ENStarting point
A recycling line should be contracted and accepted against a verifiable design basis: feed, product, capacity, utilities, waste and responsibilities. Commissioning needs to demonstrate the integrated system under the agreed conditions, with outstanding items and limits documented.
From design to stable operation
Follow the sequence and open each stage to see its criteria.
- 01
Product and feedstock
Define what enters and what the line must deliver.
- 02
Flow and interfaces
Connect equipment, utilities and supporting stages.
- 03
Acceptance criteria
Turn requirements into tests and verifiable evidence.
- 04
Startup and stabilization
Separate installation, testing and performance demonstration.
- 05
Operating scenarios
Check how assumptions change achievable output.
- 06
Closing open items
Record results, owners and completion conditions.
Write the design basis before comparing proposals
The design basis defines the industrial problem: which materials will arrive, in what quantity, with what variability, and which products must leave. Include foreseeable contaminants, moisture, particle size, bulk density and packaging forms where relevant. Distinguish available stock from generation forecasts and state which assumptions were measured or only estimated.
Also specify the commercial destination and its quality criteria. High throughput loses its usefulness if the resulting fraction has no application. The basis should guide sampling, process testing and supplier comparison. Where an uncertainty could change the technology or investment, resolve it through characterisation or a pilot before freezing the scope. The cost of this knowledge should be compared with the risk of purchasing an unsuitable configuration.
Define the supply boundaries
Identify where each supplier's responsibility begins and ends. Internal transport, feeding, structures, power, water, compressed air, extraction, effluent treatment, automation and storage may be distributed across contracts. An interface gap may prevent operation even if every individual machine was delivered according to its proposal.
Create an interface matrix with the requirement, party responsible for supply, party responsible for installation, party responsible for testing and completion evidence. Include access for maintenance and waste removal. Integration must consider routine operation and the facility's applicable requirements. Do not treat protective systems or environmental conditions as extras to be resolved after production starts. Their definition is part of an executable project.
Separate installed investment from cash requirements
The budget should distinguish equipment price, transport, relevant taxes, civil works, installation, utilities, engineering, tests and justified contingencies. Start-up materials, inventory build-up and the time between purchasing and receiving sales proceeds may require additional resources. The accounting classification of each item must be validated by the responsible team; here the distinction prevents a partial proposal from being mistaken for the total cash outlay.
A hypothetical example: equipment costs R$ 2.4 million; infrastructure and integration, R$ 0.6 million; planned additional testing and start-up expenses, R$ 0.2 million. The project subtotal is R$ 3.2 million. A separate working capital requirement of R$ 0.4 million raises the funding requirement considered to R$ 3.6 million, before any excluded item. The figures illustrate scope organisation and do not represent a Circuvia budget or projection.
Link each requirement to an acceptance test
Turn commercial promises into observable criteria. For capacity, specify material, duration, operating condition and the quality required simultaneously. For consumption, define the measurement boundary and production basis. For automation, specify the signals, records and interfaces to verify. A test that measures only throughput may leave losses, quality and the effort needed to sustain the result unanswered.
IEC 62381:2024 addresses acceptance and integration tests for automation systems, including FAT, FIT, SAT and SIT. Its scope helps organise responsibilities and tests, but does not replace the performance specification for the entire recycling line. [1] The contract should explain what will be demonstrated at the supplier, what depends on installation and which evidence will release each stage.
| Requirement | Condition to state | Expected evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Test material and duration | Mass and time records |
| Quality | Specification and sampling | Results linked to the batch |
| Consumption | Boundary and approved production | Reconciled measurements |
| Integration | Planned interfaces and functions | Test report and outstanding items |
Plan commissioning and outstanding items by consequence
Commissioning brings together checks and tests to bring a facility to its intended operating condition. The United States Department of Energy's project lexicon connects this phase to demonstration of functional requirements and transition to stable operation. It is a management reference, not a specific Brazilian rule for recyclers. [2]
For the actual project, organise prerequisites, approved procedures, the responsible team and result records. Outstanding items should be classified by their effect on safety, integrity, quality and performance. A delivery signature must not conceal items that prevent intended use. Define which conditions block the next stage and which may be addressed later under formal agreement, respecting technical requirements and necessary authorisations.
Test the integrated system with representative feed
Reserve enough material to reach test conditions and produce samples. Record origin, composition, preparation and representativeness limitations. If the demonstration uses a more favourable feed than the contract anticipates, make clear what it proves and what remains unvalidated. Acceptance must be tied to the conditions actually tested.
Monitor stoppages, changeovers, cleaning, losses and secondary streams. The bottleneck may lie outside the main equipment: feeding, drying, water treatment or dispatch. Balance each campaign and reconcile approved material. When a failure occurs, record the correction and applicable retest. A final result without a history of changes makes it difficult to repeat the operation and subsequently discuss responsibility for deviations.
Plan production ramp-up with learning milestones
Production ramp-up should have learning targets and progression criteria. Define volumes, material families, trained staff, maintenance availability and capacity to absorb products and waste. A financial forecast that starts directly at rated throughput may omit start-up losses and the time needed to stabilise quality and logistics.
A hypothetical example: a line has a reference feed rate of 1 t/h, 400 scheduled hours, availability of 80% and approved yield of 85% relative to feed, with no significant additions in the example. Estimated production is 1 × 400 × 0.80 × 0.85 = 272 t in the period. This is a simplified scenario dependent on its assumptions; it is neither a production guarantee nor a complete OEE indicator. Vary the assumptions to understand what most affects delivery.
Deliver an operation that can be maintained
Project close-out should transfer updated drawings, manuals, automation versions, authorised parameters, a maintenance plan, a parts list and training records. Link each warranty to contractual criteria and limits. Define who will monitor performance after handover and how deviations arising in routine operation will be addressed.
The technical project structuring can connect the supplier, operator and commercial destination. Acceptance is more useful when it demonstrates usable capacity: known material enters, specified product leaves, consumption and waste are monitored, and the team knows how to operate and maintain the system. This is the result that turns investment into recurring supply.
Sources and references
References accessed on 5 October 2026. The numbering in the text indicates the concepts supported by each source.
References to IEC standards use their publicly available scopes; full requirements should be consulted in the respective standards.
- IEC 62381:2024 — Automation systems in the process industry: factory acceptance test (FAT), site acceptance test (SAT), and site integration test (SIT). Publicly available scope, which also includes factory integration test (FIT).
- US Department of Energy. Project Management Lexicon of Terms — Commissioning and startup; commissioning report. Project management reference.
Circuvia corporate content to support project discussions. Methods, acceptance criteria and applicable requirements are defined within the scope of each operation.