Petrobras invests $ 5.4 billion in Repar’s output capacity

Seeking to increase product quality and output capacity at the Refinaria Presidente Getúlio Vargas (Repar), which currently answers for 12% of the national production of oil products Petrobras has invested $ 5.4 billion in the refinery’s enlargement and modernization efforts, between 2008 and 2011.

The new facilities will process petroleum coke, gasoline and diesel, butane, propene and hexane, besides raising the production capacity in 10 %.

The modernization will include several improvements, such as building a control integrated center, new substations for electric power transmission and effluent processing, in addition to five main production units among which one for propene and another for coke processing.

In order to feed the Propene Processing Plants, Repar has purchased from ABB a substation with four 69/13.8kV transformers. The transformers are WEG and the monitoring system will be wholly supplied by Treetech. It consists of a complete solution of command, supervision, sensing and online monitoring of the transformer using the Sigma4net™.

Therefore, Treetech, by guaranteeing power supply with quality and reliability, through its systems, will also contribute for Repar to make available, with higher safety, the process of producing fuel that is efficient enough to meet the most advanced international requirements.

This was the first transformer monitoring system for the equipment purchased by Petrobras. Its architecture is decentralized, with sensors (IEDs) for data acquisition and the Sigma4net™ software to monitor assets online. “This purchase aimed at increasing the efficiency and reliability on the energy supply to the new unit and the continuity of the production process,” says Luis Lopes, Treetech analyst.

According to the company’s commercial coordinator, Márcio Costa, the system is going to integrate the monitoring of the two substation transformers into a sole platform, connected to the REPAR Intranet. Besides, by having the Sigma4net™ software, it is able to monitor two projects in distinct times and plants. Finally, the coordinator stresses that the transformers purchased by WEG already have 80% Treetech sensors. “We just had to purchase a few more sensors to meet REPAR’s specifications”, says Márcio Costa.

Analyst Luis Lopes highlights the significance of of this project, which was started by Treetech for REPAR in January 2008 and finished in September 2009. “For us, it is extremely important to deliver a project to PETROBRAS. To respond to the needs of a company with such strict specifications was a challenge we’ve met through the hard work and high quality of our associates, equipment and services.”

See below the list of equipments and solutions delivered by Treetech:

• Monitoring of 4 transformers (2 – 42 MVA and 2 – 13 MVA) of 69 kV in the SE5143 of distribution (project ABB x WEG).
• Use of RS 485 communication network.
• Possibility of following the status of the operation of REPAR substation transformers online, and in real time.
• Training for users and maintenance workers involved in the project on how to work with the system.

Treetech has also supplied sensors (IEDs) installed on the transformers and in the control room:

1. TM1 (Temperature Monitor)
2. AVR (Voltage Regulator)
3. BM (Bushing Monitor)
4. Gas Sensor
5. SPS (Parallelism Supervisor)
6. DM2 (Data Acquisition Module)
7. MBR (Membrane/Bag rupture)
8. DTM (Temperature Monitor)
9. DM1 (Data Acquisition Module).
10. DTM (Moisture Monitor)
11. COMM-03 (Communications Module)
12. Sigma4net™ software for substation transformer condition diagnosis and prognosis.

Some of the software functionalities:

• Safe access through commercial browser;
• Online Viewing;
• Database, graphic and tabular reports;
• Digitization of the main measurements of the sensors installed on the transformer;
• Cooling Maintenance Module;
• Final Gradient Module for the prediction of future temperatures;
• OLTC Maintenance Module;
• Alarm Indication System;
• Other TI functions.

The service list includes:

• Server installation and setup;
• Software installation and setup;
• Inspection and test plan during the implementation of the system;
• Software operation and maintenance training for the substation operators.