Oil, Gas & Hydrocarbons Category: Zenith Awards Finalists
Sponsored by AMS Instrumentation
Company: BJH Controls
Project: Condition Monitoring System for Gas Plant
Company: Qenos
Project: Advanced Process Control and Plantwide Feed Maximiser
Company: Apex Optimisation & Woodside Energy Limited
Project: LNG Train Advanced Process Control
Company: Emerson Process Management
Project: Intelligent vessel gauging system
Company: Parasyn Controls
Project: Flooded But Still Operational!
Company: BJH Controls
Project: Condition Monitoring System for Gas Plant
Location: Vermont, Victoria
BJH Controls has designed, constructed and configured a Rockwell Automation Condition Monitoring System for muli-national Australian based company.
The equipment has been installed to connect with twenty four velocity sensors mounted to monitor the inlet cooling fan drive assemblies in a gas plant on the sub-continent.
The project objective was for BJH Controls’ to utilise Rockwell Automation XM series dynamic measurement modules, for monitoring of vibration in rotating fan assemblies.
These modules employ a 24-bit A/D converter which provides high resolution, making them suited for detecting machinery problems.
Any fault that manifests itself through changes in the magnitude or phase of vibration can be detected by the advanced signal processing capabilities of the XM modules.
These include most mechanical and electrically induced faults such as; unbalance, bearing wear, rotor cracks and rubs, instabilities such as oil whirl, preload conditions/misalignment and antifriction bearing defects.
The company implemented protocol conversion gateway to allow the condition monitoring panel to communicate with the Plant Control System.
The scope of the work undertaken covers provision of a Condition Monitoring Panel and Hardware/ Software, programming and logic to receive and process field inputs of vibration measurements and interface with a Plant Shutdown System (PSS) and Plant Control System (PCS).
Company: Qenos
Project: Advanced Process Control and Plantwide Feed Maximiser
Location: Altona, Victoria
The project objective was to provide a plantwide Advanced Process Control (APC) scheme to enable the Altona Olefins (ethylene) site operations department to take advantage of high feed availability scenarios.
Maximising utilisation of available feed is critical to the ongoing profitability of the site. The ethylene production facility uses ethane from Bass Straight as the primary feed to the dual train, ethylene manufacturing plant.
The APC includes all major unit operations at the Olefins site (ethane cracking furnaces, compression, fractionation and refrigeration systems). The site is controlled from 4 control consoles which consist of 3 process plant, 1 utility.
The majority of the routine plant control is performed by a single panel operator at each of these changing setpoints and modes.
The three process plant consoles were included in this project. The APC replaces around 90 traditional advanced control (TAC) schemes and simplifies the overall running of the site.
The APC controllers coordinate the movement of 140+ manipulated variables to keep around 300+ controlled variables within operating ranges or targets.
Company: Apex Optimisation & Woodside Energy Limited
Project: LNG Train Advanced Process Control
Location: Karratha, Western Australia
Woodside approached Apex Optimisation early in 2010 to assist with a revamp of the existing Advanced Process Control (APC) on LNG (LNG4) Train 4 and the implementation of a new APC on LNG 5 (LNG5).
The project kicked off in March 2010 after a functional design specification was completed. The revamp LNG4 APC was commissioned in late May 2010 and the new LNG5 APC was commissioned in September 2010.
Site activities were completed with successful Site Acceptance Test in October 2010.
A more sophisticated approach to optimiser functionality was added which enables the APC to pursue optimum process operation depending on specified product prices and allows the operator to modify the APC objectives to adapt to changing process requirements.
One of the major benefits of the use of APC on process plants is improved consistency in how the process is managed.
The Woodside operated Karratha Gas Plant (KPG) has been progressive in the application of APC across all the major process units generating good economic and operability benefits.
The project demonstrates how appropriate use of APC technology can provide a tangible and sustained improvement in plant profitability and operability.
Company: Emerson Process Management
Project: Intelligent vessel gauging system
Location: Geelong, Victoria
Emerson installed a high-tech based system for level gauging in a LPG ‘bullet’ vessel at Shell’s Geelong refinery which is one of the first to be installed in Australia.
The new radar technology replaces two old electro-mechanical gauges that were installed in 1978 and due for inspection.
Opening the vessel for inspection can be complicated and expensive, with a radar gauge there are no components inside the vessel to measure the liquid level that may require servicing, and measurement verification can be carried out with the tank in operation.
The new Rosemount Rex RTG 3960 gauge operates by sending a radar signal, so there are no moving parts. As well as measuring the LPG level, the system can also measure temperature and provide an alarm function.
The Rex RTG 3960 is equipped with a pressure transducer which is integrated into the design of the gauge while the vapour temperature is measured with the connected temperature sensor.
Temperature measurements are taken in both the liquid and the gas. Correction and calculation for lower radar wave velocity in pressurised LPG tanks are managed in the gauge software, and verification is done using verification pins installed in the still-pipe.
After implementing the system a number of significant benefits including improved productivity, increased safety and higher profitability.
Company: Parasyn Controls
Project: Flooded But Still Operational!
Location: Brisbane, Queensland
Brisbane’s devastating floods earlier this year affected not only families but businesses as well. An energy company’s SGL pipeline control system was threatened with rising waters as its head office power system, which is located in the building basement, went under water.
The system was designed to cater for total loss of communications, computer server failure and master controller failure. Parasyn was called in to start the disaster recovery approach, the control systems that manage major infrastructure assets are complex therefore a backup or failover systems need to be seamless and provide no-nonsense performance.
The energy company’s decision to have Parasyn integrate the second Pipeline System (DDPL) in similar fashion to the previous (SGGL) system presented some significant cost benefits. Because the topology catered for redundant components as outlined previously, the cost savings on redundant components presented an overall two fold saving.
The investment made in rolling out the first system and exactly customising it to meet operational requirements flowed into the second system as the Factory Acceptance Testing exceptions list had zero
exceptions and zero changes to scope.
The remote controller devices scattered along the pipeline included Fisher Roc and Allen Bradley CompactLogix controllers. Each device is polled by its relative SCADAPack Master RTU for update information 24/7.
The open CitectSCADA platform and the use of an advanced Parasyn DNP3 Server allowed the Head Office existing Central Historian to be used saving the customer on further IT infrastructure. When the second of the pipeline systems was commissioned into the existing live operational pipeline, operational integrity was virtually undisturbed.
Sponsored by AMS Instrumentation
AMS Instrumentation & Calibration Pty Ltd (AMS) has been in existence for more than 38 years providing calibration equipment and industrial instrumentation to wide range of industries. With more than 200 years of instrumentation experience among the staff and now with branches in every major city, we are sure we can offer our customers the best solution to meet their needs. AMS offers a comprehensive range of flow, pressure, level, temperature and calibration equipment from some of the major instrumentation and calibration suppliers, assisting end-users to optimise their processes and performance. The majority of the products represented by AMS are widely used in the Oil & Gas sector, hence our support for this category. AMS sees the Zenith Awards as a major event in our industry as it rewards technical innovation and the achievements of people. AMS is very proud to be associated with the Zenith Awards and has supported them since its inception eight years ago.