Chemical industry

Pain Points

• Numerous motors, valves, sensors, and control loops
• Complex batch procedures requiring strict condition checks
• High dependency on diagnostics and visualization for safe operation
• Downtime during maintenance or upgrades must be minimized

Cinkarna Celje – Surface Treatment 2

The core business of Cinkarna Celje, d. d. is the production and marketing of titanium dioxide, complemented by a wide range of other products such as powder coatings, masterbatches, zinc wires and alloys, agricultural products, chemical process equipment, and sulfuric acid.

The project involved the reconstruction of control and motor cabinets at the PD2 plant, which had reached the end of its service life, and for which spare parts were no longer available. Over its 30 years of operation, numerous undocumented modifications had been made, creating additional challenges for maintenance. The existing control and monitoring system, based on Siemens SIMATIC S5 controllers and Factory Link SCADA, was replaced with a modern SIEMENS PCS7 DCS system. The concept of peripheral connectivity was also redesigned using PROFINET technology.

The scope of the project included the development of new electrical plans, supply of necessary reconstruction equipment, programming of three processes across two controllers, creation of a plant simulation, FAT (Factory Acceptance Test), and commissioning. The electrical documentation was delivered in a clear and digital format, enabling fast fault diagnosis and easy modifications in case of technological changes. The control and motor cabinets were assembled and tested in the workshop. During commissioning, the old cabinets were removed and replaced with new ones.

The controllers were programmed in the PCS7 environment using the SIEMENS APL library. For monitoring and operation, an OS server and two operator clients were added, configured in the WinCC environment. To minimize plant downtime, a simulation was created in the SIMIT environment, used for detecting potential programming errors and training operators on the new SCADA system. Upon completion of commissioning, all relevant project documentation was prepared.

With the renovation of the PD2 plant, the client received a state-of-the-art DCS system. Thanks to the new equipment, the plant experiences fewer downtimes, and the system is maintainable with readily available spare parts. The use of additional frequency converters has also improved energy efficiency. The system is now ready for future production expansions.