This glossary provides definitions of common industry terms used by engineering companies. It is presented by Fluor as an easy reference source for media professionals and other members of the public.
American Bridge/Fluor Joint Venture. JV is building the new San Francisco Bay Bridge for California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS).
Act or process of absorbing.
Assimilation of gas, vapor, or dissolved matter by the surface of a solid or liquid.
Atmospheric Distillation Unit
Atomic Energy Commission
Fluor's equipment subsidiary is a leader in providing integrated mobile equipment, tool, and fleet management solutions to construction, mining, government, and industrial markets around the world.
Bolts imbedded in concrete foundation and bolted to vessels to anchor bolt chairs.
American National Standards Institute.
Area of Responsibility
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient
ASME Boiler Code
Standard rules for the construction of boilers and pressure vessels divided into sections which establish design formulas, material selection, allowable stress values, methods of construction, inspection, and nondestructive examination procedures for pressure containment vessel.
American University in Cairo. Fluor provided project and construction management services on this project.
Fluor work process that centers and defines Fluor's activities around the project baseline, and then delivers to that baseline to meet commitment to clients.
Geographic boundaries, imaginary or real, enclosing a plant or unit being engineered and/or erected, established for the purpose of providing a means of specifically identifying certain portions or work. Generally refers to process area only unless specified to the contrary.
BPSD or B/SD
Barrels per standard day.
Benefits for You®
Benefits for You is a name and logo used by Human Resources in communication materials regarding Fluor benefits.
Abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for reuse.
Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes, compounds that are some of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in petroleum derivatives.
British Thermal Unit
Fluor's annual global volunteer program, providing backpacks filled with school supplies to students.
The process of captured CO2 from flue gases produced by fossil-fuel power plants, refineries, and chemical plants.
The process of breaking up heavier hydrocarbon molecules into lighter hydrocarbon fractions by using heat and catalysts.
U.S. Army Central Command.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Programs Center.
Cubic feet per minute.
Sulfur technology to meet clients' environmental requirements.
Fluor-developed, web-based contract management reference system.
Fluor's Code of Ethics.
The use of a single facility to simultaneously produce power and heat or steam.
Reducing to powder; pulverizing.
Process of verifying and documenting that a facility and its associated systems meet project requirements. Activities may include run-ins, water batching, and operation of equipment and systems in support of the validation IQ and OQ execution.
Integration of the design with the construction approach and experience to optimize (within contract requirements) the project quality, safety, capital cost, and construction schedule, thus minimizing the overall project cost.
Services provided worldwide to U.S. Government agencies, including logistics, base camp construction, housing, transportation, fuel, meals, laundry, recreation, and other support services.
Concentrating Solar Power.
Decontamination and decommissioning.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Labor
The retirement of a facility, including decontamination and/or dismantlement.
The removal of unwanted hazardous contamination by a chemical or mechanical process.
Fluor subsidiary that provides base operations support, logistics, construction, education, and training to U.S. Government agencies.
Process of removing dissolved salt and other minerals from water. Seawater is desalinated to produce fresh water suitable for human consumption.
A system of contracting under which one entity performs both architecture/engineering and construction under one single contract.
Use of multi-office execution teams across Fluor's network of global offices.
The refining or processing of crude oil into finished fuel products.
Engineering and construction.
Energy & Chemicals
Electro Catalytic Oxidation.
Fluor's Econamine uses diglycolamine as the aqueous solvent for H2S and CO2 removal from gas streams
Fluor's Econamine FG technology is a carbon dioxide recovery process. It has MEA scrubbing technology with special additives to prevent excessive degradation and corrosion caused by oxidizing agents in flue gas.
Econamine FG PlusSM
Fluor's Econamine FG Plus uses aqueous mono-ethanolamine solutions for producing food grade CO2. Econamine FG Plus is also used for carbon capture and sequestration projects.
Fluor process that uses dimethylether of polyethylene glycol as a solvent for removal of contaminants such as H2S, CO2, COS, Mercaptans, and others. Selective removal is also possible.
An electrochemical process in which a metal dissolved within an electrolyte is plated onto an electrode. Used to recover metals such as cobalt, copper, gold, and nickel from solution in the leaching of ores, concentrates, precipitates, matte, etc.
Enhanced Oil Recovery Systems
CO2 (raw-gas production, handling, treating, dehydration, compression, injection, metering, etc.)
Engineering, procurement and construction.
Engineering, procurement, and construction management.
Engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance.
Engineering, procurement, construction management, and validation.
Fluor Analytical Schedule Technique Management Plan.
A scheduling process in which design and construction activities overlap. Design documents and equipment and trade subcontracts are released in phases.
Front-end engineering and design.
Front-end engineering and design
Engineering and design phase, early in project lifecycle, to develop project definition and optimize clients' capital resources.
Stock from which material is taken to be fed into a processing unit.
Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Flue gas desulfurization.
An expenditure or expense that does not vary with volume level of activity.
