Austin, Texas Emerson Process Management Asia Pacific has successfully completed installing its PlantWeb digital plant architecture with DeltaV digital automation system for batch process control at a new polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production facility of the Yichang Yihua Pacific Chemical Co, a leader in the Chinese fertilizer industry. This plant, which went into operation in Hubei Province in October 2007, realizes PVC production capacity of 120,000 tons per year.
The Emerson technologies were selected by Yichang Yihua Pacific Chemical Co. following extensive comparisons of batch process control software. The final selection of the DeltaV system with DeltaV Batch software was based on its demonstrated excellent performance and batch-to-batch consistency. In addition, Emerson implemented Foundation fieldbus technology in this first PVC project to adopt the advanced digital communications protocol.
The main goals of this project were to achieve an output of 120,000 tons per year along with lower production costs, according to project manager Huang Chuanyu, With the help of Emersons rich engineering experience, the start-up was successful within the least possible time. The project cost was kept low, due in part to savings in wiring with the PlantWeb architecture and the fast, on-time start-up.
Emerson provided hardware design from its Engineering Center in Pudong as well as on-site system integration, project management and field services. The latter included assisting Yichang Yihua Pacific Chemical employees in optimizing the batch solution during start-up and ongoing operations.
The project also included 50 Rosemount 848T digital temperature transmitters and Emersons AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager predictive maintenance software. The use of this software to communicate with smart field devices was instrumental in speeding up instrument commissioning and helping plant personnel achieve the successful start-up.
Yichang Yihua Pacific Chemical officials intend to continue to increase PVC production in the Hubei plant in order to maintain leadership in this phase of the chemical industry in China. The company produces and markets other fertilizer products including urea, methane and DAP.