Client involved
An important Indian client required a reliable and safe system for top loading concentrated sulfuric acid (98.21%) into road tankers, in a high-intensity industrial operating environment.
The critical nature of the fluid — highly corrosive and hazardous for operators — required:
- maximum operational safety during loading,
- accurate control of the transferred quantities,
- reduction of the risk of spills, accidental contact, and human error,
- integration of access systems and safety solutions for operators in the loading bay,
- guaranteed operational continuity during loading, even in the event of a failure, without loss of process control and without impacts on operator safety.
Zipfluid solution
Zipfluid designed and supplied a complete and integrated solution consisting of:
- 8 top loading arms LA130V
- 8 dedicated metering skids
- Pneumatic folding stairways and 16 safety showers
- Software with a control system featuring hot redundant architecture (at the bottom you will find a non-specific in-depth section)
Let’s take a closer look.
1
8 top loading arms LA130V in AISI 316L
specifically for sulfuric acid, equipped with:
- vapor recovery system,
- level device,
- pneumatic balancing for controlled and safe handling.
2
8 dedicated metering skids
Each equipped with:
- Coriolis flow meter,
- pneumatic control and emergency valves,
- Siemens PLC with redundant architecture.
The redundancy is always active and allows automatic takeover by the backup system, ensuring operational continuity and making the entire plant first-failure proof.
3
Pneumatic folding stairways
and platform design with canopy, to ensure safe access for operators during all loading phases.
Additionally, 16 safety showers were installed, positioned to protect the loading areas.
4
Software with a control system featuring hot redundant architecture
To ensure operational continuity, we designed the control system with hot redundant architecture, which guarantees continuous plant operation even in the event of a fault in one of the processors, without stopping the loading operations.
The entire system was designed to operate under the required process conditions, ensuring chemical resistance, long-term reliability, and compliance with industrial safety standards.
The adoption of a hot redundant control logic, combined with redundant bidirectional communication, allows the system to maintain full control of operations even in the presence of a fault, isolating the anomaly and preserving process safety.
Diagnostic interface
As previously mentioned, here we developed and implemented the control system with hot redundant architecture to ensure operational continuity.
Here we will explore the innovations of this screen. The topics we will cover are:
Information menu
The screen displays the status menu of a single bay, providing complete and real-time diagnostics of the system's digital and analog signals.
The digital inputs list all field conditions – such as level sensors, valves, start/stop buttons, safety devices, and grounding monitoring – with visual indicators that make it easy to immediately identify the current status. The digital output section highlights active actuators and commands, including valves, pumps, alarms, and signal lamps. The panel is completed by analog channels, dedicated to process measurements such as flow or any additional signals.
This detailed view is designed to support maintenance personnel and operators during troubleshooting, ensuring precise control over the entire automation chain of each bay.
- monitor the real-time health of the network infrastructure
- take timely action in case of anomalies.
Setup Menù
The screen displays the configuration parameters menu of a single bay, dedicated to calibration and setting the values used by the batch controller during loading operations.
The interface is divided into three sections:
- Actual Values, which shows the system's current values in real time;
- Set Values, where the operator can enter the desired parameters for the loading cycle;
- Default Values, which provides the factory or project reference values.
The adjustable parameters include nominal flow, reduced flow, initial and final reduction percentages, and the K-Factor for flow meter calibration.
- precise and transparent process configuration
- measurement reliability
- operational flexibility in managing the loading bays
Conclusion
The screen displays the status menu of a single bay, providing complete and real-time diagnostics of the system's digital and analog signals.
The digital inputs list all field conditions – such as level sensors, valves, start/stop buttons, safety devices, and grounding monitoring – with visual indicators that make it easy to immediately identify the current status. The digital output section highlights active actuators and commands, including valves, pumps, alarms, and signal lamps. The panel is completed by analog channels, dedicated to process measurements such as flow or any additional signals.
This detailed view is designed to support maintenance personnel and operators during troubleshooting, ensuring precise control over the entire automation chain of each bay.
Setup Menù
The screen displays the configuration parameters menu of a single bay, dedicated to calibration and setting the values used by the batch controller during loading operations.
The interface is divided into three sections:
- Actual Values, which shows the system's current values in real time;
- Set Values, where the operator can enter the desired parameters for the loading cycle;
- Default Values, which provides the factory or project reference values.
The adjustable parameters include nominal flow, reduced flow, initial and final reduction percentages, and the K-Factor for flow meter calibration.
- precise and transparent process configuration
- measurement reliability
- operational flexibility in managing the loading bays
Conclusion
With this project, Zipfluid supported the client in creating a high-safety loading bay for sulfuric acid, combining process engineering, measurement systems, and operator protection solutions.
A concrete example of how integrated design is essential when handling highly aggressive fluids in complex industrial environments.
