Co Integrated Turbine-Compressor ntrols Retrofit Improves Ammonia Plant Operation and Reliability

Nowadays, managers in charge of every process plant are looking for areas where moderate changes in the process or equipment can yield a return of increased throughput and reliability. The approach employed for the ammonia plant discussed in this case study is to consolidate the diverse controls for major process compressors, steam turbine prime movers, and associated pressure reducing valves. By consolidating all these controls in a single triple modular redundant (TMR) control system, variations in the steam and process headers have been reduced significantly. A separate TMR ESD system was installed at the same time to reduce the risk of unsafe process operation and provide primary electronic overspeed trip to all the steam turbines.