ABB has delivered a complete power and automation solution for a new cement facility in the Southwestern United States — “an outstanding solution that will help us achieve efficiency and productivity levels beyond industry standards,” said the customer.
Owned by US cement manufacturer Drake Cement, the new state-of-the-art facility is located in the southwestern state of Arizona, where it has the distinction of being the first cement facility to be built in the country’s fifth largest state for 50 years.
The greenfield facility was officially inaugurated in June this year. It has a production capacity of 660,000 tonnes of clinker, which is processed at the site into high-quality Portland cement products. ABB was selected by Drake Cement in 2008 to be the main electrical and automation contractor (MEC and MAC), and provide a turnkey integrated power and automation solution for the entire site and cement making process.
ABB’s comprehensive scope of supply includes detailed engineering, design, supply, installation and commissioning, as well as the complete scope of electrical, control and instrumentation products and systems.
Among the many ABB products and systems in the solution are medium and low voltage motors, a low voltage multi-drive system, transformers, switchgear, a power factor correction system, instrumentation, emission monitoring system, and ABB’s flagship plant
automation system, System 800xA. “ABB has lived up to its reputation and, working closely with our engineers
and contractors, has delivered an outstanding solution that will help us achieve efficiency and productivity levels beyond industry standards,” says Marcos Gomez-Barrios, president and CEO of Drake Cement.
One of the key benefits of the ABB solution is the integration of the process automation and electrical automation systems into a common control platform. Based on ABB’s System 800xA extended automation system, the platform provides Drake Cement with full plant integration by also interfacing with the plant laboratory, emission monitoring system, SAP system, and the company’s corporate headquarters in Peru.
The benefits of such wide-ranging integration — which are unique to System 800xA — are huge. It provides the plant with a single automation environment for operations, engineering, maintenance and management, and enables seamless collaboration between the various control and information systems. This in turn improves process and energy efficiency, increases equipment availability and plant productivity, and reduces maintenance, engineering and life cycle costs.
Drake Cement’s $300 million investment is now in full production and is expected to have an operating life of between 50 and 100 years.
ABB is a major presence in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 130,000 people.