Specialty & Fine Chemical

Kyowa Hakko Bio monitors vibration trends with Yokogawa's Sushi Sensors to prevent unexpected equipment failures.
By using eServ, sensor data and maintenance information are shared with everyone involved in manufacturing.

Yokogawa provided the Smart Industry Readiness Index (S.I.R.I.) consulting service to Taiwan's Everlight Chemical Industrial Corp.
S.I.R.I. helps identify the digital maturity level of the customer's plant for future transformation.

DIC Corporation co-developed the Data Utilization Platform with Yokogawa. The solution dramatically reduces data preparation work for data analysis.

MGC Mizushima Plant selected Yokogawa's PDA to achieve one of its improvement activities.
MGC has successfully stabilized the process and reduced the operator work load.

• Nan Ya had been using Yokogawa Micro-XL DCS since the plant opened in the 1990s.
• Step-by-step approach for migration from Micro-XL to CENTUM VP keeps downtime to a minimum.

BASF Schwarzheide GmbH selected Yokogawa's Cavitation Detection System to detect pump cavitation at an early stage.
The Cavitation Detection System catches minute pressure fluctuations generated by low cavitation; problems are recognized before vibration occurs.

Honshu Chemical has successfully improved product quality by process data analysis.
On-site capabilities were further strengthened by sharing each other's knowledge in the project.

Ube Corporation Europe and Yokogawa co-created the Field Assistant mobile solution.
Field Assistant innovates inspection patrol, supervisory management, and O&M efficiency in the plant.

• Exapilot is Effectively Applied to Polypropylene Plant and Optimizes Operation, Cost Savings.
• By using Yokogawa's Exapilot, Safripol were able to eliminate product variations and kept the operations consistent.

• PRM allows a preventive maintenance approach where maintenance can be scheduled and performed before a field device fails.
• Exaquantum gathers plant data from the CENTUM VP to generate a variety of reports on the polymerization process.

• Migration from Micro-XL and CENTUM CS 1000 to CENTUM CS 3000 Improves Reliability.
• Operations at this plant, which runs more than 330 days per year, are carefully managed by the CENTUM CS 3000 DCS and the CS Batch package.

• Highly reliable CENTUM CS 3000 replaces legacy system and automates batch plant operation.
• Working together, Hanwha Chemical and Yokogawa Korea project personnel completed this work on time and on schedule.

• Integration of CENTUM CS 3000 with ProSafe-RS improves plant safety and reliability.
• Yokogawa's PRM package manages more than 500 HART field devices including control valves.

• Fieldbus technology introduced to realize predictive and preventive maintenance.
• ISAE to improve the reliability of diagnosis and parameter setting, utilizing data collected by PRM.

• CENTUM CS 3000 and Exaquantum PIMS improve production efficiency at Chinese synthetic rubber plant.
• Exaquantum provides data on long-term trends needed to make improvements to plant processes.

• Based on a careful review of all operational procedures and operator roles and configured new SOPs in Exapilot.
• As a result, SFC has been able to reduce operator workload, improve product quality, and reduce production losses.

• The work was based on a preceisely formulated roadmap with detailed checklists for every control cabinet, process station, and network component.
• The seamless use of the same HMI for both PCS and SIS, and improved safety and integrity.

• CS Batch is used to automate a wide range of Reichhold's batch processes and multi-product/multi-path processes.
• Using PRM, process engineers can immediately find out the status of every field device without having to do an onsite inspection.

• Installation of Exaquantum PIMS package improves efficiency of process data management.
• Improve quality and yield through proactive maintenance of plant assets.

• Exapilot was built up as e-SOP system based on the standard operating procedures and the know-how of experienced operators.
• e-SOP system improved the quality and productivity in the performance chemical plant in China.

As the demand for food is increasing worldwide, fertilizers are playing an essential role in improving agricultural productivity. OCI Nitrogen (hereinafter OCI) is a leading producer of mineral fertilizers and the world's largest producer of melamine, which is used to make adhesives and resins for a wide range of applications, such as furniture panels, laminate flooring, coatings, paints, and plastics.

