Meet new Demands: Plant Modernization Audit

These past few months have been very exciting. I have been traveling to several countries visiting a large number of plants of various kinds and vintage conducting plant modernization audits. I have had the opportunity to speak with the reliability, maintenance, integrity, energy, HS&E, and operations departments to assess the state of the automation in the plant and the need for additional sensors and analytics software to meet new demands on availability, efficiency, emissions, personnel safety, productivity, and maintenance cost. So what should a plant modernization audit entail to put a plant on the right track to become a smart plant? Here are my personal thoughts:

Because energy costs are unpredictable, water is more expensive, waste disposal is more expensive, and emissions are fined, and because skilled staff are hard to attract and retain, plants are keen to modernize to become “smart plants”. Smart connected equipment is key to achieving a smart plant. There is no need to replace the control system. The plant modernization audit is about identifying the missing measurements and supporting software.

In the past, instrumentation & controls were costly due to 4-20 mA and on-off signals requiring point-to-point wiring and system I/O cards. Therefore, most plants were built with only a bare minimum of instrumentation. As a result, much manual data collection is required. Now, thanks to wireless networks, these missing measurements can be instrumented to automate data collection; a second layer of automation to improve plant performance in many important aspects.

Audit Process

A plant modernization audit identifies equipment that need to be monitored. Not all equipment has to be monitored. The audit identifies those that cause significant costly downtime, maintenance, operational expense, energy waste and product loss, HS&E risks, and procedures which are not productive. The audit has four parts corresponding to the plant departments:

• Reliability/Maintenance/Integrity
• Energy efficiency and loss control
• HS&E
• Operations

Personnel from these departments participate in the plant modernization audit. The audit is mostly a discussion with probing questions to explore what the plant challenges are and to discover where the plant can benefit from data-driven work practices. A site walk down and associated approvals is not required. The audit is led by a consultant and typically takes 2-3 hours. Input from plant personnel is captured. After the audit a report is issued listing the discoveries, followed by recommendations.

Reliability & Maintenance

Points of interest for reliability & maintenance may include what is the quantity of critical equipment of each type, how mechanical seals are monitored, how many lines (pipes) experience corrosion, how many test points are included in periodic maintenance rounds with portable testers

Energy Efficiency & Loss Control

Points of interest for energy efficiency & loss control may include how many steam traps are critical, which equipment are in dirty service, if fans have automatic speed optimization or not, how many critical relief valves, if utilities monitored for each plant unit and individual equipment.

Health, Safety, & Environmental (HS&E)

Points of interest for HS&E may include: if safety showers are monitored, which manual valves are critical, if ESD valves have feedback, and if there are hydrocarbon leak issues

Process Operations Productivity

Points of interest for productivity may include: how many check points there are in operator rounds, number of critical valves and dampers, how many storage tanks, how many local control panels.

Digital Transformation

Based on the outcome of the audit the gaps to achieve a smart plant with smart connected equipment can be identified. See further explanation of smart connected equipment in this article:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/smart-connected-equipment-just-devices-jonas-berge

For plants using Foundation fieldbus, adding transmitters and other devices is easy, just connect to the closest junction box with minimal wiring; there is no need to run cable all the way to the marshalling cabinet or use spare I/O channels. For plants using 4-20 mA and on-off signals, the most practical solution is to deploy WirelessHART transmitters for the additional measurements, even less cable. That is, any plant can get started on a digital transformation. For 2016, schedule a plant modernization audit for your site. Well, that’s my personal opinion. If you are interested in how the digital ecosystem is transforming process automation click “Follow” by my photo. Click “Like” if you found this useful to you and share it with others if you think it would be useful to them.