Safety System Guarantees Availability of Chlorine Plant

Vinnolit produces and markets a wide range of PVC products covering all kinds of PVC applications, e.g. in the building & construction sector, in the automobile industry or in the medical sector. With an annual capacity of 780,000t Vinnolit is one of the leading PVC producers in Europe and a worldwide market and technical leader in specialty PVC. Additionally Vinnolit produces and markets intermediates such as caustic soda, vinyl chloride and tin tetrachloride, which are required in the chemical industry as well as in other branches. The HIMax safety system for medium-sized and large applications, is safeguarding the chlorine production process at Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG’s Gendorf facility. The leading German PVC manufacturer was won over by the total redundancy concept, which guarantees the continuous operation of the chlorine plant. “The performance of the PES was one of the things that swung the decision in favour of HIMax. It has the performance needed for the machine applications, especially the pump limit regulation,” explains Peter Grandl, EMR technician in the chlorine production area at Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG Burgkirchen. HIMax controllers are used throughout Vinnolit’s chlorine production process at the Gendorf industrial estate, as ESD (Emergency Shutdown) systems and for monitoring machinery. The safety systems protect staff and residents against the plant’s potential hazards. Originally planned only as a safety system for the new chlorine compressor, it developed into a complex system of six HIMax PESs connected together over a distance of around 1.5 km using SafeEthernet. Thanks to the SafeEthernet ring, future extensions to the The pure brine production facility, membrane electrolysis and central control room each have one HIMax system, while the chlorine compressor and auxiliary systems have three systems to ensure maximum availability. The system processes more than 700 safetyrelated inputs and outputs. Peter Grandl was also impressed by the ease with which the HIMA controller can be integrated; the use of open-standard protocols enables integration into every major control system. “HIMax was integrated very easily into our ABB Freelance process control system using the PROFIBUS-DP communication standard,” he says. Support from HIMA’s specialists at the Burghausen Service Centre and the project team was competent and committed, says Grandl. An important factor in the success of HIMax at the Gendorf facility was SILworX, its configuration, programming and diagnostic environment. SILworX is a fully integrated software tool for all tasks throughout the entire system life cycle. The intuitive user interface reduces application errors and speeds up the engineering process. The HIMax safety system enables uninterrupted operation throughout the entire life cycle of a processing plant. It is based on the “Nonstop XMR” technology from HIMA. This combines SIL 3 safety technology with a scalable, fault-tolerant architecture, which eliminates false tripping and enables unlimited changes, modifications, extensions.