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FieldComm Group Announces Plant of the Year Recipient in India

Sept. 21, 2018

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Limited (MRPL) has been named its 2018 Plant of the Year

FieldComm Group participated in Automation India Expo 2018, held August 29 to September 1 in Mumbai, India, and conducted a press conference to announce that Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Limited (MRPL) has been named its 2018 Plant of the Year.

FieldComm Group President and CEO Ted Masters congratulated MRPL on its successful implementation of FOUNDATION Fieldbus and HART Communication Protocol. Utilizing installation savings and advanced diagnostics from over 9,000 FOUNDATION and 5,000 HART devices, MRPL saved over $6,000,000 in project cost alone.

Masters stated, “End users will continue to use multiple communication protocols in their facilities to optimally address process automation use cases. The most adept users will also take advantage of smart data and the tremendous cost savings enabled through its use. MRPL is a great example of using smart data and we are grateful that they applied for and won this year’s Plant of the Year Award.”

Mr. B. Sudarshan, Chief General Manager of Instrumentation & Electrical at MRPL, described his company’s experience with FieldComm Group technologies. He said, "FOUNDATION Fieldbus provided a 50 percent savings with I/Os, cabling, maintenance utilization and installation costs when compared to conventional installations – saving $6,600,000 in project costs alone. In terms of maintenance, FOUNDATION Fieldbus and HART utilized on our instruments, valves and positioners provide an average savings of 55 man days per month.”

Mr. Sudarshan continued, “Open standards have enabled us to derive value in many different scenarios throughout the entire plant. For example, HART is enabled in our safety systems that allow for partial stroke testing – avoiding the necessity to completely shut down. Control in the field provided by FOUNDATION Fieldbus allows MRPL to operate even in the event of critical hardware failure – giving our team peace of mind. In 2016, thanks to control in the field, we were able to keep our refinery processes running during a DCS upgrade that otherwise would have required a shutdown resulting in a production loss of $800,000.”

MRPL has extensively deployed FieldComm Group technologies, including thousands of smart transmitters, intelligent valve positioners, and WirelessHART infrastructure. The company utilizes FOUNDATION fieldbus for process control, including control-in-the-field for many control loops. FOUNDATION fieldbus is also used for motor-operated valves (MOVs). Thanks to control-in-the-field, MRPL was able to upgrade its distributed control system (DCS) while critical control loops were kept running with the controller shutdown. WirelessHART sensors are employed for secondary level measurement in the tank farm, as well as leak/passing detection on control valves in flare applications.

In addition to cost savings in infrastructure and maintenance time, MRPL continues to receive savings in averted shutdowns and interruptions. In one instance where an unexpected shutdown would have occurred due to valve fault, valve positioner diagnostics identified an issue that allowed MRPL to avoid shutting down hydrogen generation – saving $60,000 in startup and shutdown costs associated with fuel and energy loss.