Insights of the Week

There is lots of money being spent by Asian utilities for new coal-fired plants. The India situation is covered in detail below, but Vietnam, Indonesia, and some other countries are also active. You can check it out at 42EI Utility Tracking System.

The oil and gas industry is bouncing back but slowly. However, U.S. drilling activity is up 20 percent and there are lots of high expectations for shale oil and gas   N049 Oil, Gas, Shale and Refining Markets and Projects.

Our water and wastewater webinar on IIoT last Thursday, April 6, 2017 identified lots of advanced initiatives. The likely result is that a few companies with digital process management systems and remote-control centers will dominate the purchases of all components. We cited Chile as an example. Suez operates 40 percent of the water and wastewater plants in Chile and the Ontario Teachers Union also has 40 percent share. Some of the plant operating personnel were formerly with Degremont. This Suez subsidiary installed much of the equipment.

Suez controls the operations of plants around the world from its remote control center in France. It just purchased GE Water. This makes Suez a major supplier of treatment chemicals, so it can now remotely determine what chemicals need to be added and then supply them. The natural progression is for Suez to also monitor the fans, pumps, lubrication systems and compressors. However, these component vendors have their own software and monitoring capability. But with an open cloud platform Suez will be able to achieve the oversight while the component vendors are simultaneously monitoring their products.

We have now conducted eight, hour-long IIoT webinars and additional ones are scheduled every week. The report is described at Weekly IIoT Webinars

Cleanroom IIoT and Remote O&M Market will exceed $11 Billion in 2026

Operators of cleanrooms in the pharmaceutical, semiconductor and other industries requiring ultra-clean environments will invest $5.1 billion in new rooms and other capital equipment plus an additional $7.1 billion in consumables and outside services this year. N6F World Cleanroom Markets  Of this total $1.2 billion will be spent for IIoT and Remote O&M. The IIoT segment will grow rapidly over the next decade and reach $11 billion by 2026. N031 Industrial IOT and Remote O&M

Asia will dominate the market due to its continued expansion of electronics manufacturing and its leading role in generic drugs.

The IIoT & Remote O&M applied to the manufacturing processes will be much larger but cleanrooms will also be an important segment. The challenge is to integrate the offerings of the cleanroom suppliers with the digital process management of the facilities. To put this in perspective let’s explore some cleanroom supplier examples and then determine how that fits into a broader program offered by a company which is involved with both.

Berendsen has an IIoT opportunity with its own laundries and customer facilities.

Berendsen has eleven cleanroom laundries in Europe which supply consumables as well as laundered garments. It can remotely monitor and control the air quality in each of its own cleanrooms as well as the air in customer’s plants. It can also manage the inventory of garments, clogs, goggles, mats and other accessories. It can include logistics solutions and even control the customer's internal logistics processes.

Vaisala Continuous Monitors Keep Pharma Cleanrooms Audit Ready

Vaisala’s instruments and solutions reduce the risk of out-of-specification conditions and help keep pharmaceutical and biotechnical cleanrooms audit-ready and compliant with a continuous monitoring system which offers:

• Low cost of ownership due to easy connectivity to an existing network, remote access, and scalability up to thousands of monitored locations
• Customizable reporting for easy cleanroom certification and classifications
• Gap-free and protected data records required in GxP environments
• Audible and visual alerts, as well as alarming via SMS, e-mail, pager and many more
• Custom reports that are automatically generated and delivered by email on demand
• Measurement of humidity, temperature, differential pressure, flow, particulate and more
• Both wired and wireless sensor option available

Terra has Wireless Control System to minimize Cleanroom Fan Energy Consumption

Terra's latest-generation Wireless Cleanroom Control System offers convenient power management to optimize efficiency and cut operating costs. The system can accomplish the following tasks:

• Turn off lights and air conditioning and put fan filter units in energy-saving mode at the press of a control switch or remotely via iPhone app
• Set up automatic scheduling to control cleanroom operation (FFUs, lights, temperature) based on operating hours
• A/C and other energy cost savings on weekends and off-hours provide fast ROI (typically within a year)
• Remote Internet monitoring and control—check operation and make changes from home

