Alcoa
Wins Australian National Award
One of the largest process control projects in the
world undertaken by Alcoa World Alumina and Honeywell, QUASAR (Quality
Automation Solutions in Alumina Refining), was awarded Engineers Australia's
2007 National Project Excellence Award in Automation, Control and Instrumentation
at an awards ceremony in Melbourne this month.
The complex global project was Australian lead, with a project cost
of more than A$400 million (over A$150 million just in Australia) and
aimed to link seven Alcoa refineries in four different continents to
one core process control system, QUASAR.
Alcoa's QUASAR Global Program Manager Dr. Dennis Mason said, ‘Controlling
production in an alumina refinery is a difficult task. Productivity
and safety rely on reliable, real-time, process information, so that
the alumina refining process and equipment can be monitored, maintained,
and adjusted to get the maximum benefit.
‘As a global leader in alumina production, we realised to continue
to succeed in the global commodity business, we must have the ability
to produce alumina safely at the lowest possible cost.
‘In addition to our operating practices, we recognized that automation,
process control and instrumentation were going to be some of the key
business drivers to give us a significant competitive advantage, and
that's how QUASAR was born in 2001.’
Alcoa World Alumina decided to take process control at its seven refineries
around the world (three in Western Australia, three in Central and South
America and one in Europe) to a new level - aiming to implement the
same system in each plant, with full integration to enable global knowledge
sharing, remote monitoring, 24/7 support, and best practice benchmarking
capabilities.
By working with Honeywell, a suite of advanced process control applications
and newly developed instrumentation were used on top of a revamped infrastructure
layer to deliver several benefits. Among them, reduced alumina process
variability and the ability to operate the refineries closer to their
practical limits, all while using less energy and raw materials. This,
in turn, increased production rates, improved process efficiencies,
and reduced waste and emissions at the refineries.
The benefits for Alcoa at the Western Australian sites alone:
* have exceeded A$8 million per year in savings, including reductions
in green house gases and raw material usage;
* contributed around A$40 million to the local economy through implementation
contracts;
* and, have shown that automation, control and instrumentation, and
the advanced control applications have not only reduced environmental
incidents but have allowed safer operation of the plants and quicker
stabilisation from adverse plant events.
Dr. Mason said, ‘Shared leadership, resources, engineering ingenuity
and technology have worked together to deliver the most significant
step change in the way process control technology is managed.
‘The project's success demonstrates what is possible with innovative
design, sound engineering practices, strong project management and well
developed implementation.
'With all the hard work undertaken by so many people around the world,
it is fantastic to be recognised alongside Honeywell by Engineers Australia
for this project.’
Dave Olney, Vice President, Technology, Alcoa of Australia concluded,
‘The QUASAR programme has been a significant and very successful
undertaking. It has delivered major benefits to our business, largely
through capturing and leveraging the creative talent of Honeywell and
Alcoa in process control automation across Alcoa's refining system.’
Web: http://www.alcoa.com
