Feature SCADA & Data Acquisition
Sweetening sugar production W
InduSoft Web Studio has developed a new HMI/SCADA system to improve plant efficiency at RRB Sugar Mills - one of India’s largest sugar producers
hile most industries rely on external power sources to fuel their operation, sugar manufac- turers can produce their own power in a process called cogeneration. As part of the production process, sugar from sugar cane and by-products such as bagasse (a left over fibre from the crush- ing and extraction process), can be employed as an eco-friendly fuel for power cogeneration. The bagasse can be incinerated to fuel a boiler furnace, which can be used to produce electricity. Historically, sugar mills in India were permitted to produce only the energy they needed for their own operations. Most Indian sugar companies therefore adopted the practice of installing inex- pensive boilers and turbines, which also happen to be notoriously inefficient. They typically would operate only during the sugar season. After all, why invest money in an expensive, efficient system, when there’s very little opportu- nity for a return on that investment?
More power
In the mid-1990s, the Indian ministry of power began permitting companies to generate surplus energy. The energy could then be exported to the state elec- tricity board or to other manufacturers, which in turn subsidises production costs, promotes competition, and makes electricity more plentiful for everyone. When exportation of energy was permitted, many plants began looking for ways to increase the efficiency of their power plants. At its Wategaon facility, RRB installed back pressure turbo-alternators with two high pres- sure boilers, a turbine generator and a back pressure turbine generator. This required a new control system, and InduSoft Web Studio was chosen to develop a HMI/SCADA system that would ensure an efficient plant. Although the system was initially installed only to control the boilers, it worked so well that RRB expanded it to also control the entire sugar making and wastewater processes.
The challenge
After reviewing the existing cogenera- tion system, systems integrator Control and Solutions India Limited (CSIL) pro- vided RRB several options for a cen- tralised system. Ultimately, RRB selected an InduSoft Web Studio-based HMI/SCADA System with Honeywell PID loop controllers.
Automation JUNE 2013
The boiler control has many useful features that have made the process much more manageable. For example, it reads boiler process parameters from primary sensors and secondary instru- ments, which helps RRB control critical points in the process. The system also controls threshold deviations and acti- vates alarms if thresholds are breached. To monitor the boiler temperature, temperature scanners were easily inte- grated into the InduSoft system through a Modbus communication driver. The application collects temperature data from these scanners, displays temper- ature values on colour graphic screens, and logs the data.
CSIL and RRB engineers developed the HMI/SCADA applications, which included control algorithms, alarm and reporting systems, and data logging functions. This full featured perfor- mance management system was devel- oped and implemented using InduSoft Web Studio’s menu-based Rapid Application Configuration Environment (RACE).
Automating sugar production After the power generation control system was updated, CSIL and RRB turned their attention to automating the sugar production process with InduSoft Web Studio. In the sugar industry, capacity utilisation is conceptually dif- ferent than most industries. It depends on three crucial factors - the TCD rate, the recovery rate (which primarily depends on the quality of the cane), and the length of the crushing season. The production tonnage is a function of the plant capability and variables governed by the other two factors (cane quality and crushing season), both of which are dependent on plant location. The quality of the cane is outside fac- tory control, because cane is not usually
Above and below: InduSoft Web Studio
was chosen to develop a
HMI/SCADA system that would help optimise plant efficiency at RRB Sugar Mills’ plant in Wategaon, India
transported great distances. Production plants must therefore rely on local cane crops, the quality of which depends on climate and weather patterns as well as soil and geography.
Likewise, the length of the crushing season also depends on local climate. Southern India, which has a tropical climate, has the longest crushing season and plants in that region tend to produce the greatest tonnage. During the refining process the nat- ural sugar stored in the cane stalk is separated from the rest of the plant material as it moves through the sequential production phases. As you might imagine, the equipment that performs each step in the process is very complex and careful monitoring is necessary to ensure both an efficient process and a safe work environment. Using InduSoft Web Studio, (distrib- uted and supported in the UK and Ireland by AdProSys) parameters at every step in this complex process are monitored for quality assurance of the raw sugar, to maintain efficient cogen- eration of power, and above all to ensure personnel safety.
Results
In addition to the production and quality gains, RRB’s engineers and operators can easily make adjust- ments to the system themselves, so there is little need for field support. All systems send information to the master control room where hourly MIS reports are generated and sent to the central office server. With InduSoft Web Studio-based solutions running on both boiler sys- tems, the sugar making processes and the wastewater system, RRB Sugar Mills can evaluate the system’s overall efficiency. In the cogeneration system, improved efficiency reduces the per unit generating cost. Also, because the system is less volatile, the costly boiler and turbine are less prone to wear. Service calls have been substan- tially reduced, costly spare parts are rarely needed and overall mainte- nance expenses are reduced. Reduced cost and improved pro- ductivity, a natural by-product of this sort of high tech automation, ensures a triumvirate achievement - more plen- tiful sugar for local consumption and export, an economic benefit to the local population, and plentiful, affordable power for the region.
InduSoft Web Studio
www.indusoft.com T: 0161 870 9155
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