Emerson Process Management announces the successful completion of a
DeltaV SIS burner management system migration project at Sasol’s integrated
chemical plant in Sasolburg, South Africa.
A global energy and chemical company producing fuel, oil, gas,
polymers, chemicals, and fertilisers, Sasol has a large market for waxes that
are used for diverse applications including adhesives, construction boards,
cosmetics, packaging, pharmaceuticals, polymer processing, rubber, and tyres.
A burner management system (BMS) is the last line of defence in
preventing the catastrophic failure of boilers, fired heaters, and other
industrial heating systems. The old burner management system used for a
distillation column furnace in the Sasol plant’s wax production process had reached
its end of life and needed to be replaced. Running continuously with scheduled
shutdowns occurring between two to five years apart, this furnace was very
critical to the production with any failure potentially causing a production
loss of up to $150,300 per day.
Sasol selected Emerson and its local business partner, Aveng Automation
and Control Solutions (A&CS), to migrate the old system to Emerson’s DeltaV
SIS for Burner Management during the plant’s annual scheduled shutdown in 2014.
The solution ensured that it would be integrated seamlessly into the plant’s
DeltaV distributed control system, which Sasol adopted in 2012. The migration
also fulfilled Sasol’s objective to be in full compliance with the South
African National Standards (SANS) accreditation 329, which sets the safety
standards for industrial thermo processing equipment.
According to Willie de Beer, Senior Control Technician from Sasol Wax, Emerson’s
demonstrated technology leadership and project expertise, together with Aveng’s
excellent local support ensured a smooth migration process that was completed
quickly and ahead of schedule, resulting in the deployment of an advanced
system that protected their people and assets from burner hazards.
Emerson’s Burner Management application allows the furnace to go safely
through all relevant states, from start-up, to operation and shutdown when
needed. Key features also include IEC 61508 TÜV certified function blocks
simplifying logic configuration, testing, and troubleshooting; and intuitive,
graphical control environment conveying critical information in a single glance,
allowing operators to understand furnace conditions in real-time, place burners
and igniters in and out of service safely and quickly, and initiate other
timely actions to maintain safe operating conditions.
Emerson’s chief strategic officer Peter Zornio comments that the project
demonstrates their DeltaV SIS system’s flexibility to meet BMS needs, increase
visibility to plant processes involving fired equipment, and reduce engineering
and complexity in system planning, design, configuration, and testing.