Emerson To Replace Outdated Controls At Philadelphia's Baxter Water Treatment Plant
Calls for No Interruption of Plant Operation
Ovation® control technology expected to contribute to improved operational efficiency, reliability and economics of plant that provides drinking water to 60 percent of Philadelphia residents
Pittsburgh - Emerson Process Management announced today it has been awarded a contract to automate the Philadelphia Water Department’s (PWD) Baxter Water Treatment Plant. The contract, awarded by PKF Mark III Inc., calls for Emerson to replace the plant’s existing outdated controls with its Ovation® expert control system.
The Baxter Water Treatment Plant, the largest of Philadelphia’s three water treatment plants, processes 200 million gallons per day and provides drinking water to 60 percent of Philadelphia’s population, as well as portions of Lower Bucks County. Because the plant is so vital to meeting the water needs of area residents, there can be no disruption in plant operation. For that reason, installation of the Ovation system is taking place within a PWD-specified, four-year implementation schedule.
To ensure a seamless transition over the designated timeframe, the existing ABB INFI 90 system and Ovation system will run in parallel until all control functionality has been transferred to Ovation. When fully up and running, the Ovation system will monitor and control all major plant equipment and processes – including disinfection, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and final treatment – as well as chemical usage. In all, Emerson will supply 13 redundant Ovation controllers and eight operator/engineer workstations that will manage roughly 3,100 I/O points.
Emerson’s state-of-the-art Ovation system supports fully integrated digital bus-based technologies, including Foundation™ fieldbus, DeviceNet™ and PROFIBUS DP. At the Baxter plant, the Ovation system will provide operators with valuable insight into the operation of intelligent PROFIBUS DP devices installed at the facility. Armed with this predictive intelligence, operators will be able to identify and troubleshoot potential problems before they impact plant operations.
Emerson’s Power & Water Solutions division will engineer and install the Ovation system. Cut-over to the new system is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2009 and is expected to be completed well ahead of the designated four-year implementation schedule.
With its selection of Emerson, PWD joins other major metropolitan areas – Chicago, Detroit, San Diego and Washington, D.C., to name just a few – that rely on Emerson’s automation and control solutions to help them ensure cleaner, safer water supplies, reduce environmental hazards and improve operational efficiency. It’s worth noting that this ability to improve plant operations also opens the door to additional bottom-line benefits that can positively impact the economics of water treatment facilities.
“A state-of-the-art control system like Ovation can be expected to generate overall operation and maintenance efficiencies through improved data acquisition, process monitoring and control,” said Bob Yeager, president of the Power & Water Solutions division of Emerson. “But the benefits don’t stop there: Whether adopting newer treatment technologies, expanding to meet future population growth, or adjusting to meet increasingly complex financial and environmental regulations that are affecting the industry, Ovation is a flexible solution that will help ensure that PWD is well equipped to meet the current and future needs of the customers it serves.”
About Emerson Process Management
Emerson Process Management, an Emerson business, is a leader in helping businesses automate their production, processing and distribution in the power, water and wastewater treatment, metals and mining, chemical, oil and gas, refining, pulp and paper, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and other industries.
Emerson's Power & Water Solutions division is a global supplier of advanced distributed process control and information systems. The Pittsburgh-based company is a recognized leader in developing plant-wide process control solutions for the power generation, water treatment and wastewater treatment industries. Power & Water Solutions plays a key role in the Emerson mission of combining superior products and technology with industry-specific engineering, consulting, project management and maintenance services. Emerson brands include: PlantWeb®; Ovation®; Scenario®, SmartProcess®; Fisher®; Micro Motion®; Rosemount®; Daniel®, Bristol®, DeltaVTM; and AMS® Suite.
About Emerson
Emerson (NYSE: EMR), based in St. Louis, Missouri (USA), is a global leader in bringing technology and engineering together to create innovative solutions for customers through its network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and appliance and tools businesses. Sales in fiscal 2008 were $24.8 billion.
SOURCE: Emerson Process Management, Power & Water Solutions