International news digest
ABB has been awarded a contract worth more than 14m Euros from the ArcelorMittal Group to modernise its cold rolling mill in Crakow, Poland. Key components of the project include the new DC supply units for the main and auxiliary drives and new motor control centres. The rolling mills will be fitted with new Work Roll Bending control systems and new measuring systems for strip thickness and flatness control.
ABB will also supply a new Level 1 automation system based on its System 800xA process control platform. The 800xA is equipped with the company's high-speed controller for rolling mill applications. Level 2 systems, with the mathematical model for the tandem rolling mill and the pass schedule computer for the temper mill, are also included.
Agilent Technologies at Productronica announced a partnership to license certain automotive-network products in the Elektrobit FlexRay product line, technology that Elektrobit (EB) gained as part of the DECOMSYS GmbH acquisition earlier this year. The cooperation will create an integrated design and test toolset for software and test engineers. Agilent also introduced a strengthened suite of FlexRay test product offerings.
Agilent now provides vehicle network communication test tools for all major protocols ranging from LIN and CAN to FlexRay, addressing the increasing complexity of the vehicle network topology and the need for higher network bandwidth and higher reliability.
Edgar Küster, chairman of PROFIBUS International (PI), passed away On 24 October 2007, at the age of 59. Küster was a key figure in guiding the growth of PROFIBUS into what PI describe as the world's most successful fieldbus. He was instrumental in establishing the worldwide network of Regional PI Associations (RPAs) with over 1400 member companies. In recent years his sights were set on making PROFINET even more successful than PROFIBUS.
Emerson Process Management has been named main instrumentation provider for the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical project in China's history, the Dushanzi Petrochemical Corp. oil refining and ethylene project in Dushanzi City, Xinjiang, China.
The Dushanzi project includes the construction of 20 refining process units and 12 petrochemical process units. The refinery will produce 10 million tons of oil per year, or 200 000 barrels per day. The petrochemical part of the project will produce 1,2 million tons of ethylene per year. Crude oil feedstock for the project will be transported via the Kazakhstan-China Crude Oil pipeline.
Dushanzi Petrochemical, a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroChina, has invested about US$4 billion in the project. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2008.
Emerson Process Management has been awarded a contract to digitally automate one of Europe's most innovative recycling and energy recovery plants being built by Syctom on the banks of the River Seine in Paris. Emerson will install PlantWeb digital plant architecture with FOUNDATION fieldbus technology for the major project that will recycle refuse from 1,1 million Paris residents, converting the waste into energy.
The project has been designed to be a technological showcase with special consideration being given to integrating the building into the surrounding environment. Two thirds of the building will be underground to minimise the impact on the local community and there will be no steam plume or chimneys. In addition, no industrial water will be discharged into the Seine.
Fieldbus Foundation (FF), HART Communication Foundation and Profibus Nutzerorganisation e.V. (PNO), have formed a cooperation team to collaborate on wireless technology in the manufacturing and process industries.
The three organisations have agreed to develop a specification for a common interface to a wireless gateway. The organisations have also agreed to base their work on the WirelessHART technology of the HART Communication Foundation and the emerging ISA SP 100.11a standard. The project objective is to develop use cases, requirements and specifications, for wireless communication with intelligent field devices in process measurement and control applications in the automation industry.
Honeywell will upgrade process control technology at a KRONOS plant in Leverkusen, Germany, to increase the site's efficiency and reduce operating costs. KRONOS is one of the world's largest producers of titanium dioxide pigments used in paints, plastics, paper and consumer goods.
The project, set to begin in September 2007, will move the plant to Honeywell's latest Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS). The upgrade also includes Honeywell's Field Device Manager, Alarm Management and Lifecycle Management applications as well as user training and technical support. Honeywell's Digital Video Manager will be installed as part of a separate project.
The new technology platform will allow operators to optimise decision making, enhance productivity and improve plant profitability.
Honeywell Japan recently announced the opening of its new Sakai Service Office located in Izumi-Ohtsu, one of Japan's major petrochemical industrial complex regions where raw material, fuel factories and manufacturing plants are gathered to leverage production efficiency. The new office enables Honeywell to provide industrial automation and control solutions for customers in the Osaka, Sakai and Wakayama areas.
