INDUSTRY · CHEMICAL PROCESSING · HAZARDOUS-AREA ENCLOSURES
Chemical Processing Equipment and Containment
Separate the process from the plant, or the plant from the process. Then connect it, contain it, and support it.
Miller 3 Engineering designs, builds, and installs hazardous-area enclosures, process enclosures, secondary containment, process utility piping, and the structural steel and equipment that go with them. Design work is available nationwide. Build and install reach 600 miles from Sacramento.
The process outgrew the room it lives in
Something changed. A new chemistry, a higher volume, a reclassification, an insurance review, a regulator who asked a question nobody had a clean answer to. Now a process that has been running in the open corner of a building for eleven years needs to be separated, contained, ventilated, or all three.
That is a problem with four contractors attached to it. A steel fabricator for the structure. An enclosure supplier who sells panels but not the building modification they attach to. A piping contractor for the process lines. A mechanical contractor for the ventilation and the containment. Each of them quotes their own piece, each assumes someone else handles the interface, and the interface is exactly where a containment or hazardous-area scope either works or does not.
The full detail
Meanwhile the plant keeps running. Chemical operations rarely have a convenient shutdown. The tank farm still gets deliveries, the reactor still runs its cycle, and hot work inside an operating chemical facility is a planning exercise before it is a labor exercise.
And the drawings for the existing building, if they exist, are from a version of the plant that stopped being accurate three expansions ago.
A contained, ventilated, supported process with one set of drawings behind it
The enclosure is a designed structure, not an assembly of purchased panels. Its frame carries the loads it has to carry, its penetrations are detailed, and its ventilation, containment, and utility connections were part of the design rather than field-cut into it afterward.
Secondary containment is sized and built for the volume it has to hold, in materials appropriate for what it will actually hold, with the drainage and access the operators need to work around it.
Process utility piping is routed, supported, and labeled. Air and environmental systems move what has to be moved and are balanced. Equipment sits on engineered supports with permanent, guarded access.
Every one of those pieces came from one company on one contract, so the interfaces were designed instead of negotiated. And the plant did not stop while it happened.
Enclosures, containment, piping, and steel from a single accountable team
Engineers and fabricators under one roof. No disconnect between design and fabrication.
Specialized enclosures are a defined division at M3E, not a subcontracted product line: process enclosures, hazardous-area enclosures including explosion rooms, food and pharmaceutical enclosures, equipment and utility enclosures, and manufacturing support structures. Design is available nationwide. Build and installation reach 600 miles from Sacramento.
Utility tie-ins are a defined division too, and they come bundled with a project or standalone. Plumbing scope covers process utility piping systems, industrial plumbing services, and secondary containment. Mechanical scope covers air and environmental systems, process utility systems, material handling systems, process equipment integration, and containment and safety systems.
Because those two divisions sit in the same company as engineering, fabrication, and rigging, the enclosure, the piping penetrating it, the containment beneath it, and the steel holding it all up are one design intent carried by one crew. Where the whole project needs to come off your plate, full EPC delivery is available within 300 miles: engineering, procurement, construction, project management, and commissioning and startup support, with a single point of responsibility for the entire project lifecycle.
What we design, build, and install for chemical operations
| Scope | Typical work |
|---|---|
| Hazardous-area enclosures | Explosion rooms and other separated hazardous-process spaces |
| Process enclosures | Separation of a process from the plant, or the plant from the process |
| Equipment and utility enclosures | Skid and package enclosures, utility rooms, manufacturing support structures |
| Secondary containment | Containment structures, curbs, sumps, and pans sized for the volume at risk |
| Process utility piping systems | Process lines, industrial plumbing, supports, labeling, and tie-ins |
| Air and environmental systems | Ventilation, exhaust, collectors, ductwork, fans, make-up air |
| Containment and safety systems | Guarding, interlocks, emergency stop systems, safety-device verification |
| Structural steel and access | Equipment supports, pipe racks, platforms, catwalks, ladders, guardrail |
| Process equipment installation | Precision setting, anchoring, alignment, and integration inside a live plant |
| Custom process equipment | Purpose-built equipment and skid-mounted systems built to your process |
Specialized industrial enclosures · Utility tie-ins and process piping
Coverage for chemical processing facilities
| Scope | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Installation, field services, and rigging | 600 miles from Sacramento |
| Enclosure build and installation | 600 miles from Sacramento |
| Preventative maintenance programs | 300 miles from Sacramento |
| Full EPC delivery | 300 miles from Sacramento |
| Engineering, design, and enclosure design | Nationwide |
| Fabrication and shipping | Nationwide |
Divisions
Related services
Specialized Industrial Enclosures
Process, hazardous-area, food and pharmaceutical, and equipment enclosures. Explosion rooms and clean process rooms designed, built, and installed.
Utility Tie-Ins and Process Piping
Process utility piping, industrial plumbing, secondary containment, air and environmental systems. Bundled with a project or contracted standalone.
Structural Steel Fabrication and Erection
Structural and miscellaneous steel fabrication in Rancho Cordova. Platforms, mezzanines, supports, and access systems. Engineers on staff who stamp.
Portfolio
Related project work
Coverage
- 600 mi
- Field services, installation, fabrication delivery, and rigging from Sacramento
- 300 mi
- Full EPC delivery and preventative-maintenance programs
- Nationwide
- Engineering, design, and fabrication for shipment
Common questions
What is an explosion room, and do you build them?
It is a hazardous-area enclosure that separates a process capable of an energetic event from the rest of the facility, so that the consequences are contained and directed rather than shared with the plant. Hazardous-area enclosures including explosion rooms are a defined offering inside our specialized enclosures division, and there is a build in our portfolio. Design is available nationwide. Build and installation reach 600 miles from Sacramento.
Do you do secondary containment, or only the equipment?
Both, and they are usually the same contract. Secondary containment is a named part of our plumbing and utility tie-in scope, alongside process utility piping systems and industrial plumbing services. Containment gets designed with the equipment it protects and the structure it sits in, which avoids the common outcome where a containment pan is added after the fact and blocks the access an operator needs.
Can you work inside an operating chemical facility?
That is the environment the company is built around. We execute complex installs inside live operating plants, where safety, coordination, and schedule control are critical. Hot work planning, isolation, barriers, housekeeping, and sequencing get agreed with facility engineering and operations before mobilization, and we prefabricate as much as the design allows so less of the work happens in your building.
Do you handle ventilation and exhaust for the enclosure?
Yes. Air and environmental systems are part of our mechanical utility tie-in scope: collectors, ductwork, fans, make-up air, and exhaust. Treating the enclosure and its ventilation as one system is the point of buying both from one company. The portfolio includes large scale process enclosure and air handling installation for exactly that reason.
Can you take the entire project rather than a piece of it?
Within 300 miles of Sacramento, yes. Full EPC delivery covers engineering, procurement, construction, project management, and commissioning and startup support, with a single point of responsibility for the entire project lifecycle. Outside 300 miles, the same work is available as design plus fabrication plus field installation on separate scopes. See full EPC delivery.
Who stamps the drawings?
We have engineers on staff who design, draft, and stamp structures and pull permits where the jurisdiction requires it. Structural elements of enclosures, pipe racks, platforms, and equipment supports are the usual triggers. Miller 3 Engineering holds CA LIC #1136711. Send us the process basis and the site constraints and we will tell you which parts of the package we can stamp and which need a specialty discipline brought in.
Describe the process and what has to be separated from what
Chemistry, volume, temperature, pressure, and the reason the change is happening now. That last one usually determines the schedule more than the scope does.