• Up to 90% of all manual tasks can now be carried out automatically.
• Increasing productivity by means of partially automated start-up and load change procedures.

• IFCo chose Omegaland operator training system to make ready for a flawless and safe plant start-up.
• Omegaland is contributing to operator training prior to completion of the greenfield fertilizer plant.

• Yokogawa's CENTUM VP and PRM improve efficiency at new nylon plant in Thailand.
• At the plant startup stage, PRM was used together with FieldMate to thoroughly check all loops.

• At the company's Ulsan resin plant, six Exaquantum servers were connected to CENTUM CS 3000 and other vendor's systems.
• KKPC needed to expand its SBC capabilities and improve production efficiency at its plants.

• TOK decided to start local production of high-quality photoresist for semiconductor manufacturing near its customers in Taiwan.
• The MES with traceability comparable with pharmaceutical manufacturing is one of the factors to win the trust of its customers.

• FDT compliant FieldMate manages a wide variety of digital process instruments of multi-vendors.
• The SNF engineers can manage the complete lifecycle of assets and configure devices by using FieldMate.

• Kuraray EVAL and Yokogawa prepared carefully for the expansion and modernization of the CENTUM system.
• Management of 400+ fieldbus instruments by Yokogawa's PRM plant resource manage also helped the project to proceed smoothly.

The TC series of temperature controllers is perfect for controlling the heating temperature of sealing parts and the temperature of sealing rolls (pre-heating) in a variety of different wrapping machinery.

This introduces a system that uses Ethernet communications to acquire measured values, target values, and control output values from a controller installed on site into a PLC at high speed (ten units' worth within one second).

In the plants of food and beverage manufacturers, there are times when monitoring and recording of production equipment is necessary inside clean rooms. This is an introduction to monitoring and recording in clean rooms using paperless recorders.

The ADMAG AXR is the world's first 2-wire magnetic flow meter which employs the unique "Dual Frequency Excitation Method," achieving 0.5% of rate of best-in-class accuracy and excellent stability for process measurement. In addition, the newly developed AXR key technologies," achieves the same level of noise immunity as 4-wire type under the fluid condition change and delivers enough performance to meet the requirement to apply in the control loop.

Control of sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration at a salt dissolver where solid salt is dissolved in water, is highly important because of the electrolysis efficiency. A conventional way of measuring the concentration of supersaturated NaCl solution had been performed by using non-contact type sensors (e.g., γ-ray density meter) since NaCl, impurities, and precipitates are in the solution.

In flue gas desulfurization systems that use magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)₂) slurry, the consumption of the desulfurization agent (Mg(OH)₂) is controlled by using online pH analyzers. A great concern in the pH measurement is heavy staining of the pH electrodes by the Mg(OH)₂ slurry. To ensure accurate measurement, frequent cleaning of the electrodes with an acid is required, adding to both maintenance workload and cost.

Industry:Chemical, Power

There are various methods for continuous fabric dyeing as well as dye fixing. When dye is directly applied, steaming (heat treatment) is required. At present the pad-steam method is widely used for continuous dyeing. To ensure stable product quality, the humidity in the steamer is kept at a constant level. 

Recently, air pollution legislations such as the Clean Air Act to reduce the amount of air pollution are increasing worldwide. The Clean Air Act address numerous air quality problems. One of these problems is acid rain caused by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from fossil-fueled power plants and other industrial and transportation sources.

In the manufacturing process of Pharmaceutical, Chemical and Food & Beverage industries, the cleaning and sterilization of tanks and piping are done with various cleaning solutions, fresh or hot water and steam after manufacturing products. Clean-In-Place (CIP) is the system designed for automatic cleaning and disinfecting.

One of the most common applications for differential pressure transmitters is flow measurement. DPharp differential pressure transmitters have some unique signal conditioning features to eliminate instability at low flow rates.

Caustic soda is an important basic material in the chemical industry and is mainly produced by the electrolysis of soda. In the electrolysis process to make concentrated caustic soda, the DM8 Liquid Density Meter ensures high product quality through accurate measurement of liquid density.

