Honeywell installs new control system for Russia’s largest refining complex

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) has implemented its Experion PKS R.410 distributed control system (DCS) at Angarsk Petrochemical Co., the largest oil refining and petrochemical complex in the Irkutsk region of Eastern Siberia, Russia.

The advanced DCS will simplify operations and improve the process efficiency of the refinery’s delayed coking unit, which extracts valuable fuels from heavy oil residues of the refining processes.

The investment, announced on Wednesday by Honeywell, forms part of the plant’s continual efforts to match world-class standards in process automation, and is part of a company-wide modernization between 2012 and 2020 by Rosneft, Angarsk’s owners and the largest publicly traded oil company in Russia. 

The modernization will help the plant’s products reach the Euro 5 emissions standard, as well as bring a range of improvements to process management, operational safety, downtime risk management, steam and fuel consumption. 

“Experion PKS combines an advanced automation platform with innovative software applications, a perfect fit for the Angarsk refining and petrochemical plant,” said Alexander Rodionov, HPS sales leader for Russia. “The operator interface further boosts productivity and safety through a simple intuitive control panel and improvements such as alarm management with alarm tracker functions.”

Commissioned in 1955, Angarsk is among Russia’s largest refineries. It has a capacity of 80.5 million bbl/year, with products sold domestically as well as exported. The plant has now produced its first shipment of premium fuel compliant with Euro-5, and is continuing its strategy to increase refining volume and processing depth while minimizing operational costs.

“Experion PKS R.410 is a new dawn in industrial process automation,” said Igor Zverkov, head metrologist of Angarsk Petrochemical Co. “Equipping our unit with Experion helped to significantly reduce the operator workload. The system supports critical control functions, improves productivity and prevents accidents that can lead to serious consequences at the production site.” 

The DCS integrates with Safety Manager, Honeywell’s safety instrumented system platform that safeguards assets and shares critical safety information with the process control system. The platform helps prevent incidents and minimize impacts by protecting equipment, monitoring for fire and gas leaks, and supporting critical control functions.