Yokogawa EPMS and SCADA for the UK’s BPAL pipeline system

Yokogawa has received an order from the British Pipeline Agency Limited (BPAL) to supply a management and control system for one of the UK’s major multi-product fuel pipeline systems, to replace the current BPAL pipeline management and SCADA systems.

The BPAL UK pipeline system consists of three integrated multi-product fuel pipelines that link two, refineries, one at Ellesmere port on the Mersey near Liverpool and the other on the Thames in Essex, to inland distribution terminals. These pipelines, operational since 1969, meet over 50% of the jet fuel needs at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and are altogether some 650 km in length. BPAL, jointly owned by Shell and BP, are the operators of these pipeline systems (known as UKOP and WLWG), which are owned by a consortium of partners.

This order is for Yokogawa’s Enterprise Pipeline Management Solution (EPMS), which will manage functions such as delivery scheduling and oil storage, and their Fast-Tools SCADA software, to monitor and control the oil pipelines and related equipment such as compressors. The EPMS uses specific gas and liquid applications that enable a pipeline operator to manage delivery contracts in a time and energy efficient manner. With the SCADA system covering monitoring and control, the EPMS will integrate the management of the SCADA data. Delivery of these systems will be completed by March 2018.

Further order for UAE Power and Desalination Station

Yokogawa also recently received its first ever DCS order for a power and desalination plant in the UAE. The company is to supply the Sharjah Electricity & Water Authority (SEWA) with control and safety systems, plus field equipment, for Units 7 and 8 at the Layyah Power and Desalination Station.

Each unit comprises a 75 MW oil and gas-fired thermal power plant and a 27,000 m³ per day multi-stage flash (MSF) desalination plant: a technology that involves the heating and evaporation of seawater in multiple vacuum distillation tanks to produce steam, which is then condensed to produce fresh water. Such systems are energy-efficient because they use the heat from the steam that is created in the vacuum distillation tanks.

Yokogawa Middle East & Africa will deliver the CentumVP integrated production control system for the boiler, turbine governor, turbine protection system and the desalination plant at each of these units, as well as the ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system for burner management and boiler protection. The field instruments will include Yokogawa products such as the DPharp EJA series differential pressure and pressure transmitters, continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS), and steam and water analysis systems (SWAS). In addition to being responsible for engineering, the company will provide support for the installation and commissioning of these systems, with all work scheduled for completion by September 2017.

Demand for electricity and water is soaring throughout the Middle East due to their rapid economic growth. Power and desalination plants that rely on the region’s abundant oil and gas resources make up an important part of this region’s infrastructure.

Regular educational reading?

The regular eNewsletter from the UK journal HazardEx should be compulsory reading for any process engineer: it always restores your faith in the incompetence of the human race when doing any project, and confirms that if anything will go wrong, it will do! There must have been someone’s law that said that.

Choose a relevant report to your industry from the fascinating selection in the current January 2017 issue, available from www.hazardexonthenet.net:

1. A Tesoro Logistics oil pipeline spilled 20,600 barrels of oil back in 2013, at a site near Tioga, North Dakota. Four years later the clean-up is still continuing, and it is likely to go on throughout 2017. Another spill of shale oil was discovered on December 5^th by a landowner near Bellfield, North Dakota. There’s a lot of space in North America, but this bit seems to have collected 4200 barrels of oil, apparently from a pipeline owned by Belle Fourche, part of True Companies of Wyoming. The relevant Administration has issued a corrective notice, lets hope that will be completed inside five years!
2. In Shaanxi province, China, a public toilet in Yulin City exploded on January 1st, killing one person and injuring seven others. Presumably someone lit a cigarette, and ignited an explosive build-up of sewer gas present in the building, which collapsed following the explosion.
3. An explosion at the Airgas plant near Pensacola, Florida last August unfortunately killed one worker: the explosion destroyed two tankers and a large tank storing nitrous oxide. The unexpected consequence was a country-wide shortage of canned whipped cream and other popular toppings over the Christmas break – obviously much more important to the US public! (These cans use N2O as a propellant and preservative)
4. The explosion at the GlaxoSmithKline Irvine plant in Scotland in July 2013 injured two employees: SmithKline Beecham Ltd pleaded guilty to H&S failings and was fined £55,000 in court in December 2016.