Lubricant Manufacturing Expansion Project

The Client expanded their Baltimore facility for manufacturing heavy-duty lubricants for commercial and industrial use. They wanted to construct a new building to house two new 30,000-gallon blending tanks and a 30,000-gallon storage tank. The installation included a new control system integrated with the existing plant DCS and all associated piping, pumps, agitators, instrumentation. The system also included a new automated dye and anti-foam injection system. Also installed and programmed was the communication interface between the existing DeltaV DCS and the new CompactLogix system, ASi interface modules in the CompactLogix, and the Foundation Fieldbus module in the CompactLogix

TAI provided the control system hardware and instrumentation and served as the control system integrator as follows:

• Developed the Instrumentation and Control system installation drawing package.
• Specified, designed and provided the PLC control panel, including two panelView Plus 1500 HMI terminals.
• Specified and provided all process instrumentation.
• Specified, designed and provided a control panel, PLC programming and Operator Graphics for the dye and anti-foam injection system.
• Directed the control system commissioning and startup activities
• Worked closely with the client to develop the Standard Operating Procedures for the new process and conduct operator training.

For blending, the Client used a batch engine. Blends are done semi-automatically as follows:

• Tank is put in charge state – this opens inlet and venting valves.
• Base oil is added from the tank farm by setting the charge amount on a local mechanical meter and starting the associated pump.
• As the oil level in the blend tank rises, the mixer blades start automatically and steam heating is turned on.
• The tank farm meter stops the charge after the preset amount is reached.  Additives, dyes, anti-foam, etc. are added in the same manner.
• When the product temperature is reached and the mixing has reached its preset time, the operator is notified to take a sample for testing in the lab.
• When confirmed as ok, the tank is put in discharge state and the valves open and the pump starts and runs until the tank is empty. The process automatically stops.

The data collection capabilities were limited because the workstations were older PanelViews so most of the work consisted of alarms and real time trends were logged. Analog data was sent to the DeltaV for historical trending. The process safety standards used were the DS-108 Heated Tank standard, API Standard 2350 for overfill protection. The rail car area was replaced and engineering and controls TAI completed the project on time and continues to support this Client with ongoing control system maintenance. Engineering and controls were employed for additional storage tank and small batch blending tank in the new building.