Nida Afaq

Student of
University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila.
University Registration number: 08-EE-128
 Acknowledgment:
It is not easy for a student of any university to gain practical
knowledge and experience at the very time he/she is studying. For
such purpose, internship in an industry is very helpful. I am thankful to
Wah Nobel (Pvt) Limited to give me such opportunity to intern in Wah
Nobel Chemicals limited and Wah Nobel Acetates limited. I am thankful
to Mr. Ejaz Ali (D.G.M Wah Nobel Chemicals), Mr. Muhammad Afzal and
Mr. Qamar Iqbal from Wah Nobel Chemicals and Mr. Abdullah Zafar
from Wah Nobel Acetates Limited to teach me and guide me
throughout my internship.
Introduction to Wah Nobel Group of Companies:
Wah Nobel develops, manufactures, markets and maintains a wide
range of commercial explosives, accessories and industrial chemicals
of international standard.
Wah Nobel is a joint venture between Saab, Sweden and Pakistan
ordinance factories, which was founded in 1962.
Explosives for Industrial Applications:
Since its inception Wah Nobel has continued to develop and refine the
company’s core expertise in traditional explosives (the NG based
dynamites and powder explosives). In doing so, it has expanded the
range of products to latest emulsion explosives and shock tube
initiation systems.
Chemical Specialities:
Wah Nobel produces an impressive range of high quality industrial
chemicals which have wide applications in numerous products. These
products are used in industries like textile, leather, food, agriculture,
pharmaceutical, printing, dying, paint, lacquer, varnish, plywood,
chipboard, hardboard, sugar and in foundries.
Training Facilities:
Our Blasting Services Division serves costumers at home and abroad
by providing state-of-the-art training for a variety of blasting needs
through courses, seminars and on-site demonstration.
Wah Nobel’s most popular annual course on Rock Blasting Techniques
provides an opportunity to the mining and construction engineers for
updating their knowledge and skills.
Wah Nobel (PVT) LTD.:
Wah Nobel (PVT) Ltd. are the pioneers in the manufacture of
commercial explosives and blasting accessories in Pakistan. It’s
products have made valuable contribution in the national development
projects like Tarbela and Mangla Dams, Karakurram Highway,
Islamabad Lahore motorway and other projects involving tunneling,
mining and quarrying etc.
Commercial explosives produced include Wabox, Wabofite and
Wabonite. The latest explosive by Wah Nobel is Emulite which is a
emulsion explosive; its advantages include absence of headache,
safety, rock breaking characteristics(due to large amount of energy
produced on initiation), stability in heat and cold and its resistant to
water.

Wah Nobel Detonators (PVT) LTD:

