The start of digital transformation!

The technology that revolutionized gas analysis and emissions monitoring in chemical plants and refineries, the pulp, paper and metal industries, power generation, cement, and others.

URAS was created by German engineers Erwin Lehrer and Karl Friedrich Luft. In 1988, the technology was further improved by adding gas-filled calibration cells. Because it no longer needed high-pressure test gas cylinders, the cost of operation dropped significantly and increased the ease of use.

When launched 85 years ago, 1938, URAS was known as the first “ultra red absorption recorder” (in German, Ultra Rot Absorptions Schreiber), a continuous gas analyzer capable of instantly measuring the concentration of more than 100 gases through infrared spectroscopy (light absorption technology).

“This technology was truly revolutionary from the day it was invented. Today, it is a benchmark for uncompromising environmental compliance. With URAS, numerous industrial companies around the world are able to monitor emissions and safeguard the environment,” said Ben Goossens, ABB Measurement & Analytics.

URAS is used by industrial companies around the world as a key solution for ensuring environmental compliance. With its unrivaled monitoring uptime, this technology is used in the continuous monitoring of gases that come out of industrial chimneys. It also measures emissions from marine vessels, helping shipping companies comply with environmental regulations.

As a continuous gas analyzer, URAS has a wide range of applications beyond the industrial segments – from helping save lives in hospitals by measuring the CO2 levels in diagnostic breath tests to supporting the process of ripening of bananas during shipment by analyzing the concentration of ethylene.

In 1996, URAS was used as a foundation in ABB’s groundbreaking Advance Optima modular analyzer, which unified the operation for all types of gas analyzers in one single design. With this, URAS became the first network analyzer with its own IP address. This was the beginning of the digitalization of analyzer technology.

“Decades before the Internet of Things, URAS communicated digitally. Today, it’s all about the digital transformation and this is where it all started,” said Ben Goossens.

@ABBgroupnews @ABBMeasurement @abb_automation #PAuto #Gas

Multi-site digitalization.

One of the world’s largest cement producers reports enhanced productivity, streamlined processes, reduced maintenance and energy savings through Industry 4.0 solutions

Advanced automation and digital technologies from ABB have been delivered to global building materials and sustainable solutions company Votorantim Cimentos, as it embraces Industry 4.0 in cement to simultaneously optimize production and decarbonize operations.

Industrial companies, including Votorantim Cimentos Europe, Asia and Africa Region (VCEAA) – which has the worldwide capacity to produce 55.7 million tons of cement per annum, are ramping up their efforts to ensure lower emissions as governments and international organizations push for net-zero emissions by 2030.

“Votorantim Cimentos has committed to a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030,” said Juan Antonio Gimenez Soriano, VCEAA Maintenance and Sustaining Capex Manager. “We are increasing our efforts to drive energy efficiency to meet our emissions targets. With the recent ABB installations showing better than expected results, our other plants are also pushing for the implementation of the ABB solutions.”

Digital solutions ABB Ability™ Expert Optimizer and ABB Ability™ Knowledge Manager have recently been installed in the customer’s plants in Spain, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco with proven impacts for enhanced productivity, streamlined processes, reduced maintenance and energy savings. Expert Optimizer, deployed in Votorantim plants since the 1990s, ensures optimization of the complete process and reduces emissions significantly while Knowledge Manager helps in standardizing and ensuring consistency in collecting and analyzing laboratory data across the plants.

Expert Optimizer will minimize energy costs while maximizing the use of alternative fuels and at the same time maintaining and improving the quality of the product. Working closely with Votorantim in engineering and project management, ABB has also provided the Expert Optimizer RMP module to the raw mix to enhance the quality of raw material products going to the kiln. Regarding cement, discrete lab data is combined with continuous process data to optimize production while maintaining cement quality.

“ABB has proven for many years to be a reliable partner in developing one of our strategical pillars, to be the best-in-class in operations,” said Jose Maria Hidalgo, VCEAA Process Manager. “This, together with the ability of their managers and technicians to understand the cement process challenges and needs, has made us decide to continue with them in the current projects on digitalization and decarbonization.”

