The Background.
It was recognised that a power loss to the Solvent Recovery columns would allow solvent to continue to boil and hot solvent vapours to escape the column.
This would lead to an explosion if these vapours found a source of ignition, with possible damage to personnel and assets. The current system was based on industry standard solution duty standby pumps, but often the pumps were fed from the same electrical source which meant a single point of failure in the electrical supply system.
The project scope included:
Taking the initial concept to a detailed design.
Specifying the major components including the UPS, MCC, Changeover Switch etc.
Implementing the additional pump protection required.
Programming intelligent Siemens SIMOCODE management units.
Electrical system validation planning, including commissioning support.
16 Months Project Lengths
Disciplines utilised with Electrical Design Process and Instrumentation
Integration Full Safety Record
The Client
Our client is one of the world's largest global pharmaceutical companies with international sites across the world.
The Solution.
Two suitable supply points were identified to ensure the failure of one site distribution transformer did not result in the failure of the power supply to both duty and standby pumps.
Two new MCCs were installed, each containing a starter for each column.
Two supplies from each supply point were routed into auto changeover switches. The output from the auto changeover switch was UPS backed, giving very high levels of power supply integrity.
The UPS units were rated to allow each pump to run for enough time to make the column safe and each pump to start once during a power outage.
Additional protection for the pumps was installed as normal dry run protection would not functional during a power supply failure.
The Benefits.
High Integrity Power Supply to Mission Critical Pumps.
Class leading safety in the event of a power loss.
System integration into main plant operation with minimal disruption to production.