The Wah Nobel detonator (PVT) Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary
company of Wah Nobel and has been set up for the manufacture of
commercial detonators. The factory is situated in S.D.A. industrial
estate, Hattar, N.W.F.P, which is in full production since May, 1992.
The industrial units of Wah Nobel Detonators are equipped with
sophisticated plants and machinery to manufacture initiatory
explosives for undertaking production of Detonators and Non-Electric
initiations system under the trade name of ’LEHER’. The company also
plans to undertake production of Delay Electric Detonators in the near
future.
Leher Ignition System:
LEHER non-electric initiation system developed by Wah Nobel’s
Research & Development Laboratories and launched in the market is
based on the shock tube technology. The inner wall of hollow plastic
tube is coated with a thin layer of reactive material. A shock wave
initiated by a special initiator passes through the tube with the speed
of approximately 2000 meters per second. The flash of shock wave
initiates the detonator assembled at the other end of the tube which in
turn initiates the explosives charge.
Wah Nobel Chemicals Limited:
Wah Nobel Chemicals Limited is a subsidiary Company of Wah Nobel
(PVT) limited and was established in the year 1983 for the manufacture
of Formaldehyde and Formaldehyde Resins for different applications in
the industrial field.
The industrial units of Wah Nobel Chemicals Limited comprise of two
plants, one for the manufacture of Formaldehyde and the other for
production of Urea & Phenol Formaldehyde Resins.
Formaldehyde unit is based on the license and technical know-how
supplied by Messrs. Perstorp A.B. of Sweden who are the
manufacturers of wide range of products based on Formaldehyde for
various trades and applications.
The resin unit of WNC has been licensed by a very reputed firm of
Spain namely Foresa. Foresa is linked to TAFISA group of industries,
who are important producers of various qualities of fiber-board,
plywood and chipboard. As such Foresa is a firm which has vast
experience in the production of Urea Formaldehyde, Phenol
Formaldehyde and Melamine Formaldehyde Resins for application in
wood industries and laminates. Thus the technical know-how supplied
to us is backed by their long experience in this field.
The laboratory of WNC is equipped to manufacture plywood and
chipboard on lab scale from clients’ raw material and carry out testing
of the finished materials in accordance with international standards.
Wah Nobel Chemicals is also an accredited agent of reputed firms
world wide for chemicals, plant, machinery, ferrous and nonferrous
materials, moulding compounds and laminates etc.
Wah Nobel Acetates LTD:
Wah Nobel Acetates Limited is manufacturing Glacial Acetic Acid, Ethyl
Acetate and Butyl Acetate. Technical know-how for the unit has been
acquired from China. The technology selected is based on Ethanol air
oxidation method and has the vital characteristic of major consumption
of indigenous raw material. The annual production capacity of the plant
is 5000 ton for Acetic Acid and 4000 ton for Ethyl/Butyl acetate. This
capacity is sufficient to meet the entire domestic demand, thus
avoiding dependence upon imports of these products and eventually
saving big amount of precious foreign exchange for the country.
Layout and Equipment of Electric Power distribution in
Wah Nobel Chemicals:
This part of the factory can systematically analyzed by analyzing each
component separately. There are two such systems, one is manually
controlled and others is auto-controlled, otherwise there is no
difference in setup.

Metering, Provides Power is distributed to all

Control and protection from the system components at
protection this point.
overload
HT Step down Air Circuit
Distribution
PANEL Transformer Breaker
channels
(11KV) (11KV/400V) (ACB)

Capacitor
Panel LT Includes CBs,
MCBs,
PANELS Contactors for
Control and
Power Factor protection of
Correction. motors.
Capacitors are
connected in
parallel.

HT switching panel:
It’s an 11KV panel, which takes supply from primary distribution
network of POF (Pakistan Ordinance Factory). It has analog voltmeters,
ammeters and energy meters to show voltage, current and KWh
ratings respectively. A digital energy meter is also installed recently.
HT panel is used for measurement, metering and control and for
protection purposes. The switches provided on the panel can be used
to switch ON or OFF the system.
It uses CT and PT for measurement and protection. CT(current
transformer) and PT(potential transformer) step down current and
voltage respectively. CT steps down current to 5A from 100A and PT
steps down voltage from 11000V/√3 to 110V/√3. There are two CTs
used, one is for measurement and other is for protection. The
protection CT along with PT gives signal to trip circuit of circuit breaker
in case of fault.
11KV/400V Step down Transformer:
A transformer is device used to change the level of voltage and
current, keeping the power constant. High voltages are used for
transmission and primary distribution to minimize losses as current is
decreased by increasing voltage level, but this voltage has to be
stepped down again to meet the needs of consumer. The step down
transformer used here is 11KV/400V, 75KVA transformer. It takes input
with three lines (RYB) and provides output at 400V with three lines and
one neutral. Output is taken at four busbars which are then taken to a
separate room through ducts.
Capacitor Panel:
Capacitors are used in power in industries to improve the power factor
of the connected load. Low power factor means high current from the
supplier, hence high KVAs consumed so the consumer has to pay
more.
Number of capacitors used in each system is six.
Each capacitor is 822µF providing 50KVAr. Number of capacitors
operating at a time is decided on the basis of requirement; this is done
by magnetic contactors inside the panel which operate on their own.
The capacitors are connected in parallel with incoming supply through
fuses.
Panel shows power factor of the load digitally. Switches to turn on or
off the capacitor bank are also provided on the panel.
Power factor of the plant can be improved upto 0.99 with the use of
these capacitors.
ACB (Air Circuit Breaker):
Circuit breaker is automatically operated switch designed to protect a
circuit from damage caused by over-load or short circuit. Air circuit
breaker is used for medium voltage range. The ACBs installed has
breaking capacity of 690V, 35KA and 600V, 50KA, it operates on 220V
(AC).