Process liquid analyzers such as pH meters, conductivity meters, ORP meters, and density meters play an important role at electrolysis plants in the control of concentrations of various process solutions. This requires both precision and stability under harsh conditions that include highly corrosive substances, high temperatures, and many impurities.

The GX20 and GX90UT offer an average value computation function making it ideal for controlling temperature and other fluctuating phenomena. The operating status can be controlled in real time, providing operating cost reductions.

Many different types of gases are consumed in industries as varied as chemicals, food & beverages, and medical. These gases are normally delivered in liquid form by trucks and dispensed at the customer site. Although the flow volume of cryogenic liquefied gas is used for billing purposes, it is not easy to accurately measure this because the gas is always at saturation temperatures.

• Effeciently controls the inlet valve and blow-off valve when the compressor starts and stops.
• During steady operation, controls the inlet valve so that the amount of discharged compressed air becomes constant (flow control)
• Surging: Load decreases, the amount of discharge flow and pressure drop, and a limit is exceeded, possibly destroying the compressor.

In limestone-gypsum flue gas desulfurization systems, the consumption of a desulfurization agent (lime) is controlled using online pH analyzers.

The discharge of improperly treated industrial chemicals and fuel gas can have a major impact on the environment, posing a serious threat to public health. Concurrent with the global growth of manufacturing operations to keep pace with market trends, many countries are taking measures to deal with environmental problems.

For safe and efficient operation, the quality of feedwater, steam, and condensate in boiler plants must be controlled and maintained in the most favorable conditions.

Operators must receive diagnostic information before a line block leads to a malfunction. Yokogawa provides predictive diagnostics based on trend analysis of the blocking factor, which improves maintenance efficiency and reduces maintenance costs.

• Emergency interlock circuits for petrochemical plants and other facilities must be independent of the main control system.
• The YS80 Rack Instrument interfaces not only with field devices and upstream control systems, but also with emergency interlock circuits guarding against process abnormalities.

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a separation process that uses pressure to force a solution through a membrane that retains the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to pass to the other side. More formally, it is the process of forcing a solvent from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure.

Controls temperature in, and acquires data from, various internal components of plastic film manufacturing equipment. An easy to use, high cost-performance data acquisition and monitoring system can be assembled by using Ethernet compatible instruments and GA10.

Industrial Combustion sources such as thermal cracking furnaces and, process heaters play a critical role in the process industry.

• In the YS170 and SLPC, single-element control needs to be configured within the user program.
• The YS1700, however, offers the primary direct mode so that the user program can switch on and off single-element control by changing a parameter.

The REPSOL company had in mind the improvement of the control on one of their chemical reactors. A feasibility study for the implementation of an Advanced Control technique (Predictive Control for temperature control for chemical Reactors - PCR) for a batch reactor for Polyols production has been performed. The proposed technique PCR is based on a dynamic model of the unit which makes the prediction of the process variables behaviour.

After a feasibility study, Repsol YPF decided to apply a model-based predictive controller to a batch reactor producing polyols. The predictive controller for reactors (PCR) is a set of control modules that are designed to face most of the reactor configurations. The important increase of production is a consequence of the better handling of the reactor temperature. Here's a description of the unit and control objectives, methodology, project steps, results and the corresponding benefits.

From engineering to installation, commissioning, operations, and maintenance, FOUNDATION fieldbus offer significant cost reductions of 30 percent or more versus conventional analog systems. Many of these cost reductions come from the advanced functions that fieldbus offers versus analog technology.

The automation suppliers that will be successful in the long term will be those that effectively address application or industry specific problems for end users with a value proposition that cannot be ignored. These problems exist throughout the process industries today, and they won't be solved by simply offering a product, but through a combination of hardware, software, services, application expertise, and knowledge.

In ARC's view, customers need a compelling business value proposition to justify investment in any kind of automation. Vigilance and VigilantPlant were created with this in mind. Yokogawa's vision with VigilantPlant is to create an environment where plant personnel and operators are well informed, alert, and ready to take action. 

