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Emerson Innovation Enables Industrial "Powerhouse" Facilities to More Efficiently Operate Regardless of the Fuel Source

With Energy prices on the rise and increasing mandates to minimize plant emissions the Industrial Powerhouse offers a significant source of opportunity to reduce fuel consumption, use alternate (lower cost) fuels, take advantage of process generated waste and increase steam and power generation.

So, when a few years ago our team were presented with an opportunity to work with an international steel manufacturer to tackle a combination of challenges for a site that generates in excess of 60MW of power we were given the following objectives to improve the performance of the industrial power plant;

  • Create a Plant with a Safe Operating Platform
  • Optimize the use of indigenous Fuels
  • Maximize Electrical Generation Output
  • Minimize CO2 Emissions 

The Industrial power plant comprised 7 Boilers, 4 fuels per boiler, Multiple burners, 6 Steam turbines and Multiple steam headers. 

So when it was time to get some of our team together to better understand the challenges we faced, we enlisted the expertise of our Senior Industrial Energy Consultant, Scott Pettigrew to determine how to address each of the challenges using his decades of expertise and experience from similar projects. Bringing together teams from across our organisation with a blend of skills was key and ably supported by Stuart Chisholm, one of senior proposal managers to pull together a comprehensive proposal for our customer. 

Industrial Energy Team

A solution based upon a hierarchical energy management system (EMS) was designed to manage the control, safety and optimization requirements taking to account the complexity of managing a plant operating on a 24/7 basis. Coupled to the fact electrical power could be both imported and exported on a real-time basis.

Taking a holistic approach to the improvement project our team's ability to investigate mechanical issues, controls, safety, plant economics started with a bottom up approach to ensuring the base levels controls were adequate to allow the higher level advanced process control and coordinated control through an optimization strategy would deliver the intended results.

Check out the project at Automation magazine

If you would like to see a little more about what Emerson can do take a look at this video .... Click Here 

Sam Thiara (MEng)

Business Development Manager, EMEA

Operational Certainty Consulting Group

 M +44 (0) 7825 862 808
Sam.Thiara@emerson.com

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