Emerson Exchange 365

In 2009, Vopak’s Deer Park, Texas, facility—one of the largest petroleum and chemical terminals in North America—decided to modernize. Tank radar gauges and overfill protection were key components of the project.  Having made substantial progress, Vopak will present their results at the 2014 Emerson Global Users Exchange in Orlando, Florida.

With 242 tanks, 5 ship docks, 14 barge positions, 22 truck loading stations and 18 tank car stations at Deer Park, there was ample opportunity to take greater advantage of automation.   Pam Smolen, Automation Project Manager at Vopak, led a team of personnel from Vopak, Emerson, and Puffer-Sweiven, who oversaw the upgrade.

“To improve overall terminal efficiency, we focused on three key areas: tank module improvements, asset management, and cultural changes in the central control room,” says Smolen.

The initial tank installation of 25 tanks used RTG Modbus RTU protocol.  The team then selected a Foundation fieldbus infrastructure. This allowed for use of AMS Suite, while minimizing wiring and installation cost. Local, independent displays were installed for each tank, displaying ullage versus innage for improved measurement accuracy.

The project was not without challenges. The team would need to facilitate a seamless migration of existing radar gauges from Rex to Raptor models, with redundant local readout, while maintaining AMS Suite predictive maintenance software. Connection to third-party programs, such as eSight via OPC, was also important for utility monitoring and invoicing.

Tank module improvements included graphics standardization, optimized by human factor design principles. Time-to-limit calculations were implemented as part of the tank module for improved monitoring of tank movements. The team also enhanced tank dynamo and detail displays, made security improvements, and added flow rate alarms for regulatory compliance.

Smolen and her crew then took steps to help terminal personnel improve their daily productivity. “We used AMS Suite to simplify our procedures for replacing and troubleshooting devices, so technicians could troubleshoot radar gauges online,” she says. “This eliminated the time required to obtain permits, plus travel time to set them up.” It also meant I&E Technicians could take fewer trips to the field, reducing risk.

System and tank gauge automation brought changes to the control room as well. Land and marine operations were combined, which centralized operations. More notably, the control room was now staffed by a dedicated board operator, whose level of confidence in the instrumentation would be aided by in-depth training.

Centralizing operation activities in the control room has increased the visibility of tank movements, thereby reducing the potential for safety incidents. In addition, using AMS Suite to update and troubleshoot tank gauges remotely has resulted in more efficient staff utilization.

Before launching their modernization plan five years ago, Vopak Deer Park had just 25 tanks with RTG radar gauges on the DeltaV system. Today, Vopak has radar gauges on 180 tanks, with 190 tank systems on DeltaV. With a vision of tying automation systems to business systems, Vopak is poised to take the benefits of tank gauge modernization to a higher level.