Eka Chemicals NL – an Akzo Nobel division located at Maastricht, The Netherlands – has successfully increased process uptime and production capacity with the help of PlantWeb digital plant architecture with FOUNDATION fieldbus technology from Emerson Process Management. The chemicals company was looking to fully automate its processing operations to achieve uninterrupted production, 24 hours a day. Emerson began the automation with PlantWeb architecture at Eka Chemicals with installation of its first DeltaV(TM) digital automation system in September 2000. Extensions were also made in May and October 2001. The cost benefits were primarily found in the reduction of operational staffing,
through the automation of manually operated valves and dosing systems on resin reactors, and the replacement of two manual batch plants with
automated continuous production units. Also, batch consistency has improved and production levels are slightly increased. Emerson was able to supply more than 250 of its EL-O-Matic open/closed valve actuators, with switches, in addition to 20 three-position EL-O-Matic actuators. AS-i bus was identified as the optimum solution for on/off valve actuation and was simple to implement with the existing DeltaV system. In addition to the DeltaV system and ELQ actuators, Emerson also provided a wide spectrum of products including Micro Motion(R) Coriolis flow meters,
Rosemount(R) Model 3051 pressure transmitters and Model 3244 temperature
transmitters with matching sensors and Saab Rosemount radar level
transmitters, and Fisher(R) control valves with FIELDVUE(R) digital valve
controllers. The advanced technology helps reduce costs associated with wiring, installation, commissioning and maintenance.