Lighthouse Software Provides Tracking of Air Cleanliness and Conditions

Lighthouse LMS Express Software monitors multiple environmental parameters. All this data can be integrated into LMS Express Software and can be centrally located. The environmental parameters which can be monitored include the following, Particle Counts, Temp/RH, Differential Pressure, Air Velocity, Door Status, CO₂ Levels, Viable Particles, O₂ Levels

Mahindra Remotely Monitors Indian Cleanrooms

A $17.8 billion multi-national group based in Mumbai, India, Mahindra is involved in a number of industries. One is cleanrooms. The IIoT solution is designed to monitor and control cleanrooms in pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. It leverages expertise in Big Data and the Cloud. Cleanroom monitoring ensures minimum human intervention thereby preventing contamination in aseptic condition. The solution increases the compliance to standard procedures and monitors equipment remotely from a central location. The system achieves the following:

• Helps avoid contamination through minimal human intervention
• Compliance to equipment maintenance schedule and log management
• Prevent human errors through automation and capture of machine data
• Wireless communication to comply with cleanroom standards
• 21 CFR Part 11 and other global regulatory standards compliance
• Sensors enabled continuous monitoring and control of equipment and process
• Remote monitoring and control from anywhere any time
• Multi-location monitoring and control
• Alerts for deviations and corrections before they become a major problem

ENVIRCO Controls Air Flow in Cleanroom Filtration System

ENVIRCO^® offers a complete family of control solutions providing machine intelligence to monitor and control cleanroom environments of all sizes — from small to very large. Both fan filter units and ballroom filter systems can be monitored. Other features such as door interlocking and event logging and reporting can be incorporated.

ABB is involved from products through complete IIoT solutions

ABB Robotics has introduced an ISO 5 (Class 100) Cleanroom version of the IRB 120, its smallest ever multipurpose 6-axis robot. The component materials of the IRB 120 prone to particle generation have been modified to eliminate the potential for contamination of the manufacturing area and the parts being processed.

ABB is shaping and focusing its divisional structure into four market-leading divisions: Electrification Products, Robotics and Motion, Industrial Automation and Power Grids. The divisions are empowered as entrepreneurial units within ABB, reflected in an enhancement of its performance and compensation model focusing on individual accountability and responsibility. They benefit from sales collaboration orchestrated by regions and countries as well as from the group-wide digital offering; ABB’s leading G&A structure and costs; common supply chain management; and corporate research centers.

This sales collaboration is a welcome initiative. It has been the McIlvaine experience that most large multi divisional companies do not take advantage of the divisional synergies. McIlvaine has explored the Industrial Internet of Wisdom (IIoW) as a way to empower IIoT. The interconnection of individuals within the supplier companies is an important aspect of IIoW.

The Industrial Automation division succeeds the former Process Automation division. ABB will drive digitalization across industry sectors, building on its No. 1 position in process control through software and services. ABB has domain expertise that allows it to master the control room in a wide range of industries such as pharmaceuticals, mining, shipping and oil and gas. By focusing on growing segments and bringing together maintenance, operation and control, ABB will drive penetration of strongholds and create differentiation for customers.

ABB has comprehensive IIoT solutions for industries utilizing cleanrooms. Its manufacturing execution systems (MES) play an essential role in achieving sustainable competitive advantages in the life science industry today. They enable higher plant efficiency and productivity as well as greater flexibility and agility throughout the production processes.

ABB collaborates with a leading pharmaceutical MES supplier, Werum IT Solutions GmbH based in Lüneburg, Germany, on control system solutions for life science industries.

Werum's PAS-X out-of-the-box software product is operating in approximately 800 installations of the world’s pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Manufacturing IT products from Werum IT Solutions help pharmaceutical manufacturers increase efficiency, improve productivity, and meet regulatory requirements.

The collaboration on the joint solution complements ABB's control systems offering with the latest MES technology, which is seen as a key component for efficient production workflows in the life science industry. By bringing together both offerings, ABB and Werum IT Solutions will be able to deliver full scope engineering and validation solutions according to the GAMP5 guideline, and comply with regulations, such as FDA (21 CFR part 11). MES capabilities include:

·       Production order management

·       Quality management

·       Weigh & dispense.

