibility study. FEED is also
known as Front End Loading or Front End Engineering.

Purpose of Front End Engineering Design

The main purpose of FFED or Front End Engineering Design is

to define the technical and project-specific requirements for an understanding of

clear project scope.
to prepare the project approach and basis of design for the system.
to develop a good project cost estimate for budget authorization.
to reduce the risk of the project.
to estimate the project duration and schedule during the detailed design phase.

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03/10/2022 21:39 What is Front End Engineering Design or FEED Engineering? FEED vs Detailed Engineering (PDF)

A number of preliminary engineering documents are produced in the front-end

engineering design phase (Click here to learn about all 12 phases of project
implementation) which are used as the start-up documents for the detailed engineering
design phase. Combinedly, these documents are known as the “FEED Package”. A good
FEED package reflects all of the client’s project-specific requirements to avoid significant
changes during the execution phase. The FEED package forms the basis for the design
execution of EPC or EPCM projects.

Time Duration for FEED Project

FEED projects are fast-track engineering projects. The time duration for a front-end
engineering design project is normally less than one year. So, it requires enough
experience to execute FEED projects with safety within a short time period. Close
communication between Project Owners and Operators (Client) and the Engineering
Consultant is required to address all the client requirements in the FEED package.

Types of FEED Project

Depending on the extent of the detailing required during front end engineering design
phases, FEED projects can be categorized into three groups

Basic FEED
Intermediate FEED and
Extended FEED

Front End Engineering Design Deliverables

Considering Piping Engineering as the basis, the front end engineering design
deliverables for a FEED project can be listed as follows:

Basic FEED deliverables:

Overall Plot Plan
PMS or Piping Material Specification.
Tie-in Details
Intermediate FEED deliverables:
Deliverables mentioned in Basic FEED
Piping Purchase Specification
Piping Layout Design Basis
Piping Stress Analysis Design Basis
Interface Register
Demolition Scope details/drawings
Concept Notes on the overall plot plan
The assumption on the design basis

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03/10/2022 21:39 What is Front End Engineering Design or FEED Engineering? FEED vs Detailed Engineering (PDF)

Extended Feed deliverables:

Deliverables mentioned in Basic and Intermediate FEED
Unit Plot Plan
Equipment Layout
Pipe-rack sections
Pipe thickness Calculation
Valve datasheets
Preliminary Stress Analysis for pipe routing/civil loading
Piping Support Standard
Special Item list
Piping Standard Assembly Drawings
Piping Scope of Work
Preliminary 3D Model

Typical FEED engineering deliverables with respect to the process engineering team are

Process Flow Diagrams (PFD) and Preliminary P&ID Generation

Process modeling
Technical specification and design basis creation
Equipment specification and sizing
Safety device sizing and selection
Full hydraulic calculations
Pipe Sizing

Inputs required for FEED Project

Roughly the following inputs are required to proceed with a FEED project

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FEED engineering Scope of Work
Feasibility Study Report
Location and Details of the area where the plant will be built
List of Applicable Codes and Standards
Customers technical practices

Overall, the FEED phase is considered an important and critical planning tool.

What comes after front-end engineering design or FEED Engineering?

Front-End Engineering Design identifies all technical requirements, potential risks, and
approximate costs of the proposed project. Once there is a green signal for the project
execution, Detailed Design Engineering or Detailed Engineering, or DD engineering
comes in place. So, Detailed Engineering comes after FEED engineering.

What is a FEED study?

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03/10/2022 21:39 What is Front End Engineering Design or FEED Engineering? FEED vs Detailed Engineering (PDF)

The Front-end engineering and design process is one of the most important pre-project
planning activities. A typical FEED study consists of producing technical documents,
confirming product specifications, clarifying the project scope, and estimating the
approximate project cost.

What is pre-FEED engineering?

Pre-FEED Engineering is a preliminary step that is usually undertaken before starting the
basic engineering work. Pre-FEED engineering is an optional project phase and may be
skipped. In the pre-FEED stage, the technical and economical feasibility of the project is
sometimes confirmed. Depending on the nature of the project and uncertainties involved,
a Pre-FEED work may be combined with conceptual work and studies.

What is front-end in a project?

The front-end phase of a project is the initial phase of a project when the project idea is
conceived. The front-end phase of the project ends when the final decision to start or not-
no start the project is decided.

Differences between FEED and Detailed Engineering: FEED vs

Detailed Engineering
Both FEED and Detailed engineering are completely different terms in a project life cycle.
FEED is the basic engineering with the aim to establish the project costing. Whereas
Detailed engineering is the actual detailed project work for design and construction.
Some of the major differences between Detailed Engineering and FEED engineering are
tabulated below:

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03/10/2022 21:39 What is Front End Engineering Design or FEED Engineering? FEED vs Detailed Engineering (PDF)

FEED Engineering Detailed Design Engineering

Front End Engineering Design is an Detailed Engineering is the design phase when all
up-front basic engineering phase. design work in done in detail to put into construction
and operation.

FEED is done mainly to assess the Detailed Engineering is the design phase when all
cost and produce preliminary basis design work is done in detail to put into construction
documents. and operation.

FEED is done with an acceptable Detailed Engineering is done with utmost accuracy.
level of accuracy.

The time requirement of FEED Detailed Engineering requires more time as compared
engineering is short. to FEED.

The cost and manpower requirement Detailed Design needs more manpower and
for the FEED project is less. associated cost is also much higher than the FEED
stage.

FEED phase may not end with All Detailed Engineering projects usually have a
Detailed Engineering FEED phase.

Table 1: Detailed Engineering vs FEED Engineering

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