Control System World

Paris, March 13, 2012 − Total today signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI)1 and Petrochemicals Industries Company (PIC)2, two wholly owned subsidiaries of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. The MOU relates to a targeted participation in the Zhanjiang project in China. This project consists of a planned development of a large size (300,000 barrel per day), full-conversion refinery integrated with petrochemicals and marketing, in partnership with Sinopec.

The proposed refining and petrochemicals platform will be designed to process Kuwaiti crude as feedstock and to produce high-quality refined and petrochemicals products.

“KPC is pleased to expand its cooperation with Total” declares Mr Farouk Al Zanki, KPC Chief Executive Officer, after the signing of the MOU. “Total, with its long experience in the Downstream business in China coupled with know how in Refining and Petrochemicals operations, will add value to the China project. Moreover Total and KPC’s strategic objectives in Guangdong are highly aligned”, he adds.

“Total is pleased to have been selected by Kuwait Petroleum Corporation as its preferred partner to participate in the project of a top-performing refining and petrochemicals platform with Sinopec in China. This agreement will be the keystone of a long-term relationship with KPC”, declares Mr Christophe de Margerie, Total Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “The project is in line with our strategy of expanding in growth markets, based on a few highly competitive and integrated platforms”, he adds.

Myth #1: Fiber is too expensive.

Fiber used to be more expensive than copper. Today, however, because manufacturing costs are down and terminations are easier, fiber is often less expensive than the equivalent copper installation. Once installed, fiber optic maintenance costs are significantly less than copper ones.

Myth #2: Fiber is difficult to install.

In the old days of grind-and-polish connectors, installing fiber optic cable was a difficult, precise business that required a specialist. But improvements in fiber optic terminations and technologies have made them as easy to terminate as CATx connectors, and now many technicians prefer to install fiber because of its smaller diameter, lighter weight, and ease of testing.

Myth #3: Fiber is fragile.

Although terminating fiber cable does require some care to avoid breaking the glass core, in other respects, fiber is actually more robust than copper. Fiber optic cable can withstand a higher pulling tension than copper, is rated for larger temperature ranges, and is immune to EMI/RFI interference. In fact, one of the reasons the military prefers fiber is for its ruggedness and survivability.

Myth #4: Fiber is impossible to hack.

Because a copper cable “leaks” electromagnetic signals, a hacker can read data nearby without actually touching the cable. A fiber cable, on the other hand, uses light that stays within the cable, so a hacker must physically tap into it to gain access to data. So it’s true that fiber cable is more secure than copper cable, but it’s not true that it’s impossible to hack—all that’s needed is a network tap and physical access to the cable. For this reason, it’s important to secure fiber optic cable by protecting it from unauthorized tampering and by encrypting data that must be kept private.

By BlackBox

Technip has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by PETRONAS for its proposed Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project located in the state of Johor, Malaysia.

RAPID aims at building a world-scale integrated refinery and petrochemical complex to answer the growing need for specialty chemicals and to meet the demand for petroleum and commodity petrochemical products in the Asia Pacific region by 2016.

The proposed refinery will have a capacity of 300,000 barrels per standard day and will supply naphtha and liquid petroleum gas feedstock for the RAPID petrochemical complex, as well as produce gasoline and diesel that meet European specifications.

The petrochemical units, on the other hand, will enhance the value of the olefinic streams coming from the RAPID steam cracker by producing various merchant grades petrochemicals products such as polyethylene, polypropylene, synthetic rubbers and other petrochemicals products.

Technip has been awarded a lump sum front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by Statoil ASA for the development of the Luva floating platform, offshore Norway, at a water depth of approximately 1,300 meters (4,265 feet).  The contract covers the design and planning for procurement, construction and transportation of a Spar(1) hull and the mooring systems as well as the design of the steel catenary risers(2). The award builds on the study work (including pre-FEED) that has been ongoing since early 2010 to document the suitability of a Spar platform in Norwegian waters.

Technip’s operating center in Houston, Texas will execute the contract in cooperation with the Technip operation centers in Norway and Finland, further highlighting Technip's strength of executing projects using multiple engineering centers

Siemens-Division Industry Automation expands its dry solids flowmeter product line with the new Sitrans WF100, Sitrans WF200, and Sitrans WF250 strain-gauge load cell based flowmeters. These new flowmeters provide effective measuring for compact installations and high capacity applications. Siemens also rebrands its Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) based Milltronics flowmeters into the Sitrans WF300 series.

