French solid waste processing group launches system upgrades at 20 sites using the same platform throughout.

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The Séché Group and its subsidiary Tredi have chosen ARC Informatique´s PcVue to set the future standard for its household and industrial waste incineration plants, and biogas power plants. Since its first deployment in 2005, PcVue can now be found in 16 plants, representing more than 500,000 variables being processed, applied, and logged.

Séché Environnement is the largest solid waste processor in France. The group has 20 processing sites throughout the country where it collects industrial and municipal solid waste. The Tredi subsidiary handles hazardous materials. The range of materials processed is very wide, covering any waste which cannot be treated like household refuse.

A team of control engineers has been working since 2003 to develop a library of generic objects specific to each of the group´s activities, and to introduce suitable ergonomics and control elements. The Group has decided that it will oversee development of the chosen control system in order to ensure as far as possible that it can be standardized and rolled out efficiently, quickly, and consistently across its other plants. So the control applications can easily be grouped together in one single physical location. For some tasks, logging and reporting are already centralized.

The PcVue solution was first installed at the industrial site in Salaise Sur Sanne (Isère, France) in 2005. This is Séché Group´s largest heat processing and energy recovery center where it annually processes around 250,000 tons of hazardous waste (HW), non-hazardous industrial waste (NHIW), household waste, and infectious clinical waste. This first deployment involved the water treatment unit. The priority was to define object standards and a whole special library was developed for PcVue and the logic controllers. The decision was taken to adopt OFS-based communications.

“At the time, we looked at what was available on the market, and the real advantage with PcVue is that it´s a complete solution, with no need to be constantly buying new modules. Since we were already looking to plan long-term for the product, this was a determining factor,” said Mr. Therrien, Séché Group´s industrial IT manager.

PcVue was then progressively introduced into units 1, 2, and 3 at the Salaise site. The project started with a complete revamp of Salaise Unit 1 with its two rotary furnaces. Here, PcVue supervises all process functions and common tasks, encompassing about 30,000 variables. Then, Unit 2 was upgraded with a new waste injection system, allowing it to operate in a sealed mode. This revamp followed the signing of the waste treatment contract which resulted from the illegal dumping of the Probo Koala cargo in Ivory Coast. An upgrade of Unit 3 is currently underway, including replacement of the control system. Telemecanique PLCs under Unity and PcVue (two I/O servers and 5 client stations) will replace older PLCs.

Mr. Therrien adds: “We are particularly happy with PcVue’s object-oriented database organization. When objects are created, they can very easily find the items, the PLCs to control. In the past, to manage a monitoring variable, you had to name it and set up assignment tables. Now we don´t even have work with addresses or variables in the PLC. Exchange tables are created automatically via OPC. Graphical functions are also of great value and easy to implement. It is very easy to switch between runtime and development mode. We can then change or add functions to a working plant.”

The Séché Group also uses PcVue to monitor power plants that burn biogas coming from household waste storage centers. Their drainage and pumping networks collect this product generated by waste decomposition, which is primarily methane. The biogas is injected into gas turbines to produce electricity.

PcVue has been installed at the Drimm Storage Center near Toulouse (Haute-Garonne, France) and, more recently the Changé plant just outside Laval (Mayenne, France): A boiler takes the combustion gases from the turbine to produce steam. In Changé, this steam is used to dry fodder from farming operations.

PcVue is also installed at the SVO site in Vienne, and the Opale site in Nord Pas de Calais.

Edited by Pierre Welander, pwelander@cfemedia.com