Distribution Channels:
At this point, the power is distributed to individual components.
Distribution channels have the circuit breakers, which protect their
concerned circuits from damage. Each distribution channel is
connected to its LT panel separately. They are classified as CMOs, for
example the first channel is CMO1 Main and its for Fire Fight for the
132KW blower motor, which is the largest KW rating motor installed in
the factory. Then second one is CMO2 Main which is for Formaldehyde
Pump and Safety System then third is for the Glue plant motors.
CMO2 is the ‘safety panel’, it has all the relays for protection, which
are interlinked with PLC control and the Motors for which they are
providing safety.
Some of the relays are for following purposes:
 For rupture disc: rupture disc burns out in case of interruption in
any pump’s operation and change in pressure.
 Flow of methanol is checked, one relay activates alarm and other
operates to cutoff operation.
  For changing Jet-point: to check flow of air in blower systems;
pressure of air must be kept up to a point, if its low it will cause
a blast, so a relay is provided to operate if pressure is low.
 Temperature of reactor.
 Temperature of vaporizer; it is set to 100 degrees normally, if its
low the relay will operate.
 DTH output temp.: if its very high then relay must operate.
 R1111 safety system is used in main feed line of methanol with a
solenoid switch.
A timer is provided to link main system with safety system.
Whole system is divided into four sub-systems; each system has one
absorber, one reactor and other related components which are shown
below in the tables:
Distributed load of system #1 and #2:
Sr.no. Load Connected KW
System #1 & 2
1 Blower CMO 6 264
2 DTHY Heaters CMO 4-5 200
3 Formaldehyde CMO 2 33
4 Glue CMO 3 77
5 Utilities Storage area 281.87
6 Fire fighting 55
7 Lighting 15
8 Resin & Cement areas 50
9 Office building, canteen, labs and stores areas 50
10 Tube well 30
11 Chiller 30
Total Kilo Watts 1085.84
12 Formaldehyde pump P-3-3C 5.5
13 UF glue pump P-3-8A 11
14 Glue pump P-3-8B 11
15 Glue pump P-3-8C 11
16 Cooling Water Pump P-3-11A 29.4
17 Cooling Water Pump P-3-11B 29.4
18 Cooling Water Pump P-3-11C 15
19 Raw water pump P-3-12 3.6
20 Process Water Pump P-3-14 1.4
21 Process Water Pump P-3-15 2.9
22 Cooling tower fan U-3-1A,B,C,D 22
23 Water treatment U-3-2 3.6
24 Urea Crusher 14.5
25 Formaldehyde pump P-3-3D 5.5
26 Air compressor U-3-5A & B 28.14
27 Air drier U-3-5C 0.5
28 Boiler U-3-5C 10
29 Boiler feed pumps P-1-3A,B,C 39
Total Kilo Watts 2151.12

Distributed load of system #3 and #4:

Sr.no. Load Connected KW
System #3 & 4
1 Blower 264
2 DTH heaters 200
3 Cooling water pumps 120
4 Formaldehyde pumps 30
5 Boiler feed water pumps 30
6 Glue Vacuum pumps 30
7 Glue pumps 66
8 Reactor-2 stattier 15
9 Reactor-3 stattier 10
10 Cooling drums 18.65
11 Air compressor 30
12 Methanol offloading pumps 3.7
13 Cooling Tower C Fan 20
14 Cooling towers fans 22.5
15 Process Water pumps 5
16 DTH pumps 3
17 Process Vacuum pumps 1.49
18 Methanol Pump 3.65
19 Day tank pumps 30
20 Urea solution pumps 15
21 Urea elevator 15
22 Caustic soda pump 0.16
23 Air drier 0.55
24 Steam chiller 35
25 Workshop 50
Total Kilo Watts 1018.7

LT Panels:
Each LT panel mainly comprises of:
 Magnetic contactors
 Miniature circuit breakers
 Circuit breakers
 Timers
 Terminal blocks
LT Panels for manually controlled system are provided by ‘agelectric’
of Barcelona and for second system, the company is Electromech
Engineering Services of Islamabad, Pakistan.
Magnetic Contactors:
A magnetic contactor is a relay-controlled switch used to turn a power
control circuit on and off. It is electrically controlled and uses less
power than other circuits. A magnetic contactor comes in different
forms and capacities.

Components:
A magnetic contactor has three parts: power contacts, contact springs
and auxiliary contacts. The power contact creates, carries and
breaks the current in a magnetic contactor. The contact springs
create a sufficient amount of pressure on the contacts. Auxiliary
contacts perform signaling and interlocking maneuvers.

Here two types of starting is needed, one is Direct On Line (DOL)

and second is Star-Delta starting (Y-∆ starting). For DOL type,
the contactor has just to make the contact of motor directly to the
supply.

For motors with ratings greater than 7.5KW star-delta starting is used.
In star-delta method, the contact is made in star at starting and
after some time, when motor has acquired sufficient speed then
the contact is converted to delta.
This switching is done by three contactors; one is main contactor,
second is delta-contactor and third is star-contactor. At
starting, main contactor is connected along with star-contactor,
whose winding is shorted at one end. At this time, the circuit is
series circuit, thus provides large resistance to current so less
current flows in winding of the motor, which gives less speed at
starting. Less current and speed is apropos at starting as motor is
saved from burning due to heavy current and by mechanical
damage. Theoretically, for star-delta starting the current at
starting(Y-connection) is 1/3 times the current at running(delta-
connection).
Main contactor has a timer, either analog or electronic to give time for
switching between star or delta connection. The timer has a bi-
metallic strip to give the delay time through heating. The
switching time can be adjusted by turning the knob of timer. After
the switching time of timer, star-contactor is opened and delta-
contactor is connected; now the circuit becomes a parallel circuit,
offers less resistance so large current flows now.
With the main contactor, there is a CT for measurement and a thermal
protection relay to protect from overheating. Some auxiliary
contacts are also provided on the contactors, these are not a part
of the contactors, but provided for indication through lighting and
for alarms.
 L1
L2
L3
E

1> 1> 1>

O/L

M
3 Ph

DOL STARTER circuit

For motors with ratings less than
7.5KW
 L1
L2
L3
E

1> 1> 1>

O/L

M
3 Ph

STAR-DELTA STARTER for 7.5KW or

above KW rating motors.

MCBs:
After starting circuit, MCBs are provided for the protection of part of
the circuit after contactors and up to the motor’s own circuit.

LT Panel for 132KW Blower Motor:

It has a circuit breaker for further protection, which has two CTs for
measurement. It has large size contactors, including main contactor
and star- and delta-contactors; it has electronic timer, phase-fault
control relay and MCBs. The above starter is also for 132KW motor.

=>In the auto-controlled system, there are no distribution channels.

