These asset management capabilities will improve the lifespan of the complex’s assets by enabling performance predictions, and allowing staff to prevent problems before they occur. For example, it’s possible to look at information coming from the intelligent valves, and understand changes in the friction coefficients to learn if there’s a potential for leakage or early breakdown.
The predictive diagnostics of PlantWeb and AMS Suite will help optimize our maintenance plan, enable personnel to focus directly on problems, improve efficiency, and minimize downtime. Knowing what the problems are beforehand, the staff can schedule maintenance and obtain needed parts. Where there are no problems, the maintenance schedule can be revised to alleviate delays elsewhere. This is a clear advantage over traditional plants that may have to tear down and rebuild equipment every two years, whether or not it is needed.
Importance of TeamworkThe project team was able to meet and beat our project’s aggressive schedule because of teamwork. The technical staffs had tremendous rapport, which helped complete the project efficiently and successfully. Emerson gave SECCO a lot of support in the negotiation process, adopting a relatively flexible strategy that allowed us to reach agreements with the various EPC suppliers and sign an extremely efficient MIV contract. Following that, Emerson also provided support during the engineering construction process, which allowed intimate coordination with the EPC suppliers throughout the project.
| FIGURE 4: CAN WE SERVE YOU? |
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The central control room is a command center with a central server that runs asset
management and maintenance management software for all 10 plants.
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The most vital aspect of any petrochemical facility is reliability of the control system and a high level of reliability. This helped SECCO gain a strong competitive edge in the complex’s instruments. In fact, control of the plants will rely much more on the automation equipment than on the operators. Judging from the short amount of time in operation, SECCO’s overall manufacturing performance is more efficient and stable than it would have been with other automation.
Assessing the ProjectSECCO’s Shanghai project has been an unqualified success, and the complex will create a huge impact both locally and internationally. The project established a new record in going from bare ground to a fully functional ethylene cracker complex in just 27 months. The quality of the product is good, and the capital investment was completely within budget.
The project also achieved a worldclass safety record, with zero fatalities during construction out of more than 50 million man hours worked. The site also boasts leading environmental standards.
Installing Foundation Fieldbus was truly a non-issue. There were no significant problems and, in fact, it was much easier than with traditional instruments. Basically, whatever you can think of can be performed very well with this system, even the most complicated functions. Our challenge for the future will be to fully capture the value, and really build on the use of the technology.
Adrian Howell is the Process Control Manager for SECCO,
a joint venture between BP, Sinopec and Shanghai Petrochemical Corp., which recently opened its huge, new petrochemical facility at the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park in Shanghai Province, China.
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