Industry: Biotechnology Manufacturing
The Client
- Industry: Biotechnology Manufacturing
- Location: Victoria
- Type of Facility: Operating biotechnology production facility
A Victorian biotechnology manufacturer relies on ethanol as a core process input. Until recently, that ethanol arrived in regular deliveries that had to be received, handled and manually introduced into production. The client wanted to bring ethanol storage on site: a bulk tank filled by tanker, with automated transfer and mixing into their process vessel.
The Operational Challenge
Ethanol is a Class 3 flammable liquid. Storing, pumping and mixing it inside an operating facility creates hazardous areas where every item of electrical equipment must be designed, selected, installed and inspected under the AS/NZS 60079 series, in addition to AS/NZS 3000. Get the classification wrong and the installation is either unsafe or heavily over-specified.
Every delivery under the old arrangement was a scheduling constraint, a manual handling risk and a point where production could stall if logistics slipped. The client needed one contractor accountable for the whole electrical and automation scope – hazardous area design input, electrical and control system design, panel manufacture, installation, commissioning, documentation and inspection sign-off – delivered to a standard that an independent hazardous area inspector, their insurer and their regulator would accept.
Objectives
The client required:
- Correct hazardous area classification into Zone 0, Zone 1 and Zone 2, with every component selected to suit its zone
- A 7,095 litre safe-fill bunded ethanol tank, filled by tanker through a safe and simple external unloading station
- Automated tanker-to-tank and tank-to-process transfer and mixing, operated from a single HMI
- Continuous ethanol vapour monitoring with automatic extraction and transfer pump interlocks
- Installation and wiring to AS/NZS 60079 and AS/NZS 3000
- A complete hazardous area verification dossier and independent inspection sign-off before handover
Our Solution
CW Electrical & Automation delivered the entire electrical and automation scope in-house, from the first drawing to the inspector’s signature:
- Hazardous area classification – worked with a hazardous area designer to delineate Zone 0 (inside the tank), Zone 1 (vents, pump and transfer points) and Zone 2, then selected IECEx-certified equipment matched to each zone, gas group and temperature class. Instruments in the most onerous locations are intrinsically safe (Ex ia), with IS barriers housed in the safe-area control panel.
- Electrical and automation design – single-line and schematic drawings, IS loop drawings, cable schedule and control cabinet layouts, plus the functional description, PLC program and Siemens SIMATIC HMI. The control philosophy was developed in workshops with the client’s operations and production staff, so routine tasks are simple and unsafe actions are impossible.
- Control panel manufacture – a 316 stainless steel Ethanol Control Panel built in our workshop, segregating 415 V power, 24 V control and intrinsically safe circuits, with PLC, HMI, IS barriers, emergency stop and lockable main isolator.
- Gas detection and automatic ventilation – a Dräger Polytron 8000 ethanol transmitter in the tank bund reports %LEL to the PLC every second. The Zone 1 rated extraction fan starts automatically at the first threshold; higher thresholds raise alarms on the HMI and light stack and interlock the transfer pumps until the atmosphere is back within safe limits.
- Tanker unloading station – hazardous area rated level display, light stack, external emergency stop, dedicated tanker earth (bonding) point and lockable camlock fill connection grouped on the outside wall, so the driver never needs to enter the building.
- Installation and wiring to AS/NZS 60079 and AS/NZS 3000 – certified Ex glands and stopping, intrinsically safe circuits segregated on dedicated labelled trays, bonding and earthing continuity across every enclosure, pipe and skid, and every device tagged to match the drawings and dossier.
- Dossier and independent inspection – IECEx certificates, data sheets and completed Inspection and Test Records for every device in the hazardous area, cross-referenced to the classification and as-built drawings, then physically inspected and signed off by a qualified hazardous area inspector before handover.
Key Client Benefits
- Fewer deliveries and far less manual handling – a scheduled bulk tanker fill replaces regular ethanol deliveries
- Production is no longer exposed to delivery timing
- Accurate totalised volumes for every transfer, with live process, alarm and historical data on the HMI
- Continuous gas monitoring with an automatic, logged response that does not rely on an operator noticing a problem
- Full compliance with AS/NZS 60079 and AS/NZS 3000, verified by an independent hazardous area inspector
- A complete, inspector-signed hazardous area dossier that supports the installation for its entire service life
- One contractor accountable for design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and certification
The Result
The client now stores ethanol on site in a 7,095 litre safe-fill bunded tank, receives it by tanker through a controlled external filling station, and transfers and mixes it into their process from a single HMI. Regular deliveries and manual handling have been replaced by an automated, interlocked process with continuous ethanol vapour monitoring, and the client holds a complete hazardous area dossier signed off by an independent inspector.
If your site handles flammable liquids, gases or combustible dusts and you need electrical or automation work done properly in a hazardous area – from a single Ex instrument to a full classified installation – CW Electrical & Automation has the hazardous area design capability, trade skills and compliance discipline to deliver it end to end.
