Proactive control maintenance crucial for process industries

A SENIOR chemical engineer in Australia has highlighted the importance of proactively maintaining control loops and basic PID controls in minerals processing industries.

According to Mike Brisk, Emeritus Professor in chemical engineering at Monash University, the processing industries are achieving economic benefits from applying process control. However, many companies were not aware of the need to ensure the continuing health of their control systems.

The professor was speaking at an IChemE www.icheme.org Process Management and Control Subject Group Webinar, and presenting the results of the Australian Process Industries Process Control 2005 Survey.

He  says there needs to be a higher priority on maintaining controls at peak performance. Technicians should use process control health monitoring and early proactive corrective action to avoid a “breakdown maintenance culture”.