“Votorantim Cimentos is placing more focus on running an intelligent plant and this will ensure less impacts on the environment,” said Marie O’Grady-Hills, Global Sales Manager, Process Industries, ABB. “We are working with a forward-thinking and modern company focused on productivity but also on contributing to building a sustainable and safe planet. We look forward to supporting Votorantim in future digital endeavors while ensuring their operations remain economically viable.”

ABB has the expertise to ensure higher efficiency in the cement industry using tailored processes and laboratory reporting products. The variability of the feed and fuel will be optimized with the main aim to save money for the plant. During all this, the emissions will be controlled and reduced making the process more environmentally friendly. The company's Sustainability Strategy 2030 includes achieving carbon neutrality in its own operations and helping its customers reduce their CO2 emissions. ABB’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative as being in line with the 1.5°C scenario of the UN Paris Agreement.

@ABBgroupnews @ABBMeasurement @abb_automation  #PAuto #EMEA #Cement

DCS system upgrades cement plant.

ABB Ability™ System 800xA®, the distributed control system (DCS) automation platform, has been installed to upgrade three grinding units at Star Super Cement in Dubai, UAE, and ensure optimized operations with the Star Cement clinkerization plant in Ras Al Khaimah.

Star Cement and Star Super Cement are subsidiaries of Ultratech Cement, India and operate a 3 million tons per annum (tpa) clinkerization unit at Ras Al Khaimah, four cement grinding units of 2.2 million tpa unit at Jabel Ali, 1.4 million tpa unit at Abu Dhabi and 1.1 million tpa unit at Ajman in UAE as well as a 1 million tpa grinding unit in Bahrain.

ABB was the electrical and automation partner for the Star Cement clinkerization plant ten years ago and had deployed ABB’s DCS for three cement grinding units when these plants were installed. Each grinding unit had a different generation of DCS depending on the plant commissioning period. All grinding units have now been upgraded to ABB Ability System 800xA which can implement advanced process control methods and is ranked by the ARC advisory group as the world’s #1 DCS platform over the last 22 years.

“Star Cement will benefit from improved operator visibility, easier maintenance and minimum downtime with the new upgraded systems and uniformity across the various clinkerization and grinding unit locations,” said Max Tschurtschenthaler, Global Cement Lead, ABB Process Industries. “We are pleased to have built on our longstanding relationship. The successful upgrade of three different systems to the latest platform will ensure overall interoperability and ease of operations.”

“It has always been a fruitful experience working with ABB PI team,” said TVS Chidambaram, Chief Operating Officer of Star Cement. “The DCS upgrade project handled by ABB ran very smoothly and barely disturbed the organization’s ongoing activities. Well planned engineering and installation works during a holiday period helped us to continue our sales without any disturbance. We’re now in a much better position for future operations.”

The scope of work undertaken by ABB included the upgrade of all previously installed central processing units (CPUs) and controllers to the latest version of ABB Ability System 800xA. The project also involved the complete erection and installation for the new panels while keeping the field wiring intact. Minerals libraries were introduced to the system. Project panels were manufactured and delivered locally.

@ABBgroupnews @abb_automation #PAuto #Cement #UAE

Automation system at new cement plant.

Birla Corp subsidiary RCCPL is to employ ABB Ability™ Expert Optimizer and other digital technologies to maximize production at its new cement plant at Mukutban in Maharashtra (India).

ABB will supply RCCPL with ABB Ability™ Expert Optimizer, an advanced process control solution for controlling, stabilizing, and optimizing industrial processes and which will allow the cement producer to increase production, minimize carbon footprint and reduce fuel consumption to meet energy usage goals.

“Early involvement in the development of this greenfield project means we can bring a holistic approach to the design of the complete system," said Krishnadas Manjaparra, business head of industrial automation process industries for South Asia, Middle-East, and Africa, at ABB. "We have been able to draw from our strong portfolio of automation and electrification products and solutions and bring varied insights from our years of experience working with small operators, global players and the turnkey execution of large projects. We have an established track record in India where more than half of cement plants already run with the ABB automation systems and which ensure maximum efficiency and run consistently shift to shift, irrespective of operator expertise. What makes us unique is also our newly launched ABB AbilityTM Collaborative Operations Center in India that allows us to provide operations support during the post-commissioning life cycle of the plant to keep the productivity and efficiency at peak levels continuously."

