Payne using MOST’s control system to automate gas plant

MTL Open System Technologies (MOST) and Barry D. Payne & Associates Inc. (BDP) announced Oct. 31 that they've won a contract to automate and control the cryogenic gas process at Western Gas Resources' Benedum gas plant near Midland, TX.

By Control Engineering Staff November 6, 2003

MTL Open System Technologies (MOST) and Barry D. Payne & Associates Inc . (BDP) have won a contract to automate and control the cryogenic gas process at Western Gas Resources’ Benedum gas plant near Midland, TX. This cryogenic process is used to recover natural gas liquids from a local gas gathering system. The project includes control system and field device retrofits, and commissioning of BDP Inc.’s advanced control strategies for automatic rate processing management, enhanced C1/C2 composition control, and improved chiller efficiency management.

The project for Western Gas brings together MOST’s Matrix and BDP’s advanced control capabilities and project management services, which will enable the gas plant to save on installation costs and reduce maintenance expenses during the plant’s lifecycle.

BDP is a system integrator with process control expertise, and its control strategies will be incorporated into MOST’s Matrix Total Control System to optimize the plant’s performance. ”We were able to incorporate advanced control algorithms in the Matrix controller using function block programming,” says Barry Payne, BDP’s president.

Matrix offers redundancy, as well as instant switchover to a backup controller when necessary. Matrix is an open system that enables connection to third-party devices with Modbus. And, because Matrix uses Wonderware as its native HMI, it will incorporate Wonderware’s latest features as they become available. Matrix also offers a centralized project development environment for control project engineering, both process and IEC 61131-3, which is seamlessly integrated with Wonderware’s FactorySuite components for operator interface, plant historian and batch control. Matrix is a process control engineering and management tool that automatically configures control solutions from single loops to advanced control strategies.

In addition, Matrix’s integrated project development environment coordinates control project engineering for design, implementation, documentation and maintenance of a process control system. Matrix’s Workbench automatically maintains project documentation in the as-built state from initial engineering phases through subsequent system modifications. Project documentation is kept continually current with the operating control system, which eliminates maintaining documentation after a system is commissioned.

—Jim Montague, news editor, Control Engineering, jmontague@reedbusiness.com