Fluor Cares is the new brand for Fluor’s global community volunteer program.
Formed in 1952, the Fluor Foundation invests in communities, nonprofit organizations, and education. Since that time, the Fluor Foundation has contributed more than $145 million to projects around the world.
Fluor Offshore SolutionsSM
Fluor Business Line dedicated to serving the oil and gas offshore industry.
Process uses a dry propylene solvent to remove H2S and CO2 from gas streams.
Fluor SOx TechnologySM
Fluor's proprietary processes for the removal of SO2 and SO3 from a variety of processing facilities.
Fluor University is a completely integrated career-development system incorporating more than 1,000 online and instructor-led courses and other educational programs and resources.
Process in which conceptual design of a project is developed collaboratively with all project disciplines and input from client.
Generally a vertical vessel containing trays or packing; when in service, it extracts from the process system a certain required fraction such as butane or propane.
FutureFlex is a Fluor program that defines a manufacturing facility concept with optimal flexibility and minimal cost. This approach allows Fluor to conceptualize, initiate, and validate design across an Owner's life-cycle asset.
Flowlines, testlines, manifolds, metering, etc.
Gas Oil Separation Plants, part of the ARAMCO Gas Program in Saudi Arabia.
Graduates Advancing to Professionalism (GAP)SM
Fluor internal program aimed to help recent college and university graduates transition between educational and the corporate environments by familiarizing them with the Fluor culture, goals, and procedures.
A complete plant erected on a virgin site. Investment includes all cost of land, site preparation, battery-limits facilities, and auxiliary facilities.
A project located on semirural property that is undeveloped except for agricultural use, especially one considered as a site for expanding urban development.
Global Reporting Initiative (International Sustainability Report). Guidelines for Fluor's Annual Sustainability Report.
Hazardous Materials. Materials that are legally classified as having the potential to endanger the public in some way and that require special transportation arrangements.
High density polyethylene.
High Occupancy Toll.
High occupancy vehicle.
High Pressure Grinding Rolls.
Heat Recovery Steam Generator.
Health, Safety & Environmental.
Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning.
Separating metal from ores and ore concentrates by chemical reactions in aqueous solution, such as leaching, extraction, and precipitation.
International Building Code.
Integrated gasification combined cycle
The Improved Econamine process uses an aqueous monoethanolamine solution to produce food grade carbon dioxide.
International Standards Organization.
Isometric Drawing. A pictorial view of piping using isometric conventions to represent a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional piping system.
Joule per Kelvin
Just in Time
Two indoor, concrete rectangular structures at the DOE Hanford site that contained the largest collection of spent nuclear reactor fuel.
Fluor's award-winning knowledge management system that allows 24/7 collaboration across Fluor's global offices.
Kilo-tonnes per annum.
Lowest levelized cost of electricity.
Low density polyethylene.
Liquefied natural gas.
U.S. Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program IV provides support to military troops worldwide using private contractors. Fluor provides services to U.S. Army as part of LOGCAP IV.
The process of planning and executing the transportation of material to required destinations to meet schedules.
Liquefied petroleum gas.
Large-scale manufacturing; typically related to biotech or pharmaceutical industries.
Lump-Sum Turnkey Project
Fixed price project for which all components are within a single supplier's responsibility.
Management and Operations contracts, typically awarded by DOE to manage and operate facilities in the DOE complex.
MasterPlant® by Fluor®
Fluor's MasterPlant suite of project automation tools consists of integrated proprietary and commercial software to help Fluor's project teams design, build, and maintain world-class facilities.
MaterialManager® A MasterPlant Solution by Fluor
The MaterialManager tool in the MasterPlant® suite of project automation tools integrates all material management functions into one seamless system that provides for the total control of project materials, from identification and acquisition to tracking, transportation, warehousing, and installation.
Unit is essentially complete for start-up operation and test run. All major work completed except installation of catalyst. Minor work not interfering with operation may not be completed. Acceptance letter will have been submitted to the client. Precise definition may vary and is usually a contractual provision.
Fluor program in which members of Fluor management serve as mentors to small groups of employees.
A construction technique in which sections of a facility are prefabricated in "Modules," which are transported to the project site, placed in position, and connected.
MS20SM (Managing Safety to Zero)
Fluor's web-based HSE performance measuring and reporting program with a centralized database for tracking and trending key leading and trailing indicators.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific.
Natural Gas Liquid.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Operations and maintenance.
Bituminous sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit.
Olefins II Kuwait project for EQUATE (DowPIC).
Fluor's Operating Systems Implementation Plan. This Fluor document further describes the OSR implementation within each Business Segment.
Fluor's Operating Systems Requirements. Fluor's quality manual that documents basic quality and operating requirements.
Fluor's Professional Publications & Presentation Program.
Partnering Against Corruption Initiative, an anti-corruption initiative formed at the World Economic Forum.
Piping & Instrumentation Diagram.
Process Flow Diagram.
