The BP Canada Energy NGL Operations plant in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, is the winner of the 2006 Hart Plant of the Year Award. The award is given annually by the Hart Communication Foundation (HCF) to recognize the people, companies and plant sites around the globe that are using the full capabilities of Hart technology in real-time applications to improve operations, lower costs and increase availability. Announcement of this year’s award was made during ISA Expo 2006, Oct. 17-19, in Houston. The BP plant makes propane, butane, natural gas liquid (NGL) condensate and ethane with carbon dioxide removed. On average, 1.5 million cubic meters of propane and large volumes of the other products leave the plant each year. For a decade, BP engineers have used the digital process variable output of their installed Hart-enabled temperature and pressure transmitters to improve the accuracy of the plant’s liquid pipeline custody transfer measurements. According to BP Senior Electrical Craftsman Marcel Boisvert, the process requires that custody transfer measurements must be as accurate as possible. “A temperature error of 0.25 degrees Celsius results in up to a 0.07 percent mass flow error. Multiplied by the amount of product we ship, that inaccuracy means a potential loss of $350,000 a year in the NGL pipeline alone,” he says. Increasing accuracy When readings at the device were not matching the readings at the flow computer, plant engineers determined that the inaccuracy occurred when transforming the analog signal into its digital equivalent within the flow computer. Using the digital data in their Hart-enabled devices in full-time communication with the Hart-enabled flow computer has enabled BP to assure proper calibrations and significantly increase the accuracy of flow measurements. “Considering the amount of product flowing through all pipelines and the amount of time no longer spent adjusting instruments, our total estimated savings is about $750,000 a year. We’ve been doing this for 10 years, so that translates into $7.5 million,” says Boisvert. “The most valuable lesson learned is that Hart is not just a maintenance tool. It is a process improvement tool as well.”“We congratulate BP Canada Energy for taking the capabilities of their Hart-enabled instrumentation beyond configuration and calibration to improve operations and optimize asset productivity,” says HCF Executive Director Ron Helson. “Their success not only benefits their company but also serves as a powerful model for industry users worldwide on the benefits of using the advanced capabilities of Hart technology.” Hart Communication Foundationwww.hartcomm.org
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