Scalable Digital Automation System Integrates Multiple Processes in Brazil Plastic/Polyester Resin Plant

Elekeiroz, near Varzea Paulista, Brazil, makes polyester resins, plastic coatings, and polymers. The complex, which totals nearly 7,000 I/O, includes the nation's only supply of Maleic Anhydride. Elekeiroz selected Emerson Process Management's DeltaV digital automation system to update its critical batch and continuous applications because system's scalability allowed the company to incrementally upgrade the complex's five production areas, and end up with a single, integrated system across the diverse processes. Emerson's PlantWeb™ architecture, which includes smart field devices, communicating through Fieldbus technologies to the DeltaV system, provided substantial installation and ongoing maintenance savings, while increasing product quality and throughput in all process areas.

Resin Plant

Elekeiroz began by installing the DeltaV system in its polyester resins process, a batch process, and one of the most complex at Elekeiroz. Says electrical instrumentation coordinator Gilberto de Souza, "The schedule for the conversion was tight. But based on past experience, converting to any other system would have taken much longer."

The conversion, completed in three months, gave Elekeiroz tighter control of its batch process. Maria da Conceição Pinto, executive manager of Elekeiroz' resin division, says, "The high point of the installation for the resin unit is the reliability of the formulas. Since the resin unit works with a very large variety of products, e ach formula varies from one to the other. The reliability we added to the operation is essential. It's the most important aspect of the installation."

Souza adds that the digital system's embedded historian provided documentation that helped Elekeiroz certify the quality and consistency of its resin process and product for ISO 9001 compliance.

With these improvements, Elekeiroz installed the new system to control its plastic coatings process, saving an estimated ten percent over traditional system installation. But more important, says plastic coatings production manager Eduardo Loschi, the gains included more consistent batches and better product quality in a process that had been largely manual. Loschi says more responsive control of process times, temperatures, pressures-in general, all the process parameters-resulted in increased production volume, more uniform quality and greater operational security.

Souza says the DeltaV system was easy to configure, noting that one of Elekeiroz' instrument technicians did the whole configuration in the plastic coatings area before ever taking a formal training course.

Maleic Anhydride Plant

Maleic Anhydride:
Reduced Variability, GreaterThroughput

With the second successful implementation, Elekeiroz continued to move forward, adding the digital automation system and field-based architecture for the expansion of its maleic anhydride plant. The Fieldbus technology yielded a 20% savings in materials and labor for installation, commissioning and start-up.

The DeltaV system's embedded diagnostics were particularly helpful in calibrating valve positioners during commissioning-and the historian's trending has reduced ongoing maintenance costs by about ten percent. Maleic anhydride process engineer Carlos Eduardo Luchini says one of the important things that the DeltaV provided for the process was the ease of loop tuning, using the system's auto tune feature.

Luchini says the system provides data for better-defined management control "The reports we are generating not only contribute to improved productivity, they are assisting management. The most outstanding are the logs. We are now implementing the quality system in the maleic plant for which the logs are an essential component."

The DeltaV system helped decrease variability for an increase in productivity and process reliability. Adds production manager Carlos Alberto Samartini, "Today I am able to start up, stop and operate the maleic anhydride plant totally from the control room. This is a great labor-saving advantage."

The next upgrade was in the phthalic anhydride plant, where Elekeiroz increased by 5% the production volume and reduced operational labor by 30%.

Jose Augusto Pimenta Neto, phthalic anhydride process engineer, says, " The startup of the phthalic unit- which concerned us very much because it is a very big plant with many locations- was very easy. Really, we had almost no problems."

Finally, with the addition of the digital automation system and field-based architecture to the formaldehyde plant, Elekeiroz completed the conversion of its entire complex. Formaldehyde processing time was reduced, with greater process security.

Says Pinto, "The reports, as well as the graphics, show what is happening throughout the process. We decreased the batch times with (the formaldehyde) improvement, with the formulas for each batch. The formula is in the system, which results in a timesaving. Pinto goes on to say, "DeltaV centralized all the operations in the control room and we are now able to monitor the entire factory from one central location."

Summing up the incremental automation updates, production engineer Miriam Coretti S. Liba says, "The new system has made things easier. It decreased the processing time, and there was greater process security. From what we've seen so far, we have gained in productivity and reliability."

Adds Souza, "The experience at Elekeiroz with those start-ups resulted not only in saved time, but also with all of the capability and resources it has given us. The interaction between the instrumentation and operations has made our processes easier than they were with conventional instruments or with the system we used to have."