ABB, a leading power and automation technology group, has been awarded a $32-million order from Sappi Saiccor for upgrading what is claimed to be the world's largest chemical cellulose plant, located south of Durban.
The project will increase the plant's pulp capacity from about 585 000 tons per year to more than 800 000 tons. Chemical cellulose is used in a variety of applications, including the production of non-woven textiles and binding agents in the pharmaceutical industry.
ABB's scope of supply includes the incoming 132-kilovolt electrical substation, medium-voltage switchgear and protection devices, low-voltage motor control centres, variable-speed drives, low- and medium-voltage motors, sectional drives and motors for the new pulp dryer, an industrial IT distributed control system as well as the information management system.
This integrated system uses intelligent field devices such as motor controllers and field instrumentation. The complete system is based on the standard Profibus communications protocol, enabling remote configuration of devices and asset management from the distributed control system. ABB will also provide all associated engineering, cabling, installation and commissioning.
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