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Canadian plant is top Hart user

A Hart Communication Foundation product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Nov 3, 2006

The BP Canada Energy NGL Operations plant in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, is the 2006 Hart Plant of the Year.

The BP Canada Energy NGL Operations plant in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, has been selected by Hart Communication Foundation (HCF) as recipient of the 2006 Hart Plant of the Year Award.

The award is given annually to recognise the people, companies and plant sites around the globe that are using the full capabilities of Hart technology in real-time applications to improve operations, lower costs and increase availability.

The BP plant makes propane, butane, natural gas liquid (NGL) condensate and ethane with carbon dioxide removed.

On average, 1.5 million cubic metres of propane and large volumes of the other products leave the plant each year.

For a decade, BP engineers have used the digital process variable output of their installed Hart-enabled temperature and pressure transmitters to improve the accuracy of the plant's liquid pipeline custody transfer measurements.

According to BP senior electrical craftsman Marcel Boisvert, the process requires that custody transfer measurements must be as accurate as possible.

"A temperature error of 0.25C results in up to a 0.07% mass flow error".

"Multiplied by the amount of product we ship, that inaccuracy means a potential loss of $350,000 a year in the NGL pipeline alone", he says.

When readings at the device were not matching the readings at the flow computer, plant engineers determined that the inaccuracy occurred when transforming the analogue signal into its digital equivalent within the flow computer.

Using the digital data in their Hart-enabled devices in full-time communication with the Hart-enabled flow computer has enabled BP to assure proper calibrations and significantly increase the accuracy of flow measurements.

"Considering the amount of product flowing through all pipelines and the amount of time no longer spent adjusting instruments, our total estimated savings is about US $750,000 a year".

"We've been doing this for 10 years, so that translates into $7.5 million", says Boisvert.

"The most valuable lesson learned is that Hart is not just a maintenance tool".

"It is a process improvement tool as well".

"We congratulate BP Canada Energy for taking the capabilities of their Hart-enabled instrumentation beyond configuration and calibration to improve operations and optimise asset productivity", says HCF Executive Director Ron Helson.

"Their success not only benefits their company but also serves as a powerful model for industry users worldwide on the benefits of using the advanced capabilities of Hart technology".

The Hart Plant of the Year is a unique award in the process automation industry.

It is the only public award presented to end user companies to recognise ingenuity in the application of Hart Communication technology.

The award showcases end user companies and their suppliers who have demonstrated creativity in using the full capabilities of Hart Communication technology.

The HCF encourages nominations for Hart Plant of the Year from all world areas.

Nominations are accepted through May of each year.

Previous recipients are Sasol Solvents, South Africa (2005); BP Cooper River, South Carolina and Clariant, Germany (2004), the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (2003), and DuPont DeLisle, Mississippi (2002).