31-07-2012

Honeywell's advanced solutions to optimize material movement and blending operations

Major oil and gas industry firms around the world are using Honeywell’s recently launched BMA R400.1 solution to improve safety, reliability and operational performance. Honeywell’s recent blending and movement automation projects include refinery off-sites, terminals and large tank farms worldwide.

Honeywell’s BMA applications provide complete planning, execution, and performance monitoring of refinery and terminal blending and movement operations, and integrate with either Honeywell’s Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) or other vendors’ distributed control systems (DCS).  BMA applications help to ensure that off-site facilities operate more efficiently, with improved safety and reliability. 

“With applications installed at hundreds of sites globally, representing over 25 percent of the world’s refining capacity, Honeywell is the leader in off-sites management,” said Sanjit Shewale, global business leader-off-sites management for Honeywell Process Solutions. “Over the past year, Honeywell’s BMA global project sales have been very strong. These projects encompass both new and expanding refinery blending applications and demonstrate significant growth in movement automation as companies seek improved safety and reliability of off-sites operations.”

An emerging trend seen in a number of BMA projects, which is expected to continue, is the use of wireless technology to reduce implementation costs while still achieving the same benefits, especially in locations where off-sites automation is low.

Honeywell has over 30 recently-completed and in-progress BMA projects worldwide. The customers represent broad segments of the BMA sector in every region of the globe, and range from major oil refiners to mid-size refiners and independent operators. They include:

* Global petroleum exploration and production company choosing Honeywell’s blend control and blend property control solutions for its refineries in Germany and USA.

* Leading energy producers in Spain and Portugal implementing Honeywell’s movement automation solution to monitor their off-sites operations to improve safety and movement reliability.

* Indian petroleum firm continuing its investment in Honeywell’s BMA technology by migrating their complete off-sites blending and movement operations to Honeywell’s next generation Experion® solution for long-term sustainability.

* Independent US petroleum refiner will again rely on Honeywell to deliver a complete blending control and optimization solution as part of a control system upgrade.  The system will provide best-in-class refinery blending operation and improved profitability at multiple facilities.

* Korean petroleum and refining corporation choosing Honeywell’s BMA technology over competitive solutions to improve efficiency and profitability of their blending operations.

* European-based refining company selecting Honeywell to provide movement and automation technology leveraged with OneWireless™ network solution at one of the world’s best-in-class refineries.  The integrated solution will help to improve the safety, reliability and efficiency of the company’s off-sites operations without the need for a significant automation infrastructure investment.

* Middle Eastern oil & gas company migrating to Honeywell’s advanced BMA OpenBPC technology for online product property control and optimization.

* Leading Turkish refinery selecting Honeywell to provide a complete blending system for its in-line gasoline blending operations. This turnkey solution includes Honeywell’s Experion-based blend control and blend property control, blend performance monitoring, as well as the blending skids and on-line analyzers.

“The newest release of BMA R400.1 supports Honeywell’s continued growth in the BMA sector by helping customers improve their off-sites performance through more profitable blending meeting all specifications, as well as safer, more reliable movements that reduce incidents and improve supply chain execution to take advantage of changing business opportunities,” Shewale said.

BMA R400.1 includes an enhanced blend optimization capability, new basic ratio control and blend performance monitoring capabilities, integrated tank quality monitoring and small-scale support for movement automation, and improved ease of use and maintenance.  It also reduces total lifecycle costs through integration with wireless solutions, and improves the robustness of the solution. Through tight integration with Experion® PKS, BMA R400.1 delivers flexible and efficient movement of materials through the complex piping inherent in a tank farm.