Using ABB Solutions to Reduce Emissions

Complying with emissions targets is a critical matter. Regulators can enforce large fines up to and including shutting down of a facility for manufacturers who fail to meet the targets. A Southern European waste-to-energy plant operator sought the assistance of ABB when it had to meet clean air protocols.

The operator has been an ABB customer for a long time but had individual service agreements for each of its 13 facilities. Although these agreements were effective in delivering what they wanted, such as 97% air emission monitoring uptime, handling all these contracts was complicated and laborious. It was also hard to follow up on the type of ABB services offered at each site.

Thus, the operator looked for a way to enhance their contract management, eliminate as much ineffectiveness as possible, and discover cost-savings opportunities associated with on-site labor and corrective visits.

Furthermore, the customer was fed up with managing numerous service providers. They preferred a single supplier that could deal with all equipment irrespective of vendor, and handle the reporting requirements required to stay in compliance.

The customer was not keen to continue handling laborious technical tasks, such as spare stock management, gas cylinders supply, and backup analyzer maintenance. The reason being these tasks necessitate a more advanced technical knowledge and ownership by a dedicated crewmember in each plant.

Rather than just performing existing operations more competently, this long-time ABB customer was keen to improve the result of a conventional preventive maintenance method. By executing a predictive maintenance process, equipment can be dynamically monitored and managed to prevent any snags. They also intended to shift to a scheduled upgrade cycle for assets with the objective of prolonging the product lifecycle and maximizing return on investment.

To look into all of these requirements, they requested ABB to develop an all-inclusive service agreement that covers all of their operations with the same set of services.

Solution

To maintain the operator’s sites working without a glitch, in August 2018, ABB integrated all their individual service agreements into an all-inclusive ABB Measurement Care agreement. The Care agreement identifies three fundamental levels of service, and made sure the services the customer regularly required were added under one of these tiers.

Quick response:

• 24/7 ready-to-operate spectrometer exchange unit
• 24/7 telephone and remote assistance support
• 24/7 service engineer mobilization
• 24/7 spare parts management availability

Lifecycle management:

• Spare parts supply and inventory management
• Calibration of production and back-up gas analyzers
• On-site preventive maintenance
• Supply and management of gas cylinders (including consignment stock at local ABB offices)

Performance improvement:

• Predictive service recommendations
• Remote equipment monitoring

Results

At present, the customer has an all-inclusive service agreement that prevents redundant administrative costs, enhances its overall maintenance approach and decreases emergency repairs. It also improves the availability and accuracy of measurement data the customer uses to demonstrate compliance with environmental protocols. All this is achieved while boosting the efficiency of the current workforce, and arresting and solving equipment issues before they can slow down or stop operations.

Benefits

The ABB Measurement Care agreement helps the operator prevent serious potential hazards and costs, and avoids anxiety since the equipment is maintained in top operating condition. It also offers a simplified process, as one supplier is accountable for the entire task of equipment management and maintenance.

Advanced Digital Services such as ABB Ability^TM Condition Monitoring for measurement devices enable ABB to improve maintenance. Remote condition monitoring allows instant troubleshooting, which lowers on-site hours and travel expenses for ABB engineers, with savings given to the customer. Comprehensive remote health checks boost the data quality of the analytical systems. These developments improve the overall maintenance efficiency.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by ABB Measurement & Analytics.

For more information on this source, please visit ABB Measurement & Analytics.