Millennium Chemicals upgrades Jacksonville plant with Emerson's advanced automation technologies

18-Feb-2003

Newly installed batch plant automation based on the Emerson Process Management DeltaV(TM) digital automation system is already having a positive effect on productivity and profitability at the Millennium Chemicals plant in Jacksonville, FL, according to Steve Sarnecki, Global Director of Process Control for Millennium Chemicals.

"Transformation of the batch controls in the intermediate chemical production unit was the first step of a multi-year automation strategy at the Jacksonville plant, taking advantage of a new global technology and commercial alliance between Millennium and Emerson Process Management," Sarnecki said. "This is the first project initiated under the agreement, which assigns Emerson as a preferred supplier of automation project engineering, products, and services on a worldwide basis to Millennium. The agreement applies to all Millennium manufacturing sites globally."

"Significantly, the project in the Jacksonville plant, which produces a variety of flavors and fragrances using byproducts from the papermaking industry, was completed in less than a year from start to finish, demonstrating one of the key benefits of the agreement," continued Sarnecki. "The Millennium/Emerson Alliance made it possible to eliminate time traditionally devoted to the bidding and procurement process. Instead, Emerson provided up-front design engineering support, and construction began as soon as Millennium management approved the concept."

Maurice Wilkins, Director of Process Automation for Millennium's specialty chemicals business, said selection of the DeltaV system, a core component of Emerson's PlantWeb digital plant architecture, is significant because "it moves us to a technologically advanced concept, away from an entirely manual operation to Millennium's first fully-compliant S88 automated batch system. We have found the DeltaV system to be easy to engineer, easy to configure, and easy to learn for both engineers and operators. The single database with which we are now working has been an enormous help in eliminating problems that were formerly caused by multiple databases. Its smaller footprint has also been a benefit in our limited spaces. Although we moved very quickly on this first project, the commissioning and startup procedures have gone well. Going forward, we plan to use the DeltaV system exclusively in this division of Millennium Chemicals."

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/20445/millennium-chemicals-upgrades-jacksonville-plant-with-emerson-s-advanced-automation-technologies.html