Home / Solutions
Engineering solutions grounded in project experience
Most projects start in one of these situations. For each, a short description of the starting point, what we deliver and selected examples. Every example shows its status: completed, ongoing, designed but not built, study or proposed. A completed design assignment is not the same as a completed plant.
Owners and investors
Investor support for industrial assets
Starting point. An investor buys, builds, converts, extends or relocates an industrial plant. Before committing, it needs facts on the asset, the permits that apply, the design work required and an estimate of the cost.
What we deliver. Technical due diligence and documentation audits; feasibility studies, variants and CAPEX/OPEX estimates; a permitting route for Slovakia with the documents and applications; conversion, extension and relocation design; engineering support during construction and start-up, as agreed.
Examples.
- Ongoing Corden BioChem, Podari (Romania), 2025–2026: audit of an acquired ethanol plant, laser-scan input and conversion engineering.
- Completed SIAD Slovakia, 2022–2024: audit of a CO2 plant designed abroad and its approval documents; acting for SIAD, IPE obtained the temporary-use permit for trial operation and the air-protection consent for permanent operation.
- Completed IFC (World Bank Group), 2010–2011: resource-efficiency consultancy at a petrochemical plant; the recommended investment package was about USD 2.5 million.
- Completed TSR Slovakia (2010–2011), CROWN Bevcan (2008–2012), Schur Flexibles (2021–2022): permit documents and applications for new plants and lines in Slovakia.
What you can expect
- One contact for audit, design and permit documents
- Information gaps on the asset listed early
- Documents in Slovak for the authority, in English or Russian for your team
- Questions from the authority answered by the designers
CO2
CO2 recovery and capture
Starting point. A fermentation plant emits a CO2-rich gas that a gas company wants to recover as food-grade liquid CO2, with a plant designed by a technology supplier. Or a research consortium needs capture units engineered for a demonstration.
What we deliver. Review of the supplier's design against Slovak rules, documents for the authorised inspection body, engineering for trial and permanent operation, emergency planning, air-protection permit applications, foundations and tie-ins, later additions such as NOx removal.
Examples.
- Completed SIAD Slovakia, Leopoldov, 2022–2024. The plant, designed abroad, recovers up to 40,000 t/y of liquid CO2 at 99.9 % purity. IPE's role: audit, approval documents and engineering; acting for SIAD, IPE obtained the temporary-use permit for trial operation (4 August 2023) and the air-protection consent for permanent operation (30 January 2024).
- Proposed CO2-THERMOS (Horizon Europe, grant agreement in preparation): IPE's proposed role is to engineer and build a CO2 capture unit and a CO/CO2 separation unit for the project's integrated prototype at CERTH (Greece).
From research to industry
Pilot, demonstration and modular plants
Starting point. A technology owner, start-up or research consortium has a process that works at laboratory scale and needs a pilot or demonstration unit that can be built, tested, permitted and, often, moved to where the raw material is.
What we deliver.
- A design basis from the research results, with the list of trial data the design still needs
- Module split: process, utilities, control or staff, on skid frames or in ISO containers
- Basic and detail design of the modules and their interconnections; frame, lifting and transport checks
- Follow-up of fabrication and factory testing; foundations and connections on site
- Permit documents for pilot and trial operation in Slovakia, HAZOP and hazardous-area classification, where needed
Examples.
- Completed ENERGEA Umwelttechnologie (Austria), 2006: biodiesel plant in eight modules, shipped to Australia. IPE: detail design of steel structures and mechanical parts, integration of the client's process equipment, supervision of module production, testing and shipment.
- Completed Malai Biomaterials Design, Kerala (India), 2021–2022: heat-pump drying unit, assembled and tested as one unit before shipment. IPE: electrical design and technical file to EN 60204-1.
- Study; design completed ROKOSAN, 2012–2018: liquid organic fertiliser from poultry feathers, from studies to relocatable container units and a modular 15,000 t/y plant design. A verification unit in China and a plant at Mojšová Lúčka (Slovakia) were built by others with IPE's technical support.
- Completed Grontmij | Carl Bro (Denmark), 2008: detail design of steel structures and piping in PDMS for the cooling-station modules of a Multigas LNG/LPG carrier.
- Proposed CO2-THERMOS (grant agreement in preparation): CO2 capture and CO/CO2 separation units, as IPE's proposed contribution.
Moving and clearing plants
Dismantling, relocation and demolition
Starting point. A unit has been sold and must be moved to a new site, or an old installation must make room for a new one.
What we deliver. Survey and documentation of the existing unit, permit documents and applications for dismantling in phases, a dismantling method with cutting plans agreed with the transport company, marked P&IDs and isometrics for re-erection, site supervision and health-and-safety coordination, and the documents for demolition of the cleared area.
Examples.
