Automation system upgrade for university

The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) has chosen Emerson Process Management to automate the CEMIST (Chemical Engineering Measurement by In-Situ Techniques) process plant within its Chemical Engineering Department.

Previously known as the "˜pilot plant', the CEMIST facility has 14 separate processing areas spread across five floors. This scale of plant operation within a university based research facility makes it unique worldwide.

The process area is run by industry-trained personnel.

The research equipment and all the utility equipment are also used to teach engineering students the principles of plant operation and design as well as running experimental projects.

As part of the £6.5 million grant-aided upgrade, PlantWeb digital plant architecture from Emerson Process Management will be installed.

The architecture will use the power of Foundation fieldbus and HART communications to control and manage the processes and field equipment.

Prof Peter Heggs, who led the team that put the proposal together, commented: "This investment is key to the advances in science needed to support the chemical industry in its new directions.

"It means that we can continue to attract the best scientists from across the world, and lead in this field that is so important to the UK".

"The facility typically contains 12-14 separate processing areas.

"Two or three of the areas are changed each year, as the research activities demand", said Brian Donohue, the UMIST project manager.

"As part of the specification we put forward to Jacobs Engineering, the management contractor, we asked for an industrial type control system that would be highly flexible as well as having a huge capacity to collect and analyse data".

John Townend, control and instrumentation manager from Jacobs explained that it needed to install a state-of-the-art infrastructure that was capable of supporting the research requirements of today, and still be right for the future.

"We had to second guess the functionality that may be required over the next ten to 20 years", said Townend.

"It may be that future research will rely more heavily on Foundation fieldbus, and advanced or batch control".

Further, the chosen supplier had to put the right support structure in place to ensure the UMIST technicians were able to support the plant over its lifetime.

Emerson put forward an innovative approach to providing this support.

The PlantWeb digital plant architecture from Emerson will use its DeltaV digital automation system with two remote I/O modules on each of the five floors of the plant, giving a potential for 5000 I/O in total.

The DeltaV system will communicate with field devices using a combination of conventional signals, Foundation fieldbus and HART protocols.