Chemical waste plant adds wireless inventory management

Singapore - Technochem Environmental Complex Pte Ltd (TEC), part of south Asia environmental services group Modern Asia Environmental Holdings Inc., is automating inventory management by wirelessly monitoring levels in 14 tanks at its Singapore facility. The operation provides treatment, incineration and distillation services for chemical wastes generated by pharmaceutical and petrochemical companies.

The monitoring system, which is based on Emerson’s Smart Wireless field network, is designed to deliver continuous level measurements from storage and process tanks. Engineers at TEC also move some of the 14 Rosemount wireless pressure transmitters from place to place for troubleshooting and process development applications.

“If I see a problem in some part of our process, it is fairly simple for me to take a pressure transmitter and move it elsewhere,” explains incineration manager Jan Huijben. “I can often determine what’s going on in just five minutes, address the issue and quickly return the transmitter to its original application. The flexibility … makes it much easier to troubleshoot problems as well as evaluate new applications.”

TEC requires accurate tank level measurement system along with automated transmission of the data into a computer database. In addition to tracking and managing inventories, documentation is needed to schedule incoming customer delivery and give the status of their orders, including assurance that their chemical wastes had been treated and destroyed.

Since its installation in April 2008, TEC has employed wireless pressure transmitters to report on tank levels - eliminating clipboard rounds – and gain more accurate real-time data for process efficiency, documentation to verify that specific chemical wastes have been destroyed, and access to the data via the company network.

Managers at other sites can also view the process data and order changes if necessary, while a system for electronic connection of select data for customers is currently being developed.

The wireless system has turned out to be surprisingly effective at TEC, and further use is being planned, Huijben said.“At first, we thought this technology was too expensive for us, but we now believe we are saving money with it.”