Eastman plant cuts cable costs by 30 percent

The Eastman Chemical Company cut cable costs 30 percent and reduced the time to commission process loops using PlantWeb digital plant architecture and Foundation fieldbus, on an acrylic acids plant

and reduces loop commissioning time by using Emerson PlantWeb with Foundation Fieldbus; Operational savings expected through use of digital communications and diagnostic capabilities.

The Eastman Chemical Company has cut cable costs by 30 percent and reduced the time taken to commission process loops by using Emerson PlantWeb digital plant architecture and Foundation fieldbus to re-automate one of the acrylic acids plants on their Sokolov site in the Czech Republic.

Foundation fieldbus and HART digital communications technologies are used to communicate with the 900 new field instruments enabling further savings to be made over the lifetime of the plant.

Eastman Sokolov is one of the largest chemical manufacturers in the Czech republic.

Following its installation of a new acrylic acids production plant in 1994, Eastman initiated a project to modernise an older plant in order to keep up with the worldwide demand, currently growing at four percent per annum.

"We were looking for a complete solution that would bring us longer term benefits," said Ing Pavel Grof, the instrumentation and control manager at Eastman.

"As well as being able to provide accurate control and a consistently high quality product, we wanted a solution that used the latest digital communications technology; this would enable us to reduce our initial start up costs, and effectively manage our assets in the longer term.

We believe Emerson is the only company with the capabilities and the technology to help us achieve these aims".

The new PlantWeb digital plant architecture has been installed across seven main production units and eight storage facilities.

Remote plant units have been connected to the main system with fibre optic cables.

Extensive use of Foundation fieldbus digital communications has reduced the average cable length per device to 49m, as opposed to the 220m required for conventional instrumentation.

This has reduced cable costs by approximately thirty percent.

The use of Foundation fieldbus digital communications also enabled control loops to be commissioned faster than planned.

During commissioning on one plant, 175 I/O were brought on line in five days, nine days quicker than planned.

The three year project included the replacement of the existing pneumatic control system and instrumentation with PlantWeb architecture, including a 2000 I/O DeltaV digital automation system, AMS predictive maintenance software and Emerson intelligent field instrumentation, including Rosemount pressure, temperature, flow and radar level transmitters, and Fisher control valves fitted with Fieldvue digital valve controllers.

All instruments are rated Eexd, for use in flameproof environments.

Nearly seven hundred of the field devices use Foundation fieldbus digital communications.

PlantWeb also integrated custody transfer, gas detection and emergency shutdown systems.

Eastman expects future savings by using the predictive maintenance software.

Control valve and instrumentation diagnostics will enable Eastman to move towards a predictive maintenance regime, anticipating failures and taking corrective action before operations are affected.

Predictive maintenance sustains asset performance at optimum levels, improving quality, throughput and plant availability.

"This project has been a resounding success," continued Ing Pavel Grof.

"PlantWeb is an integrated solution that has allowed us to take full advantage of the benefits of digital communications, reducing our installation and commissioning time, and enabling us to make savings in project costs and longer term savings in maintenance costs.

The installation of Emerson transmitters and control valves has also improved the accuracy and reliability of our process loops.".

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