Advanced Specialty Chemical Control and Project Management

Summary

Hexcel Corporation hired APCO Inc to automate a specialty chemical process that fabricated high-value, low-variability resin.  APCO was responsible to not only design the new process and ensure the success of the critical control steps, but also to manage the project resources and installation.  The completed process was easier to operate and maintain than the existing manual process and resin produced on the new process had far tighter product specifications.

Customer Benefit

• Automation of challenging resin process
• APCO project management
• Improved resin quality
• Dramatically improved repeatability of resin process
• Batch accountability through Wonderware SQL Server
• Manual override ability for the automated system

Technologies

• Wonderware Application Server
• Wonderware SQL Server
• Allen Bradley Control Logix
• Constraint Control
• Vacuum Solvent Removal

Solution

Hexcel Corporation fabricates a high-value, low-variability resin that requires a critical solvent evaporation step.  In the past Hexcel had hired various integrators to automate the solvent evaporation step, but each of the integrators had been unsuccessful.  Consequently Hexcel managed this process-critical step in manual mode which resulted in moderate product variability and occasional out-of-spec product.
 
APCO Inc. was hired to design and build a sister process that had the same functionality as the manual process, but automated raw material loading, mixing, and, if possible, the solvent evaporation step.
 
The first step in the process was to update the existing P&IDs.  Once that was completed, APCO designed the process improvements and created the requisite electrical and control drawings for the new process.  Next APCO assembled a team of competent mechanical and electrical contractors for the process installation.  Throughout the project, APCO project managers stayed close to the project to ensure team success. 
 
Programming for the new process was not trivial because of the complexity of the solvent evaporation step.  Using constraint control, APCO programmed the vacuum pump to remove solvent while carefully controlling the steam heat to maintain critical batch temperatures.  This step was further complicated because the rate of solvent removal varied over time.

In the end the project was a complete success.  To the amazement of the Hexcel engineers, the solvent removal step worked perfectly.  Resin produced on the new reactor has dramatically superior particle distribution and results are repeatable between batches.  In addition, the increased performance of the computer control has allowed the Hexcel chemists to vary the resin recipes in ways that were never possible with manual control.  In addition, the Wonderware Application Server and SQL Server historian provide an increased batch accountability that allows Hexcel to better track the production and performance of their valuable product.