The Brisbane arm of multinational company Honeywell has been selected to upgrade and expand existing process control systems at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Yarwun alumina refinery in Queensland, as part of a $1.8 billion deal to increase alumina production from 1.4 to 3.4 million tonnes per year.
Honeywell will work to increase smelter-grade alumina production as part of Rio Tinto Alcan’s Yarwun Refinery expansion project which began in 2004 and should conclude in 2011.
The project includes the design, configuration and implementation of the plant’s existing distributed control system with Honeywell’s UniSim operator training simulator, the Uniformance product suite and Business FLEX software.
Honeywell will also enhance project safety by integrating its own Experion process technology with operator training, MES and security solutions. The integrated solution will be designed to increase plant efficiency by providing operators insight into all key subsystems for better decision making.
Operators, for example, will be trained in potential failure modes for the refinery so that they are able to immediately bring the process to a safe state if required by plant conditions, safety or security requirements.
Honeywell will also integrate the refinery’s closed-circuit television security surveillance system with access control technology. Rio Tinto Alcan will use Honeywell Enterprise Buildings Integrator to manage all security functions from a single platform. Other Honeywell services in the agreement include designing and implementing a Process Information and Management System that will be tied to Business FLEX.
“Expanding a working refinery’s production requires technology to work together to keep employees safe and operations on track,” said Honeywell Process Solutions Pacific managing director, Tony Cosgrove.
“Streamlined information, thorough operator training and effective security play major roles in addressing the challenge. Our integrated solution will help keep the plant operating safely and provide workers with information that can improve the refinery’s business performance.”