Photovoltaics (PV) is the physical effect causing voltage to be generated across two electrical poles of a semiconductor plate and allowing current to flow when connected to a consumer.
Short version for polycrystalline silicon.
Parts per billion.
Personal Protective Equipment.
Parts per million.
Public-Private Partnerships develop major transportation projects with innovative contracting methods.
A container for handling or chemically changing liquids and gases within a process system.
Fluor's robust project collaboration and document management tool that engages the entire project team-home office, site personnel, clients, vendors, fabricators and suppliers.
Metallurgy that depends on the action of heat, as smelting.
Quality and Certification Requirements.
Quick Opening Device.
Quick Opening Valve.
Quality Surveillance Report.
A vertical vessel containing a catalyst, which in service rearranges the molecular structure and therefore changes the fractions in a process system.
Generally a horizontal vessel, and without internal parts; when in service it collects and transmits back to a fractionation column the fraction which is processed by the column.
A process where water is cleaned by forcing water through an ultra-fine semi-permeable membrane, allowing only the water to pass through and retaining the contaminants.
Reference Power Plant Designs
Fluor's pre-engineered power plant designs that can be customized using innovative design software and integrated collaboration tools.
Previously processed material that contains residual copper.
Saudi Arabia Petrochemical Company.
Semi-Autogeneous Grinding mill. Used in mineral extraction to grind ore to a fine consistency for further extraction processes.
Self-anchored suspension bridge.
Standard cubic feet per day.
Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction.
Selective Catalytic Reduction.
Fluor provides self-perform construction services to clients rather than subcontracting.
Gas-oil-water separation, gas and oil dehydrations, desanding, desalting and sweetening facilities, produced-water handling and treating facilities.
7D Optioneering is a Fluor proprietary Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) modeling tool.
Fluor uses 7D Optioneering to provide our Clients with multiple simulations and options as it relates to optimizing their capital assets. The 7D tool provides online information and planning for business purposes in relation to the complete lifecycle for engineering, construction, and operation of a Client's actual or proposed facility.
7D is a description for a combination of aspects of a physical model:
1,2,3: the dimensions of a model (X,Y,Z axes)
4: the cost element
5: the time element (schedule)
6: the life cycle element (how do we act on a model over time in the different phases of the life cycle)
7: sustainability (e.g. eco-footprint)
Synthetic natural gas.
Irradiated fuel that is permanently discharged from a nuclear reactor. Except for possible reprocessing, this fuel must eventually be removed from its temporary storage location at the reactor site and placed in a permanent repository.
Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC. A Fluor-led partnership that provides operations and management to the DOE at the Savannah River Nuclear Site. The partnership also manages the Savannah River National Laboratory.
Savannah River Site.
Storage Vessel and Storage Tank
A container for storing liquids and gases prior to or following the process system.
Solvent extraction and electro-winning.
Tail Gas Treating Unit.
3rd Gen Modular ExecutionSM
Fluor's 3rd Gen Modular Execution (patent pending) is an innovative work process that optimizes the modularization of a process facility. The benefits include: shifting construction labor out of a high cost environment; reducing material quantities; reducing cost; improving environmental footprint; and attaining cost, schedule, and execution certainty.
Total installed cost.
Tons per day.
Total Recordable Case Incidence Rate.
TRS Staffing Solutions®
Fluor subsidiary that provides technical contract staffing.
A project in which all components are within a single supplier's responsibility.
Fluor's Operational Readiness tool for coordinating operating strategies, commissioning and startup activities, system turnover schedules, organization preparedness, employee training, HSE procedures, and quality certifications.
The exploration, production, and transportation of oil and gas.
Utilities and Offsites.
Vinyl Acetate Monomer.
Variable Frequency Drive.
OSHA Voluntary Protection Program. Because of Fluor’s outstanding commitment and exemplary occupational health and safety records the company is part of OSHA's Corporate VPP Program.
A wafer is a thin slice of silicon used for the manufacture of microelectronic chips and solar cells.
The production of solar cells from silicon wafers is the predominant technology in the photovoltaics industry. It is used by all major solar cell producers and still offers great cost-cutting potential as a means of further extending its leading position.
Water that has been used for domestic or industrial purposes.
Physical, chemical, or biological processes used to remove pollutants from wastewater before discharging into a body of water.
Land area from which water drains to a particular body of water.
World Economic Forum. An independent international organization. Its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland brings business and political leaders, intellectuals and journalists together to discuss world issues.
Outlet Body, Hazardous Area-Terminal
Outlet Body, Hazardous Area-Through
Cross Linked Polyethylene
Cross Linked Polyethylene, Lead Covered
Explosion-proof Dust Tight
Explosion-proof Spin Top, Gas, and Dust Tight
Yellow Indicating Light
Fluor's commitment to the health and safety of all Fluor stakeholders and to sustainability is evident in the corporation's ZERO Incidents HSE program. Fluor believes ZERO Incidents is an attainable objective.
Registered service mark of Fluor Corporation signifies Fluor's commitment to achieve ZERO Incidents.