Biovet add 30% in fermentation performance

Emerson has recently completed a project to install PlantWeb digital plant architecture at a second fermentation area on the Biovet plant in Peshtera, Bulgaria

Emerson Process Management has recently completed a project to install PlantWeb digital plant architecture at a second fermentation area at the Biovet plant in Peshtera, Bulgaria.

Biovet is one of Bulgaria's largest pharmaceutical companies and a specialist manufacturer of antibiotic feed additives and pharmaceuticals for farm animals and pets.

Ivan Batakliev, Executive Director of Biovet commented, "Our objective is to develop high added value products in the future, based on active pharmaceutical products.

We are planning to build synthesis departments and will utilise Emerson automation systems because they give us a competitive advantage." For this Biovet installation, PlantWeb with the DeltaV digital automation system has significantly increased stability and reliability, giving an improvement in operational performance of the fermentation process by 30%.

Centralised control has resulted in a saving of 10% in human resource costs.

"With expertise, help and support provided by the local engineering team of Emerson we were able to develop a programme for the complete process," said Biovet Production Manager Ivan Bonev; "We worked together to solve problems and develop new ideas and Emerson responded to even the smallest problems.

The strength of the partnership that has developed between our companies has been a significant factor in the success of this project".

The installation at Production Unit 3 uses seven DeltaV workstations communicating with 450 field instruments via a Foundation fieldbus communications protocol.

AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager software embedded in the DeltaV system is used to access the predictive intelligence of the field devices to enable configuration, calibration, and diagnostic tests to be performed.

The rich, predictive diagnostics in the field instruments and valves contribute to operational improvement with easier configuration, extended calibration intervals and a reduction in required maintenance.

In addition, this management of process and instrument health enables better on-going control that has resulted in improved product quality and consistency.

The field instruments include Emerson control valves from the Baumann and Fisher range, fitted with Fisher Fieldvue digital valve controllers, Rosemount flow, pressure and temperature transmitters, Micro Motion Coriolis flowmeters, and pH and Dissolved Oxygen analysers from Rosemount Analytical.

The Biovet aim is to manufacture high quality products with low manufacturing costs.

The automated control of the plant provided by the DeltaV system, makes a significant contribution to these requirements.

This is particularly important for the critical fermentation processes.

Fermentation processes are batch based by their nature, and one of the major challenges in the pharmaceutical industry is to have absolute repeatability of each individual process.

Biovet used the capacity in the DeltaV system to develop and implement batches.

The stability and reliability of the new system is outstanding, and Biovet has not experienced a single emergency operation or situation that has damaged production or equipment.

Even when the plant experienced a mains power failure, the Production Unit 3 power supply took over immediately, ensuring the process was safely completed.

Before the system was installed, operators had to walk around the plant to view instrumentation and make adjustments to the process.

With the facilities spread over three floors, operators were required to walk up to 7km on each shift.

Improving upon this, the new system provides excellent visualisation graphics that allow the operator to see at a glance what is happening over the complete system.

Although the Biovet unit automation was a large project, the DeltaV system engineering software, based on open, interoperable standards, made configuration quick and simple.

Local support was provided by the Emerson office in Bulgaria, reinforced by technical centres in Switzerland and the UK when required.

A video case study of the Biovet project is available on the Emerson website.

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