·       Warehouse management:

·       Standard operating procedures (SOPs) – bringing consistency to manual operations by guiding the operator through each step with the required production and safety instructions and checks.

·       Paperless manufacturing – electronic batch record.

Just as ABB incorporates Werum in its cloud-based solutions it can also collaborate with Envirco, Mahindra, Lighthouse, Terra, Vaisala and Berendsen to provide the full range of remote support systems.

For more information on N6F World Cleanroom Markets

For more information on Industrial IoT and Remote O&M

Tough Competition will limit Potential Indian Power Plant APC Market of $60 Billion to $30 Billion

India will be installing air pollution control equipment on existing as well as new generation units over the next five years. The purchases would exceed $60 billion if international prices prevailed. However, with very tough competition and low local fabrication costs the market will be closer to $30 billion. Also, the scheduled time frame appears to be unrealistic at this point, so the revenues are likely to be spread out over more than seven years.

European and U.S. suppliers are not going to capture much of this market if they just take the cookie cutter route of limestone FGD, SCR and additional precipitator fields. It will simply be a repeat of the Chinese market where sales prices of systems were so low that international companies could not compete. However, there is a big profit opportunity for newer technology and for IIoT and Remote O&M.

The potential FGD market over the next five years is over $30 billion (international prices). Older units will need only 50 percent removal efficiency, so direct sorbent injection would appear to be a possible solution even with the use of the existing precipitators. But since the precipitators must be upgraded to meet new particulate standards, the use of DSI and fabric filters would be a good solution.

New units will need to meet 92 percent efficiency. CFB dry scrubbing or wet limestone scrubbers would be needed. On the other hand, there is a severe water shortage in India, so wet FGD will need to incorporate zero liquid discharge systems.

The forecast is based on an additional 100,000 MW of capacity coming on line in the next five years. This is well below the national target but is warranted based on failure in the past to meet new generation goals. In the latest five-year plan ending next year the capacity additions will fall short of plan by over 70,000 MW.

A NO_x control market of over $17 billion will be created due to the new rules. The units installed before 2003 will probably only need to install Low NO_x burners and optimization systems. Units installed between 2003 and 2016 can install SNCR. The new units will need to install SCR unless some combination of innovative technologies will be adequate.

The technology under consideration at BHE PacifiCorp and the subject of nine hours of McIlvaine webinars would use SNCR with a novel reductant that would be a combination of H₂O₂ and urea. Ozone would be injected into the duct prior to the scrubber to achieve additional NO_x removal.

Due to the high quantity of ash it may be time to think outside the box. All the early FGD systems in the U.S. were replacements for the existing precipitators. In some cases, a single stage venturi rod scrubber was used for both flyash and SO₂.

It is important to note that SO₂ scrubbers following relatively inefficient precipitators remove lots of particulate. There were a number of guarantees made by scrubber suppliers in the U.S. to reduce particulate from 0.2 lbs down to between 0.05- 0.1 lb/MMBtu due to capture of particulate in the SO₂ scrubber.

Venturi rod scrubbers were successfully installed at Philadelphia Electric Eddystone and later at Cromby in systems engineered by United Engineers. They consisted of a first stage HCl and particulate scrubber and a second stage magnesium sulfite scrubber. The end product from the second scrubber and conversion at Essex Chemicals was sulfuric acid and rejuvenated magnesium oxide. A variation of this design could be used to produce rare earth feedstock and would be very cost effective.

Another option is just to use a one stage scrubber and a wet ESP. This is the old Dravo Lime process with the wet ESP added to achieve particulate limits. NSP has operated a similar system.

The catalytic filter with dry sorbent injection (DSI) makes a lot of sense. It would meet the emission limits with one device rather than three. If it is desirable to sell the flyash, the system could follow a multi-tube cyclone. The big advantage of this route is recovery of heat. There is an 850°F hot clean gas stream for CHP or other purposes.

FLSmidth has a catalytic filter bag. It is fiberglass and good for temperatures up to 400°F. These are 33 ft. long bags, so they could be inserted into an existing precipitator housing and provide the same gas flow.

