Digital automation pays dividends for Cognis

The Cognis plant at Hythe has experienced tighter control and greater consistency since migrating from its old control system to a DeltaV digital automation system.

The Cognis plant at Hythe, near Southampton, has experienced tighter control and greater consistency since migrating from its old control system to an Emerson Process Management, DeltaV digital automation system.

The site, which is the world's leading producer of hydroxy monomers, has also realised benefits from transition to the easier-to-use Windows-based technology of the DeltaV system.

The hydroxy monomers produced by Cognis are reactive intermediates that are sold globally and used primarily in high performance automotive paints and high-gloss product lacquers.

Cognis also manufactures high purity products for contact lens and biomedical applications, as well as multifunctional methacrylate monomers used in niche applications such as adhesives, rubber compounds and super absorbent polymers in disposable nappies.

The products require high levels of consistency and tight control.

High levels of manufacturing availability are required to meet the demand for the products.

There are two major multifunctional monomers production units at Hythe, MMU2 and MMU3.

MMU2 was controlled by stand-alone controllers, and MMU3 is controlled by a Rosemount System 3 (RS3) process automation system from Emerson.

Certain components within the existing controllers on MMU2 were becoming difficult to source, leading to concerns about plant availability.

There were also issues surrounding the engineering support of the older controllers, including fewer technicians able to program the DOS based software.

In addition one of the site control rooms had to be moved and the cost of hard wiring the controllers into a new location was prohibitive.

"To address the MMU2 issues we decided to install a DeltaV digital automation system", said Pepita Monk, the site's Project Instrument/Electrical Engineer.

"We chose DeltaV for several reasons".

"It was the most economical solution for us, and we could use the existing site local area network to enable the engineering and operator stations within the new control room to communicate with the controllers located in the termination room on the plant".

"Use of the DeltaV system also prepares our plant to use the benefits of Foundation fieldbus technology and PlantWeb digital plant architecture for future expansions".

"The assistance provided by Emerson was invaluable", continued Monk.

"A lot of time was spent prior to order placement in helping us to prepare a specification, as well as running training sessions to ensure our engineers were comfortable with the technology".

"When we installed the new control system, we utilised the existing field wiring and termination panels to minimise costs".

"These were then wired directly to the DeltaV I/O.

Emerson assisted us in commissioning, and helped with operator training".

"By using DeltaV Simulate, we were able to configure a training demo to resemble the new architecture that we were installing".

With version 7, the MMU2 DeltaV can be upgraded to DeltaV Operate for RS3, enabling raw material inventory data on the MMU3 RS3 to be shared by the MMU2 DeltaV system.

An AMS Suite trial is currently being undertaken on the MMU3 plant where approximately 60 intelligent field devices are currently connected to AMS Suite Intelligent Device Manager software, and are passing diagnostic information on their condition through to the plant maintenance technicians.

If the Intelligent Device Manager trials are satisfactory, AMS Suite software applications may be expanded to other areas of the plant to assist in a move to predictive maintenance.

Future plans include the change out of other outdated controllers on the utilities and effluent plants and Emerson has many options that enable users to transition from their existing control systems to the latest technology DeltaV digital automation systems.

The transition from competitor or Emerson systems can be made over a period of time to suit the individual plant needs.

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