Knowledge Center: Plant Safety

Alon USA acquired ownership of the Big Spring, Texas refinery back in August 2000 when Alon Israel Oil Company purchased FINA Oil & Chemical Company's US fuels marketing and refining assets.

In service for more than 75 years, Alon’s Big Spring Refinery produces 70,000 barrels per day, converting mainly crude oil from the Permian Basin and delivers products to markets from Ft Smith, Arkansas to Phoenix, Arizona via owner-operated and third-party pipelines.

The Big Spring refinery employs approximately 170 people, and has the potential to expand production capacity to about 75,000 barrels per day. Alon plans to expand its FINA and 7-Eleven gas station operations throughout the Southwestern US and will tap that extra capacity as its marketing presence increases.

The challenge While installing a new heater in the crude unit, Alon needed to comply with NFPA (National Fire and Prevention Association) codes and standards for a reliable safety shutdown system. In addition to complying with these codes, Alon was looking to install a system that met all of the requirements for a fully redundant safety system.

Alon had already deployed Honeywell’s TDC 3000 control system plant-wide. The new heater project included selecting and installing Honeywell’s Experion PKS and Safety Manager control and safety systems to provide an integrated system.

Safety Manager was installed and used for heater burner management, providing shutdown of the heater based on monitoring its critical conditions of the heater as required by the NFPA. As part of its operator training, Alon used HMI web graphics to help explain certain thresholds..

"This heater unit was new to our Big Spring refinery and we wanted to use the newest technology to help monitor, as well as integrate with Experion and the rest of our systems," said Byron Lewis, process control specialist, Big Spring refinery. "Honeywell implemented the code to Alon’s specifications and we were able to customize the interface." Safety success “We needed a safety system that would help us meet the safety goals of the refinery and NFPA standards, yet still integrate with our other products and systems. Honeywell’s Safety Manager was definitely a fit for what we needed," commented Byron Lewis.

"Safety Manager met all the regulations and safety requirements we had. Honeywell provided great support and met all our critical deadlines to improve process safety and operability," he adds.

In summary, selecting Honeywell’s Safety Manager allowed Alon to realize a number of benefits at the Big Spring Refinery:

• Operated on-line 100 percent since installation without crossing any thresholds. • Met strict burner management compliance standards of the US National Fire and Prevention Association (NFPA) for fire prevention and public safety.• Integrated, single-view console with other products including Honeywell’s TDC 3000 control system and Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) platform.• Implemented code to Alon’s specifications and customized single-view interface. • Provided reliable testing and improved safety processes. • Since startup of the new heater, the system has been on line 100 percent and no thresholds have been compromised.

For more information Please visit Honeywell website at www.honeywell.com/ps/sea