With the big heat recovery potential, it may be time for India to consider a whole new approach to power generation. GE predicts that the future of power is distributed generation where the largest power plants are only 100 MW. The logic is that efficiency is doubled by combining heat and power. Some data centers are using up to 400 MW of power. So, larger plants can be located with the data centers but otherwise the plants would be built where district cooling/heating and industrial power and steam needs are high. If GE is right then this option will be important to India.

With the high flyash and modest emission reduction goals, there should be unique solutions applied to this market and not an approach which is just a cookie cutter approach to how it was done in China or the U.S.

One of the unique solutions is to embrace IIoT and Remote O&M. The new FGD, particulate, and NO_x control systems can be remotely controlled and preventive maintenance scheduled for each of the components. One benefit of this is to eliminate the knowledge gap that exists due to lack of experience with these technologies.

Yara already has remote control centers and can monitor reagent performance and supply. Howden has the remote capability to monitor fan performance. Knife gate and other valve performance can be monitored by the valve suppliers. Reagent consumption and performance can be monitored by the lime or limestone suppliers. The overall system monitoring could be undertaken by the system supplier or a digital process management company.

McIlvaine has just conducted a webinar on IIoT and Remote O&M for coal-fired power plants. A session on Air Pollution Control IIoT and O&M is next Thursday, April 13 at 10:00 a.m.

Details on the Indian market for air pollution control technologies are found at:

ESP World Markets

Fabric Filter World Markets

FGD Market Strategies

You can sign up for the free IIoT and air pollution control webinar on Thursday, April 13, 2017 at: Weekly IIoT Webinars

Collaboration of Divisions within Large Companies will greatly Accelerate with IIoT

IIoT is predicted to completely change industry. This will only happen with the Industrial Internet of Wisdom (IIoW) empowering IIoT. In turn IIoW will only be fully implemented with interconnection among individuals within each supplier organization. So, the most powerful incentive for collaboration will be survival and increased sales revenues. This is explained in N031 Industrial IoT and Remote O&M.

Here are the existing challenges which will be addressed:

·       The way most products are purchased in the pre IIoT era is haphazard

·       Suppliers who have haphazard sales programs do not suffer now because the whole process is haphazard.

·       Few products are purchased based on total cost of ownership analyses because of the high cost to benefit ratio for onetime purchases.

·       Purchasers do not perceive the potential benefits of multi-product synergy

All of this will change with IIoT empowered by IIoW because:

·       IIoT will make it possible for purchasers to easily coordinate all their multi-plant purchases.

·       Total cost of ownership analyses becomes very cost effective for large contracts. (Arcelor Mittal has demonstrated this for its 200 steel mills and mines)

·       IIoT leverages the synergies among disparate products. Here are some examples:

o   ABB has a new cleanroom robot which is monitored and controlled by an ABB digital process management system for the entire semiconductor manufacturing operation

o   Eaton has a lubrication filter which becomes part of a digital process management system with all the electrical products made by the corporation. Eaton pump drives can be operated based on filter pressure drop

o   Colfax monitoring of fans from a Howden remote control center is incorporated into a cloud system with Colfax lubrication pumps. So, the Colfax pump remote control center will be in 24/7 contact with the customer and indirectly with the Howden division.

o  

These developments will necessitate close cooperation among the sales and engineering personnel within the various divisions of large companies. If Arcelor Mittal is buying furnace dust collector systems for its plants in Europe and South America based on one total cost of ownership study, then it is essential that a potential supplier gain knowledge about the status at each of the plants which will be included along with details about previous performance of various bag designs and cleaning systems.

McIlvaine is focused on providing tools to help advance IIoW. One example is a Decision Guide for a multi-plant corporation 4S01 Berkshire Hathaway Energy Supplier and Utility Connect. This system identifies the components at 200 power plants and compressor stations owned by BHE. It also includes nine hours of webinars to generate “wise crowd decisions”.

There is a Decision Guide just for the components in gas turbine combined cycle plants 59D Gas Turbine and Reciprocating Engine Decisions. There is also one for components in coal-fired plants 44I Coal Fired Power Plant Decisions

There are also coordination programs for suppliers

Detailed Forecasting of Markets, Prospects and Project
4 Lane Knowledge Bridge to the End User

Bob McIlvaine
President
847-784-0012 ext. 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvainecompany.com