Sitrans WF100 handles flowrates of 1 to 200 t/h (1 to 220 STPH), while the Sitrans WF200 series handles flowrates of 200 to 900 t/h (220 to 990 STPH). Sitrans WF250 is for use with air-activated gravity conveyors or air slides, typically found in cement processing. The Sitrans WF250's unique design includes an air chamber that separates the air from the material, thereby removing the impact of air on the sensing plate and providing accurate measurement. All of the Sitrans WF100 and Sitrans WF200 series flowmeters use patented triple beam parallelogram style load cells that have proven their reliability and durability for over 25 years in Siemens heavy-duty belt scales, offering superior accuracy and repeatability.

For further information please click www.siemens.com/weighing

The MiMiC Debutanizer Operator Training Package is a high fidelity operator training system for distillation columns. This operator training package provides the complete environment for teaching safe and effective operations of distillation columns. It also is an effective tool for teaching process and control engineers the use and design of process controls for distillation towers. This package uses MiMiC DIstillation Advanced Modeling Object for dynamic, accurate process responses.

The MiMiC Debutanizer Operator Training Package includes:

- Configured and tested High-Fidelity dynamic model of a working Debutanizer column.

- Process control configuration in MiMiC models and Component Studio operator graphics.

- Process control configuration in DeltaV Simulate modules and DeltaV Operate graphics.

- MiMiC Component Studio Instructor Station graphic for training scenario, process snapshot and boundary condition controls.

- Thirteen training scenarios covering instrument failures, process failures, feed upsets and environmental upsets commonly experienced in distillation column operation.

- Process snapshots for full production, production at 33% capacity and column total reflux.

- Full MiMiC software license so package can be customized for user requirements or even used as a starting point for custom operator training systems.

- Documentation of process control configuration so the Debutanizer operator training system can be used with any process control system that supports open communication protocols, such as OPC, Modbus TCP/IP or EtherNet/IP.

MiMiC Debutanizer Operator Training Package

MILWAUKEE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 12, 2012-- Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE: ROK) today announced it has purchased the assets of SoftSwitching Technologies, a leading provider of industrial power quality detection and protection systems, located in Middleton, Wis.

SoftSwitching Technologies’ solutions improve uptime in manufacturing production by identifying and correcting brief power disruptions called “voltage sags.” Typically, voltage sags can cause computerized machinery to go off-line, precision instruments to fail, and control systems to shut down. These problems can be extremely costly for customers, particularly in the semiconductor, automotive, food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.

“Brief power disruptions account for up to 70 percent of all unscheduled downtime in manufacturing today,” said Bob Lennon, vice president of industrial components. “Studies show that most of these events are caused by voltage sags lasting less than two seconds. SoftSwitching Technologies’ products strengthen our capabilities in plant-wide optimization, complement our current power quality solutions and protect our customers’ manufacturing assets.”

SoftSwitching Technologies’ battery-free, environmentally friendly products provide cost and performance advantages over battery-based, three-phase uninterruptible power supplies or constant voltage transformers. The global, centralized intelligent network system also provides power grid alerts so manufacturers can monitor activity and correlate power quality events with unscheduled downtime, saving hours of guesswork and mechanical diagnostics.

“This acquisition provides the necessary resources to extend all SoftSwitching Technologies’ unique technologies into many more applications through the Rockwell Automation global channels network,” said Jason Doescher, SoftSwitching Technologies’ chief financial officer.

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 8, 2012-- Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and Fluor have signed a Strategic Global Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) and Construction Management Agreement in support of Dow’s global capital projects program ranging across all Dow products. This three-year agreement has a two-year extension option for up to five years and includes potential new project work spanning across the globe. Dow currently serves customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture.

“Fluor’s culture of safety, sustainability and project execution excellence complements Dow’s beliefs and culture. In addition, our global footprint matches well with Dow’s potential new project needs around the globe,” said Peter Oosterveer, president of Fluor’s Energy & Chemicals Group. “Our expertise in performing projects in challenging geographies across the world is unmatched, and we’re poised to assist Dow in meeting their new project needs aligned with their business agenda.”