- Completed Cyclohexanone plant (80,000 t/y), Strážske, 2008–2009: dismantled for relocation to the buyer's site in Russia.
- Completed Removal of boiler K21 to free space for a new energy block, Strážske (2015); removal of a round fertiliser store for Duslo (2016).
- Completed Dismantling design for about 46 t of redundant pipe bridges on a production site in Slovakia (2024).
Brownfield sites
Laser scan and as-built models
Starting point. A plant has grown over decades and the drawings no longer match. New equipment has to fit between existing tanks, racks and steel.
What we deliver. 3D laser scan by IPE or by a scanning partner, registered point cloud, as-built model of the relevant area, new design modelled on the scan, clash review with the client, and as-built documentation after construction.
Examples.
- Ongoing Corden BioChem, Podari (Romania), 2025–2026.
- Completed U. S. Steel Košice, tinning line EC1, 2021–2024 (acceptance protocol 31 October 2024).
- Completed DUKOL Ostrava (Czech Republic), formaldehyde and glue plants, 2017–2019.
- Completed JPS for U. S. Steel Košice, 2018–2019: 3D model from the laser scan of the coke-oven gas desulphurisation plant.
Running plants
Revamps and capacity increases in running plants
Starting point. Production must grow or change in a plant that is operating. The work has to be planned around operation and the shutdown windows.
What we deliver. Debottlenecking study, revised P&IDs, tie-in lists for the shutdown, detail design of new equipment, piping and steel, documents for the change of the integrated permit where emissions change, and as-built documents.
Examples.
- Ongoing Duslo, Strážske, 2026: nitrous-gas preheater and ammonia piping on the running KD2 unit.
- Completed Slovenské liehovary a likérky, Leopoldov, 2020: changes to the distillation and rectification unit, designed on a 3D model of the existing unit.
- Completed DIAKOL Strážske and DUKOL Ostrava: formaldehyde and adhesive plants, 2007–2022.
- Completed Nexis Fibers, Humenné, 2014–2021: ECOPOL II bio-polymer expansion.
Energy
Energy supply and efficiency
Starting point. A site wants its own steam and power, lower energy use, or a switch to biogas, biomass or another fuel.
What we deliver. Energy concept and feasibility study, basic design of boiler houses and CHP units, building-permit and IPPC documents, tie-in design, structural checks of roofs for photovoltaic panels.
Examples.
- Ongoing Duslo, 2026: heat recovery with a nitrous-gas preheater.
- Completed ENVIRAL, Leopoldov, 2023: design and building-permit documents for a CHP extension – a 20 t/h boiler fired with natural gas and biogas feeding a 1.9 MWe back-pressure turbine.
- Completed Duslo, Strážske, 2022: EIA notification, IPPC and building-permit design for a boiler house with three boilers, 13.1 MW thermal input.
- Completed Energochemica biomass heating plant, Strážske (2015–2017); DUKOL Ostrava steam turbine and generator (2018–2022); BUKOCEL biogas combustion (2022); roof checks for PV plants (2023–2024).
Bio-based production
Bioethanol and biorefineries
Starting point. A licensor or investor needs a local engineering partner for an ethanol, fermentation or biomass project.
What we deliver. Check of the licensor's basic engineering package, building-permit and IPPC documents, coordination of HAZOP and SEVESO studies, interconnection design with the existing site, tender packages and detail design.
Examples.
- Ongoing Corden BioChem, Podari (Romania), 2025–2026: engineering for the conversion of a second-generation ethanol plant to molasses.
- Completed TechniCAD Engineering for Nestlé, Konolfingen (Switzerland), 2020–2021: detail design of a fermentation-unit extension.
- Completed Slovenské liehovary a likérky, Leopoldov, 2020: distillation and rectification.
- Designed, not built ENVIRAL with OT Industries, Leopoldov, 2017–2018: building-permit documentation, check of basic engineering and tender packages for a second-generation bioethanol plant. The project was stopped in 2018.
- Designed, not built Energochemica, Strážske, 2019: thermal pretreatment unit of a planned biorefinery.
Russian-language engineering
Documentation in Russian and to the agreed local code
Starting point. A plant owner, licensor or contractor needs engineering documented in Russian, or adapted to the code that applies at the plant's location.
What we deliver. Basic and detail design in Russian or bilingual; designs to EN/STN, or adapted to local standards (GOST, SNiP, DSTU) where the client specifies them, together with the local design partner that issues the final local documentation.
Historical examples. Russian project documentation for a gas regulator station at Anopino (2012–2013); bilingual basic design of a formalin unit for OAO Ščekinoazot (2011), with designer's support at its start-up in 2013.
Languages of our documents
- Slovak and Czech
- English
- Russian
- Spanish (historical: refinery project in Cuba, 2007–2012)
Recognise your situation?
Describe it in a few lines. We tell you which scope fits, what it would include and what we need from you to propose it.