South Metropolitan Regional Council, Waste Recovery Centre Return to Application Notes
Introduction
SMRC is an umbrella organisation for 5 local councils in the Perth metropolitan area. As a group the local councils decided to try and greatly reduce landfill by converting standard household rubbish into compost. The councils selected a process from Bedminster Bioconversion Australia to break down the solid waste and turn this into usable compost.
Scope
- - Create cause and effect matrix
- - Design a Distributed Control System for the entire plant
- - Provide all design documents and drawings
- - Supply and design redundant SCADA station
- - Manufacture all control panels
- - Liase with the MCC manufacturer
- - Supply all PLC equipment
- - Commission the entire plant control system
Application
A $40M plant was constructed by Clough Engineering of Perth to turn the process into a fully functional operation. This plant required a large process control system to handle the thousands of process inputs from the material handling and bioconversion process. Four large (40m long) rotary digesters provided the main product processing. The contents of these digesters (solid waste mixed with treated sewage) is converted into raw compost over a 3-day period. After metal and glass separation, this product is transferred to a curing area where over a period of 28 days the product is aerated. After a final screening process, the end product is ready to be shipped out. The entire process is performed in a controlled environment within enclosed buildings.
End Result
The $450,000 contract awarded to IA for this project was completed in time (6 months) and on budget. The Sixnet Linux based processors provide a high speed link to all parts of the plant with an amazing 100 ms scan time for the 20,000 tags that form this control system.