Potential major changes in process control of Australian sugar factories

While Australian sugar factories operate with high levels of automation and have fewer supervisory and operational staff than most overseas cane factories, it is anticipated that substantial changes in the configuration of control systems will be implemented in Australian factories over the next decade that will further reduce operational staff numbers. Factors driving these changes include the current high turnover of operational staff, the need for increased reliability in factory operations, and the increased complexity of operations when factories substantially reduce their process steam consumption. Several factories are discussing changing from the current DCS control operated at local stations, to a centralised control operation. In order to support this change, new measurement systems of the hard and soft type are required to provide improved consistency in achieving the standard operating conditions and to support reduced input from operators. The changes also extend to using supervisory control systems to recommend process decisions to supervisors and to input set points for control loops. Substantially increased data analyses of process operations are likely to be implemented to support the small production management team in reviewing the efficiencies of current operations and identifying areas for improved process settings. Changes to the current training of operational staff will be required. This paper considers the changes needed in the process stations of the factory to support a successful adoption of centralised control. The overall aim is to substantially improve the productivity, recovery and sugar quality, reduce lost time resulting from operator error, and assist the adoption of substantially increased steam efficiency to support diversified production.