We translate technologies and ideas into clear, buildable, investable engineering, so technical and investment decisions can be made with confidence.
Conceptual engineering is the early design phase that defines what should be built and how, before detailed engineering starts. It covers process concepts, technology selection, block and process flow diagrams, preliminary sizing, cost estimates, and feasibility checks, giving investors and project teams a credible technical and economic basis for the next phase.
Each engagement is shaped to the project, but the engineering deliverables typically include:
PFDs with full heat & mass balances across every stream and unit operation.
Preliminary sizing and duty for reactors, columns, exchangers, compressors and more.
Pressure-drop and hydraulic studies for critical process and utility lines.
Plot plans and equipment arrangement compatible with site, safety and constructability.
High-level SLDs sized for the equipment or process load profile.
Hazard identification and the documentation needed to enter formal HAZOP.
Class-4/5 cost estimates and a frozen basis of design for the next phase.
Tie-in concepts for power, water, steam, cooling, hydrogen and CO₂ on brownfield sites.
We start from the technology, the site and the constraints: commercial drivers, schedule, regulatory context and what success looks like at FID.
Structured trade-off across viable configurations and vendors, with documented criteria so the chosen pathway is defendable.
We build the conceptual package: PFDs, mass and energy balances, equipment sizing, layouts, CAPEX envelope and risk register.
A frozen basis of design that a detailed engineering team (yours or an EPC) can execute against without ambiguity.
We sit between technology development and detailed engineering, the phase where the most consequential decisions get made.
Real industrial installations manufacturing, commissioning and process troubleshooting.
Direct access to the people doing the work. No account-manager layers between you and the engineering.
No commercial ties to technology suppliers. Recommendations are made on technical and economic merit.
Iterative outputs you can react to, not a single waterfall report at the end of the engagement.
Conceptual engineering defines what should be built and how, process configuration, technology choice, block and process flow diagrams, preliminary sizing and cost envelopes. Detailed engineering takes that frozen basis and produces the construction-grade documentation: piping isometrics, full datasheets, instrument loops, structural drawings. Conceptual sets direction; detailed delivers the build pack.
As early as possible, typically when a technology has been demonstrated at lab or small pilot scale, or when an industrial site has identified the need to decarbonise but has not yet committed to a pathway. Engaging before technology selection and basis of design avoids expensive course-corrections in detailed engineering and execution.
Both models work. We often act as the independent conceptual and front-end partner that hands a clean basis of design to a larger EPC for detailed engineering and execution. We also work alongside in-house teams to add specialist low-carbon capacity (hydrogen, Power-to-X, CCU) for a defined phase.
Through a structured trade-off study against the project's specific drivers: power profile, load flexibility, footprint, water and utility availability, downstream pressure and purity requirements, capex and opex envelopes, and supplier maturity. The output is a ranked recommendation with the assumptions and sensitivities documented, so the choice is defendable to investors and regulators.
A coherent basis of design, process flow diagrams with heat and mass balances, an equipment list with preliminary sizing, a CAPEX envelope with stated accuracy class, an OPEX view, a clear technology selection rationale, identified key risks with mitigations, and a credible plan to the next phase. Together these underpin a techno-economic model that holds up in due diligence.
Yes. Ionect has no commercial ties to electrolyzer, capture or reactor vendors. Recommendations are made on technical and economic merit against the project's drivers, and we document the criteria so the reasoning is transparent to your board, investors or regulators.