Busbars run throughout the LT panels, so main circuit breakers are
inside the LT panels and the LT panel’s assembly is also there. Else the
circuitry is same as that of previous system.
Distributed Control System(DCS):
The DCS is a control system, which collects the data from field and
decides what to do with them. Data can be stored for future reference,
used for simple process control, use in conjunction with data from
another part of the plant for advanced control strategies.
DCS must have operator console, engineering station, modules for
history, data and control and I/O (input/output).
In WNC; following softwares are used:
• RS Logix 5000; for programming of DCS.
• Intouch; to provide HMI (human-machine interface).
• RS Links; for networking between above two.
In the control room of WNC, there are four computers as operator
consoles and PLC panels are also in the same room. Two computers
control systems operated through PLC of system #1 and #2 and rest
two are for system #3 and#4.
PLC/DCS panel:
It has following components, shown in a diagram to make the flow
clear:

Analog power Digital Power

Supply(24V) Supply

Operator Digital /analog Digital output

DCS Input Card
consoles(PC) cards

Relays

Contactors
Control through DCS is shown through following circuit:

The process is clearly shown through above circuit, the input cards of PLC panel receive
data from transmitters installed in the plants, and then it gives output to control valve,
through output cards to the control valve. The operation of control valve depends on the
reading received and the set-point given. The output of the PLC is in the range of 4 to
20mA.
Handheld Communicator (HHC):
This is an instrument used to check and calibrate the pressure
transmitters installed in the plants. The HHC used in WNC is by the
company, Fuji Electric Systems. It can be used to check following
things:
• Tag No. : e.g. • Calibration ,
PT-1209 Output adjust
• Model No. • Data:
• Serial No. & measured data
Software at the moment
Version in percentage
• Engineering and bars.
unit : Bar • Self diagnoses
• Range limit : • Printer (printer
• Measuring option)
range • External switch
• Damping lock
• Output mode :if • Transmitter
LIN, means display
linear oputput. • Linearize
• Burnout • Rerange
direction :it • Saturate
maybe HOLD current
etc. • Write protect
 • History
[Ref: http://www.fic-net.jp/eng]

Same instrument or any similar instrument can

be used to calibrate Temperature transmitters in
the plants. Temperature transmitters’ use
sensors to measure temperature, which are
bimetallic devices; they sense temperature
through heating and unequal expansion of both
the metals.

Brief overview of control System in

Wah Nobel Acetates Limited:

Wah Nobel Acetates produces Acetic acid, Ethyl

acetate and Butyl acetate. Here two boilers are
used of 5 tons each, because here less air is
required, as compared to processes at Wah
Nobel Chemicals. Chillers use 125KW motors,
largest load is 132KW motor of compressor. Total
load is 1100KW.
Here I learned mainly about DCS; because
electrical power distribution is same as that of
WNC. Following softwares are used:
• DCS (by B&R Company)
• Intouch 5.1; to provide HMI
• Profibus network.
Panels in the control room has temperature
converters (MTL5073), which have 250ohm
resistors, they receive signals from RTD and
thermocouples in form of current (4-20mA) and
convert into 1-5 volts. Safety system’s input is at
MTL7187+ and output is MTL7128+.
Loops in a control system:
There can two types of loops, Open loop and
Closed loop.
Open loop:
If there is just a transmitter connected at any
point on the plant, along with a valve, and a man
observes the indication of the transmitter. The
observer will open or close the valve as required.
It’s an open loop. In this loop, there is no control
provided by DCS, only control is through manual
control.
Closed loop:
Closed loop systems utilize feedback to make
decisions. Feedback is the state of the
system/valve in response to output signal sent
from the controller to the valve in the field.
Basically, the closed loop consists of a
transmitter, control valve and controller. The
controller checks state of the system through
transmitter and sends order to control valve to
close or open. After action of the valve, controller
again checks the state, this makes a closed loop.
There are 56 control loops in the system of Wah
Nobel Acetates Ltd.
Another type is
Cascade Control Loop:
In this type of loop, there is one control valve
and two controllers. The two controllers are
related in such a way that one’s output is other’s
set-point. Its used in an interconnected system.
For example, if tank no.1 takes steam through an
inlet, and its own output goes to another tank
(tank no.2), then temperature of second tank
depends on temperature of first, which itself
depends on the input quantity of steam. So a
control valve will be provided at steam inlet pipe
and two transmitters will be used to measure
temperature of two tanks, and thus two
controllers to control these temperatures
through control valve.

