West Control Solutions KS 94 enables precise spice extraction

4 West ControlWest Control Solutions KS 94 industrial controllers have improved production quality at a spice extraction plant in Hagen, Germany. The controllers have enabled the workforce to process recipes with precision. The company can now use an efficient decentralized process control system to serve equipment that is widely distributed across the plant.

Extraction involves the separation of material blends into their constituent parts by means of suitable solvents. The key challenge that faces a spice extraction plant is to prevent alteration of the smell and taste of aromatic compounds during processing. One crucial aspect in achieving this is establishing precise temperature control.

The plant uses CO2 gases to dissolve the spices and enable the complicated extraction process. CO2 gas must be provided to a range of equipment across the site, at temperatures ranging between 30 and 80°C. The West Control Solutions’ KS 94 offered precision control and the opportunity to create a decentralized automation system across the plant. The capability was made available because the KS 94 has compatibility with the InterBusnetwork and that was used to connect 15 stand-alone KS 94 process controllers to the central supervisory computer and associated units.

The decentralized controllers run a powerful algorithm that handles the high workload resulting from real-time computation, relieving the central PC from handling this work alone. The ability to control the temperature and pressure of the CO2, improves capability for the plant, since high pressure extraction for both liquids and solids can be applied with equal success, and fewer production stages are required. In addition, wiring costs were reduced and overall maintenance processes were simplified.

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