Background

Tereos France is a leading company in the French sugar industry withnine sugar factories, five distilleries and four packaging facilities,producing an annual total of 1.5 million tonnes of sugar and 500,000cubic metres of alcohol and bioethanol from beet.

Each year the Tereos Boiry Sainte Rictrude sugar factory, located nearArras (in the region of Pas de Calais), produces 250,000 tonnes of whitesugar for manufacturers in the agro-industrial sector (drinks, chocolate,jam, biscuit and dairy product manufacturers). This sugar is producedover a very short period, known as the "sugar campaign", which runs frommid-September to December each year, during which time the sugarbeet is harvested and transported to the sugar factory for processing.

Every day during the campaign, Boiry processes 20,000 tonnes of beet,produces 2,800 tonnes of sugar and consumes 15MW of electricity! Thesugar factory produces this energy itself, by means of two boilers thatsupply a turbo-generator with steam. The factory is connected to thenational electricity grid (EDF) only at start-up and outside the campaignperiod.

SolutionsA Rockwell Automation solution wasinstalled, which included:

PlantPAx Process Automation System

• The solution, based on the LogixControl Platform with Control LogixPAC, replaced an outdated DCS andprovides a flexible process controlsystem with excellent reliability

• New I/O platform eases systemupgrades

Services

• Turnkey project approach managedby Global Solutions team

Results• Boiler control has been improved, in

particular in terms of monitoringreheating; it has been possible to linkthe boilers together, and powermatching is now carried outautomatically

• Increased reliability of boileroperations

• The boiler control and commandsystem is now totally integrated withthe other factory units, allowingtraceability to be centralised for theentire production site.

Tereos Sugar: Intelligent and sustainable refiningusing PlantPAx Process Automation System Leading sugar producer replaces legacy DCS with PlantPAx toobtain and integrate boiler control for vital operations

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Challenge

These boilers are the very lifeblood of the sugar factory,and can produce up to 140 and 120 tonnes of steam perhour respectively. 85% of this steam is used to produceelectricity; the remaining 15% is used for the variousprocesses in the manufacture of sugar. In 2009, Tereosdecided to replace the now obsolete distributed controlsystem which governed the two boilers.

Tereos' objective: to modernise and optimise control ofthese boilers and integrate these within a single controland command system for the whole factory. The companycontacted a number of suppliers and, after examining theproposals, chose to migrate command of the boilers to theRockwell Automation PlantPAx system.

The decision was taken in March 2009…with the sugarcampaign due to start in September! This presented quitea challenge for Rockwell Automation, since the factorycannot operate without a boiler. Furthermore, boilercontrol requires very specific expertise: highly complexregulation algorithms, fine tuning of the burners andextremely sophisticated calculations to anticipate loaddemand.

Solution

Helping to ensure that this migration took place withminimal risk and within the deadline therefore required

specific and diverse skills. This is where RockwellAutomation Global Solutions came in. Its specificknowledge of boiler management and experience in riskmanagement were indispensable in this situation. TheRockwell Automation Global Solutions team carried out aretrospective analysis of the legacy system and defined amigration solution that was able to provide optimal boileroperation with minimal risk.

This solution centres round the PlantPAx processautomation system, based on three redundant Allen-Bradley® ControlLogix® PACs and completely integratedinto the factory's overall system. The boiler managementspecialists from Rockwell Automation adjusted thesettings and sequential automation processes that werenecessary for control and command of the combustion.

At the end of August 2009, just before the campaign wasto start, the factory conducted a week-long "dry run",during which teams from the sugar factory and theRockwell Automation team carried out adjustments andtested the loads. The final adjustments of the system couldbe made only at production start-up, and there was noroom for error.

The first day of the campaign went without a hitch, andthe increase in power was as predicted. MichelHennebique, Manager of Electricity - Automation at theBoiry sugar factory gave his confirmation: "The start-upand commissioning of the boiler under Rockwell

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Automation went very well; in under two days all theadjustments had been made. And there wasn't a singlestoppage throughout the entire campaign."

Results

With two sugar campaigns now completed, Tereos is ina position to benefit from the improvements generatedby the Rockwell Automation solution. And the RockwellAutomation Global Solutions team with PlantPAxsystem has proved its ability to replace theconventional DCS solution as well as itscompetitiveness as a solution of this type.

"Boiler control has been improved, in particular interms of monitoring reheating; boiler output nowreaches 96%. Boiler operation is also much morereliable than before. With the Rockwell Automationsolution, it has also been possible to link the boilerstogether, and power matching is now carried outautomatically by the PlantPAx system. The skill andunfailing support from the Rockwell Automation teamthroughout the project made all the difference," statesthe Boiry Manager of Electricity & Automation.

The boiler control and command system is now totallyintegrated with the other factory units, allowingtraceability to be centralised for the entire productionsite: alarms, operator actions and process history. "Wetook advantage of this migration to carry out a reviewof the ergonomics of our supervision workstations withRockwell Automation, and our operators particularlyappreciate the increased user-friendliness of thePlantPAx system," added the Boiry Automation team.

Most manufacturing procedures at the Boiry SainteRictrude sugar factory - diffusion, purification,crystallisation - are now automated using the solutionfrom Rockwell Automation. Two workshops (washing andfiltration) will also be controlled by Rockwell Automationas from 2012. The sugar factory constitutes a benchmarksite for the Tereos Group.

But Hennebique does not intend to stop there. He alreadyhas plans for the implementation of specific RockwellAutomation software to make savings on his energyconsumption, and for the use of FactoryTalk AssetCentre -traceability software to monitor all the modificationscarried out in the sugar factory's operational processes.

Additional Information

www.rockwellautomation.fr

The results mentioned above are specific to Tereos' use of Rockwell Automation products and services in conjunction withother products. Specific results may vary for other customers.

The boiler control and commandsystem is now totally integrated withthe other factory units, allowingtraceability to be centralised for theentire production site

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Listen. Think. Solve., Allen-Bradley, PlantPAx and ControlLogix are trademarks of Rockwell Automation, Inc. Trademarks not belonging to Rockwell Automation are property of their respective companies.

Publication PROCES-AP049A-EN-P – May 2011 – Expiry date: May 2013 Copyright © 2011 Rockwell Automation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the UK.

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