Case Study
Inverness Malting Plant
Project:
Malting Plant
Client: Bairds Malt - Inverness
History: Bairds Malt operates five malting plants throughout the UK, producing 250,000 metric tonnes of malt annually for beer and whisky production. To meet increasing demand, they expanded their capacity by constructing a new malting plant in Inverness, increasing capacity by 57,000 metric tonnes per annum. The construction of this state-of-the-art malting plant was completed, with the first batches of barley having passed through the new maltings.
"Silchester’s diligence, expertise and commitment is highly regarded by my team and I. Silchester again provided a high quality product and service and went far beyond what was contractually necessary to ensure our overall project was a success."
- Vice President, United Malt, General Manager UK
Initial Phases
When BML were in the initial CAPEX submission phases Silchester were involved in providing estimated costs for all the EC&I work. This ranged from the HV switchgear and transformers to the MCC & control panels, field installation, control system design & commissioning.
Once approval for the new plant had been received, the initial submission was used by the relevant parties to the continue with the design of electrical and control system designs.
Solution
The main plant was supplied by Buhler, with Silchester providing comprehensive services, including:
- Electrical MCC Panel design & build
- Control Panel design & build
- Control System design & build
- Network infrastructure Design
- Installation support
- Commissioning Support
- 24-hour remote system support
- Control System (PLC & SCADA)
PLC Systems
The PLC systems at the Inverness malting plant are designed to ensure autonomous operation of each unit, aiding maintenance and minimizing downtime during breakdowns. Key features include:
- Hardware: Each master PLC control system utilizes Schneider M580 PLC hardware, standardized to assist with spares holding. Remote IO uses X80 IO on an Ethernet backbone. The equipment had to interface with some siemens Profibus equipment installed in the Germination vessels, which had been supplied by Buhler.
- Controllers: The overall system includes controllers located in various control panels:
- Infeed & Barley Washer: MCC1, MCC1A
- Flat Bottomed Steeps: MCC2, MCC2a, LCP2b
- GV1: MCC3, MCC3a, 3b & 3c, LCP3d
- GV2: MCC4, MCC4a, 4b & 4c, LCP4d
- Kiln: MCC8, MCC8a, 9, 9a, 9b
- Kiln Outload, Malt Storage, Dressing Lorry Loading: MCC10, MCC10a
- Water Services: MCC11, MCC11a
- Software: The PLC software is primarily written in ladder logic to assist in diagnostics. It is divided into sections for organization, including input mapping, analogue input mapping, communication software with other systems, control system sequences, transfers, loading, process, unloading, alarms, and outputs.
SCADA System
The SCADA system utilizes Schneider’s System Platform, with a redundant pair of HP servers to ensure high availability. The system architecture includes two physical servers running all SCADA development and runtime software, communicating with three HMI systems located in the plant. The SCADA system supports six clients, including main office and plant clients, as well as a temporary tablet with 4G connectivity. An SQL Server is used for production scheduling, recipe management, and historian data. All batches create a report at the end of the kilning process.
The SCADA system at the Inverness malting plant is designed to monitor and control the entire malting process. Key features include:
- Architecture: The SCADA system utilises Schneider’s System Platform, with a redundant pair of HP servers to ensure high availability. The system architecture includes two physical servers running all SCADA development and runtime software, communicating with four HMI systems located in the plant.
- Clients: The SCADA system supports six clients, including main office and plant clients.
- SQL Server: An SQL Server is used for production scheduling, recipe management, and historian data. All batches create a report at the end of the kilning process.
- Faceplates: Standard faceplates provide manual controls on all plant equipment, developed in conjunction with PLC control modules.
- Security: The system has three levels of security (Operator, Manager, Engineer) to control access and functionality.
- Trending and Alarming: All analogue process PLC inputs and pertinent digital variables are historically logged and can be trended. The alarm pages allow filtering to show various plant areas, with both historic and current alarms displayed.
- Recipe Management: Recipes for production batches are created on the SCADA and stored in an SQL database. The operator can enter sub-recipes for steeping, germination, and kilning, which are downloaded to the FBS Steep PLC and can be altered as the batch progresses.
Results
The new Inverness malting plant successfully increased Bairds Malt's production capacity, enabling them to meet the growing demand for malt in beer and whisky production. The advanced control systems and robust network infrastructure ensured efficient and reliable operations. Additionally, the state-of-the-art water filtration system allowed the plant to treat and reuse existing resources on site, producing an additional 57,000 metric tonnes of malt without using any additional water.
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