Atlantic LNG rationalises plant alarms with Process Plant Computing 30 October 2014

LNG (liquefied natural gas) producer Atlantic is working with PPCL to streamline control room alarms across four LNG process trains at its Point Fortin plant, on the southwest coast of Trinidad.

The project, due to complete in 2015, aims to identify better alarm limits and so minimise false alarms, while increasing process safety and reducing the plant's cost of compliance.

Dr Alan Mahoney, senior consultant leading the project, says it's all about providing the DCS (distributed control system) operator with an effective, sustainable and robust alarm system that improves situational awareness.

"The use of operating envelopes allows us to position alarm limits so that they are consistent with those on many other process variables," explains Mahoney.

"We use the percentage of the time that no alarms are present on the operators alarm list display – the 'clean board rate' – as an overall measure of alarm system goodness."

"The PPCL team, led by Dr Alan Mahoney, is already demonstrating outstanding expertise in understanding our processes and the complexities of our alarm system issues," comments Salma Nagir, project lead and EI&C engineer at Atlantic.

"C Visual Explorer [PPCL's analysis software] is proving an invaluable tool in analysing multiple variables, and setting alarm and operating limits across our four trains."

C Visual Explorer (CVE) allows engineers to visualise normal operating envelopes so they can correctly position alarms. PPCL says it is much faster than historical methods, providing engineers with the ability to adjust hundreds of alarm limit variables simultaneously.

Brian Tinham

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