(Figure shows cascade loop of the example

discussed above)
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation is basically about measuring
flow, temperature, pressure and level at any
point in the plant through transmitters and
RTDs/thermocouples (temperature). At Wah
Nobel Acetates, Fuji’s transmitters are used (LT,
PT and pneumatic flow transmitter), control
valves are of Samson and Koso, magnetic flow
transmitters are from Krone (German). RTDs
(PT100) are of E+H (German company).
The transmitters in the plant, when take a signal
in the form of current (4-20mA), convert it into
Kg/cm2 (flow) or KPa or psi (pressure) or degrees
centigrade or centimeters of level, and that
signal is converted into volts for input cards of
the DCS. All these signals have a defined limit of
minimum and maximum values, as in following
table:

Standard signals
Percentag mA psi Kg/cm2 KPa Volt
e
0% 4 3 0.2 20 1
25% 8 6 0.4 40 2
50% 12 9 0.6 60 3
75% 16 12 0.8 80 4
100% 20 15 1.0 100 5
The value of 4mA is also called live zero,
because if current is 4mA, it means a
temperature of 0oC. Same is the case with other
parameters.
Following diagrams show travel of input and
output signal from DCS to valves in the field:
Output signal
Output
Network
Card
HMI card MP100 CP100
(A/O or
(NW100)
D/O)

On/Off or
Control Valve

Transmitter
Input Signal at field

Input Card
HMI NW100 CP100 MP100
(A/I or D/I)

Here CP is the central processing unit of DCS and

MP is mega-processor. There is a memory card
attached to MP.
Following are some parameters, which I
practically examined:
1) Checking value of current/voltage at
input/output cards (of any signal):
i. Indicator’s tag at HMI gives
the title of the controller e.g.
TRC2305. This will be same
on profibus or may differ from
it, in that case; it will be
written on the indicator’s
small window (that appears
by clicking on it).
 ii. Address of this indicator is
found from data shown on
profibus; this address is in the
form R1-S3-C1-P, means
rack1, slot 3, channel 1.
iii. Above address does not give
pin numbers. They can be
found from the charts which
show the pin numbers along
with addresses (pinned at
panel’s doors).
iv. Now, as pin numbers are also
known, we can locate pins
and using a multi-meter,
current or voltage can be
checked.
v. Suppose valve is opened
30%:
Current should be:
(16/100)*30=4.8
4+4.8=8.8mA
Voltage should be:
(4/100)*30=1.2
1+1.2=2.2Volts

2) To check validity of any reading of

indicator on HMI:
a) Through Temperature converters:
i. By Resistance’s value (at
input): check value of
resistance by multi-meter,
then locate value in
resistance-temperature chart,
adding the row and column
will give temperature in
degrees centigrade.
ii. By current at input: measure
current by multi-meter,
subtract 4 from measured
value (let say ‘I’)… the
maximum and minimum
values allowed are given at
profibus and also shown at
HMI, using these:
Actual_value=(I-
4)x[max_value-min_value]/16
 iii. By voltage at output: now
measure voltage at output
(let say V); now the actual
value is given by:
Actual_value=(V-
1)x[max_value-min_value]/4
b) through sensing element:
By thermocouple: resistance of
thermocouple is measured, by
measuring values of two paths, and
subtracting resistance of return path.
Again the temperature will be
measured by the chart for resistance
and temperature.
If value shown on indicator and that
calculated by above method match,
means that DCS is working fine, the
problem is in the transmitter itself, if
the value shown is unusual.