Birla Corporation currently produces cement at seven locations in India with a combined capacity of nearly 15.5 million tonnes per annum. The 3.90 million tonnes per year greenfield plant at Mukutban, Yavatmal in the Indian state of Marharashtra is about 400 kilometers north of Mumbai and incorporates a 40 MW captive power plant and a 10.60 MW heat recovery system.

ABB will also provide the new cement plant with electrification infrastructure items such as MV Switchgear with MV relays on IEC 61850 communication and LV Switchgear with ABB UMC100.3 intelligent motor controllers which combine intelligent motor protection and control functions and fieldbus communication, and fault diagnosis in a single device.

The ABB digital solutions and electrification products will be integrated with ABB Ability™ System 800xA, which is ranked by ARC advisory group as the #1 DCS (distributed control system) platform in the market globally for the 20th consecutive year. ABB Ability™ System 800xA is also an electrical control system, a safety system and a collaboration enabler with the capacity to improve engineering efficiency, operator performance and asset utilization.

ABB Ability™ Expert Optimizer uses linear and non-linear model predictive control and neural networks to manage critical plant components, including kiln, alternative fuels, mills, and blending. It can find the best operating conditions to maximize output and can immediately detect deviations among various processes in cement production. This capability is backed by the remote ABB Ability™ Collaborative Operations Center support, from where experts continually monitor the system for any abnormality and can help retune the system remotely for new process conditions.

#PAuto #Cement @abbindustryserv @ABBgroupnews

Control in cement, mining etc!

Process control system expanded for cement, mining and related industries

The Siemens Industry Automation Division has added a host of new functions to Version 8.0 of its Cemat process control system for the cement, mining and related industries. Certain functional details of previous versions, such as the maintenance and service management system, have also been further developed for Cemat V8.0. Innovational highlights are the additional operating modes for plants, device groups and individual units, as well as the monitoring of process values, such as accumulated pressure and flow rates. The user can also now put together curve groups very easily.

Compared to previous versions, one of the innovations of Cemat V8.0 is, for example, that the "Quick Trend" display can be configured directly from the process screen. This makes it much easier to activate curve groups for display and evaluation purposes. The user adds the desired analog value into the graphic display of a plot with a simple mouse click. Previously, the values had to be laboriously determined in the measured value archives.

Cemat V8.0 also offers the operator more operating mode options. In addition to complete groups, he or she can now disconnect individual loads within a group – for example as part of an energy management concept. The variants "No interlocks", "Specific interlocks only" and "Safety interlocks only" can now be easily configured for manual operation. Previously, these special interlocks had to be painstakingly programmed. Without additional programming time, the plant operator now receives the relevant infromation, such as which interlocks are currently active, from the configuration alone. The new additional operating mode "Out of Service" is used for unavailable devices and units which are, for example, undergoing maintenance.

With Cemat V8.0, the user can now also use speed monitors in addition to process value such as accumulated pressure or flow rate, as the return information "Drive is on". This increases the quality of the information about the proper functioning of the drive. Message blocks, measured values and process feedback messages can now be assigned not just to groups but directly to individual drives. The Cemat Object Browser is also new. It enables all the objects in the entire plant to be identified and displayed in a specific operating mode, for example "In simulation". New block icons also simplify operation of the system. For example, block icons in inconspicuous colors indicate a fault-free state, and more conspicuous icons draw the operator's attention directly to important information.

As with the previous versions, Cemat is based on Simatic PCS 7, and offers all the performance features and functions of this process control system, such as APC (Advanced Process Library) and "Alarm Control". Cemat V8.0 is based on the latest version 8.0 of Simatic PCS 7.

Cement in India

An order worth $18 million in India to design, engineer and supply integrated automation and modern electrification systems for Century Cement’s Manikgarh Cement plant in central India has been finalised with ABB.

Manikgarh Cement is located in the State of Maharastra, in central India, and provides high quality cement products for building construction, road and bridge infrastructure and other commercial uses. ABB’s delivery is part of a two line expansion and plant modernization project that will add production capacity of 2.8 million tons of cement per year, more than doubling its current production. The project also includes a 60 MW thermal power plant onsite.

ABB will provide state-of-the-art manufacturing technology to expand production capacity and maintain high product quality while providing a reliable on-site power supply that will improve energy efficiency.

