ABB (Zurich, Switzerland) announced that its specialized process engineering company in France, Cellier Activity, has been awarded the contract to install new blending technologies and a process control system at Shell’s Marunda Lube Oil Blending Plant (LOBP) in Jakarta, in an effort to drive efficiency and increase productivity.
ABB has helped Shell to double production capacity at the PT Shell Indonesia Lube Oil Blending Plant (Source: ABB)
Harnessing its Lubcel process control system, ABB will deliver total process control and scheduling software to support the plant’s entire production system, from raw material reception and storage to product dispatch incorporating blending, transfers, filling, and warehouse.
The supply agreement also includes a new Simultaneous Batch Blender to blend medium and large volumes alongside two new Automatic Batch Blenders to blend small size batches and specialty products. Other technologies such as Drum Decanting Systems, a Viscosity Index Improver dispersing unit, Pigged lines, and Pigged Manifolds will be incorporated.
Bert Engbers, Global Account Manager for Shell, ABB Energy Industries said: “With these process solutions PT Shell Indonesia will be able to optimize all aspects of continuous and batch operations at the existing brownfield site, monitoring and managing everything from raw materials use, product formulation, sub-recipes and recipes, resources, inventory logs, production batches and cleaning sequences.”
By fully automating its processes, Shell can drive efficiency of its operations, improve availability, traceability and safety, as well as ensure it complies with international product quality standards.
With growing industrialization and rising consumer spend on automotive products across Indonesia, this investment is a key step by Shell to meet the increasing market demand for more varied and higher quality lubricant products.
Jean Vandevelde, ABB Area Sales Manager for Cellier Activity said: “At every stage of development we have strived to ensure efficiency is at the forefront – from plant design to maintenance – in order to provide capital and operational expenditure benefits. By leveraging ABB’s blending technologies, we can ensure reduced complexities and risks, delivery of high process flexibility and improved plant availability, making the LOBP more productive and more market responsive.”
The control platform will also plug into the facility’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and include measures to reduce slops and to re-use rinsing products, in a concerted effort to reduce the plant’s environmental impact.
The project builds upon a longstanding relationship between ABB and PT Shell Indonesia dating back to 2014.