Yokogawa has come a long way in making its message clear to the world of process automation. Last year, the company embarked on a full-scale global marketing campaign to make customers aware of the company's focus on system reliability, security, dependability, and robustness. Dubbed "Vigilance", the campaign created a unified message for the company and greatly helped expand awareness of the Yokogawa brand and corporate philosophy.

Process automation end users are under more pressure than ever to do more with less. The current economic climate means that many automation capital projects are on hold. With capital budgets tighter than ever, users instead focus on operational budgets (where cost cutting is also a key concern), or on automation investments with a very rapid return on investment.

In today's dynamic industrial marketplace, the only constant is change. Raw material costs, energy costs, market demands, environmental and safety regulations, technology, and even the nature of the labor force itself are constantly changing, and not always in predictable directions.

September 2008

Yokogawa is helping a large chemicals site in China manage product transfer by road, ship and pipeline.

ISA S88.01 provides great benefit to users and vendors by solidifying batch operating models and standardizing batch control terminology. On the other hand, as befits an industry-wide standard, ISA S88.01 leaves great flexibility for individual users to apply their own project practices and implementation methodology. Even when utilizing ISA S88.01 models and terminology, many pitfalls remain for those who implement batch controls and recipe management without thinking ahead. Real-world project experience has demonstrated a number of design and implementation "lessons" which might be overlooked to the eventual grief of the batch engineer.

The S88.02 draft standard defines a means for depicting procedural control in master and control recipes. This depiction method is called a Procedural Function Chart (PFC). This standard depiction is based on the requirements of S88.01, technical report ISA-TR88.0.03-1996, user requirements, previous standards and commonly used procedure depiction methods in use today. PFCs can provide a common basis for the exchange of recipes, reduce the learning curve between control systems, and establish a common ground for improved human communication. This paper provides a brief overview of the development of PFCs, the rules for their use and some of the benefits expected by their adoption in the industry.

The case study in this paper illustrates the value of integrating front-end scheduling with a batch control system. Recipe changes, and addition of recipes, occur frequently in the target process. However, since both scheduler and batch packages were designed with the ISA-S88.01 model in mind, these packages could be tightly coupled (well integrated) – and, as a result, it is easy to add or change recipes. The front- end scheduler is not limited to performing scheduling; it also provides an easy-to-grasp real-time production status display which can help enhance efficiency and productivity.

As batch processes are automated, it is common to leave certain less essential field devices without automatic actuators. Thus, the initial control design must accommodate both automated and manual activities. Later, the manual field devices may be automated, either one-at-a-time or in related groups as equipment modules. These field changes, often occurring over a period of years, each require rework of the batch control logic, which can easily exceed the cost of the actuator. In response to this undesirable situation, a technique has been developed which permits the batch design to automatically modify itself, or evolve, to accommodate changes in field automation.

Six Sigma is a quality improvement methodology applied to improving any type of process. It is a methodology endorsed by and heavily integrated into several major chemical companies.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used in batch processing industries as measurements of production performance. Their use is one element in the current trend of real-time performance management. A single KPI used as the primary measurement of production can cause other dimensions of production performance lose importance. When multiple KPIs are used to measure a batch's production performance it can be difficult to reconcile differences between them for individual batches or for groups of batches. KPIs based upon meeting a target, or specification, measure absolute performance yet do not provide relative information regarding how a batch performed against its peers. The peer comparisons are important for monitoring variability of production performance, which is a critical factor in documenting ROI.

The application of DCS-based "advanced controls" is a common method of achieving enhanced performance from continuous processes such as refinery units. However, it is less widely recognized, but nonetheless true, that modern DCS systems can include other software tools for the significant improvement of batch plant productivity, product quality, and economic performance. Due to the fundamental processing differences between the two types of plants, unique batch "advanced control" features are required which are different from those used for continuous plants.

ARC believes that by implementing procedural automation, many process plants can minimize variability to help ensure smooth, efficient, and safe state transitions.