“Our proven experience in executing large and complex projects, minerals and cement industry expertise and leading automation and power technologies helped us to secure this important order,” said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABB’s Process Automation division. “This modernization and expansion project will help the customer meet increasing the local demand for its product, while improving the overall efficiency of its production process, and stability of its electricity supply.”

ABB will deliver integrated power and automation systems using a plant-wide 800xA automation system to control, connect, and optimize the performance of all processes and systems. The scope of supply includes medium-voltage switchgear, distribution transformers and other electrical equipment and power systems, intelligent low-voltage motor control centers, variable speed drives, instrumentation, and collaborative production management systems. ABB will also provide design, engineering, project commissioning, and other site services.

US cement production taken to new level!

Integrated power and automation based on System 800xA will help new Drake Cement plant exceed industry standard productivity and efficiency levels

ABB has delivered a complete power and automation solution for a new cement facility in the Southwestern United States – “an outstanding solution that will help us achieve efficiency and productivity levels beyond industry standards,” according to the customer.

Owned by US cement manufacturer Drake Cement, the new state-of-the-art facility is located in the southwestern state of Arizona, where it has the distinction of being the first cement facility to be built in this, the fifth largest state in the US, for 50 years.

The greenfield facility was officially inaugurated in June this year. It has a production capacity of 660,000 tons of clinker, which is processed at the site into high-quality Portland cement products.

“ABB has delivered an outstanding solution that will help us achieve efficiency and productivity levels beyond industry standards.” Marcos Gomez-Barrios, President and CEO of Drake Cement.

ABB was selected by Drake Cement in 2008 to be the main electrical and automation contractor (MEC and MAC), and provide a turnkey integrated power and automation solution for the entire site and cement making process.

ABB’s comprehensive scope of supply includes detailed engineering, design, supply, installation and commissioning, as well as the complete scope of electrical, control and instrumentation products and systems.

Among the many ABB products and systems in the solution are medium and low voltage motors, a low voltage multidrive system, transformers, switchgear, a power factor correction system, instrumentation, process gas analyzers and FTIR emissions monitoring system, and ABB’s flagship plant automation system, System 800xA.

Controls for Brazilian cement company.

GE Intelligent Platforms has received a $4.5 million order from Cimentos Liz, a leading cement company in Brazil, for the company’s breakthrough process solution Proficy® Process Systems. Cimentos Liz, a Soeicom S/A company, with plants in Vespasian in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, will use the solution for a plant upgrade to control raw mill, furnace, packing and crushing applications, among others.

Cimentos Liz believes that producing quality products that meet the expectations and needs of their customers is essential to ensure their competitiveness in the market. Therefore, the company maintains strict quality control, from extraction of raw materials for cement until the last stage of production. The company is also committed to creating value in a sustainable manner by using natural resources efficiently to ensure their availability for future generations. 

GE teamed with Cimentos Liz and pulled together a team from both organizations that consisted of a variety of developers, systems engineers, plant operators, and directors to develop the system requirements.  The result is a solution that will utilize GE’s Proficy Process Systems and the Proficy Software Platform to provide all aspects of process control, supervision, alarm management, release management, asset management and quality control across the plant.  Proficy Historian, part of Proficy Process Systems, bridges the gap between their process control system and their business system, capturing the critical information necessary to create a sustainable advantage for their operations.  

“Proficy Process Systems will allow us to define, create and execute the control strategies we were looking for to meet the needs of our company and to satisfy our mission of operational excellence,” said Túlio Soares, Engineering Manager for Cimentos Liz. “It is a highly flexible and scalable system with user programmable features that provide the agility and security we need to monitor and control multiple devices in diverse areas to give us the quality and regularity that we strive for in our product offerings.”

"The company needed a solution that could provide critical process control for their manufacturing operations while also providing the ability to vertically integrate to their business systems at the same time,” said Bernie Anger, General Manager of GE Intelligent Platforms’ Control & Communications Systems. “We needed to integrate the various areas of the plant in a single and flexible platform with low-cost engineering.

“To gain insight and manage operations to provide the kind of sustainability and quality Cimentos Liz is requiring of its business they must be able to visualize, analyze and optimize every aspect of their processes, equipment and resources,” continued Anger. “By adding intelligence to their production environment, our innovative Proficy Process Systems provides lower total cost of ownership, greater productivity, efficiency and profitability for a sustainable competitive advantage.”