Invensys has announced that Sudipta Bhattacharya would be taking on a new role within the organisation as president of the Wonderware business unit, reporting to Invensys CEO Ulf Henriksson.
Bhattacharya joined Invensys in August 2007 as chief software solutions officer from SAP AG, where he was senior vice president of solutions management for supply chain, manufacturing and product lifecycle management applications.
He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering and business administration, with specialisation in marketing, finance and operations.
Metso Automation has been commissioned to supply an automation system to Talvivaara Mining Company, which is constructing Europe's largest nickel mine at Talvivaara in the Sotkamo region of Finland. Metso's delivery comprises metsoDNA CR automation and information system. The deliveries will take place in four phases, starting from January 2008.
The Talvivaara production plant will include metals recovery lines, side processes, crushing and conveying operations, as well as pumping units. The monitoring and controls of all these processes will be centralised in Metso Automation's system, in one central control room.
Nordic Semiconductor ASA has announced that a leading US-based provider of audience response systems, Turning Technologies LLC, has standardised on Nordic Semiconductor 2,4 GHz transceivers in its TurningPoint software and credit-card-sized RF ResponseCard wireless keypads. The Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01 is to be used in new designs while current production will be fitted with nRF24E1 transceivers.
Tenova Goodfellow has finalised contract negotiations to apply the Goodfellow EFSOP process control technology as part of Wheeling-Pittsburgh’s 270 ton Consteel installation at Steubenville/Mingo Junction. This furnace is unique in the industry due to its capacity to charge hot metal and scrap simultaneously. Scope of work for this project will include providing process technology and equipment to sample and analyse the gas emissions from the electric arc furnace.
Specific benefits to be realised include: safety, energy efficiency, monitoring of oxygen injection operations to adjust lancing profiles and monitoring carbon recovery to aid in adjustment of carbon injection profiles. EFSOP will also be utilised to recognise and track changes in the scrap quality.
Westinghouse Electric and Emerson Process Management have announced a 10 year extension to an existing agreement in which Emerson will provide key technology for automation of nuclear power plants that utilise the Westinghouse AP1000 design.
Westinghouse will use Emerson’s Ovation expert control and information system designed to automate power generation. The Ovation system will control power generation processes, provide operations and maintenance interface and distribute plant-wide information for process and power generation management.
Yokogawa Electric Corporation announced that it has entered into a global Agreement with BP International, one of the world’s largest energy companies, to provide Main Automation Contractor (MAC) services for BP’s exploration and production unit. Under this agreement, BP and Yokogawa have committed to achieve mutual success in the provision of MAC services by managing their business relationship in an open, performance focused, and collaborative manner with a shared desire to deliver superior long-term value.
WINA, the Wireless Industrial Networking Alliance, will found a chapter in Singapore to serve the Asia Pacific region, the first chapter outside of North America for the organisation.
According to WINA president Hesh Kagan the region is a source of many wireless technologies and is leading the world in industrial growth. The extended presence in the Asia Pacific region will help to further the mission of assisting industry to understand and accept wireless technology.
The WINA Board of Directors also announced the appointment of Mr Sachin Gupta, Senior Wireless Consultant for Invensys Process Systems, to lead the formation of the new chapter.
Local news digest
ABB has won an order worth $180 million from the Namibian national power utility, NamPower, to connect two parts of the country’s power grid and strengthen electricity networks in southern Africa. NamPower is building a 350 kilovolts (kV), 300-megawatt (MW) transmission link between the northeastern Caprivi region and the power network in central Namibia. This link will also interconnect the electricity networks of Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and South Africa. The extended network will create alternative routes for power imports and exports to and from neighbouring countries. The design allows for an extension to 600 MW.
Thuthuka Group company Klomac is nearing completion of the R2,5m refurbishment of two OSEC on-site electrolytic chlorination plants for Botswana’s Water Utilities Corporation. The OSEC system uses a brine solution, prepared on-site, to generate sodium hypochlorite for the disinfection of water. Compared to the use of chlorine gas, this a commercially viable process, particularly when chlorine gas has to be transported long distances from the point of manufacture to the water treatment works, as is the case in Botswana. It is also a safer chemical to deal with on-site. Established in 1979, Klomac is the official southern African agent for Wallace & Tiernan chemical dosing equipment for the water treatment industry.
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