1661892666602 Molhart

Hungarian Oil Refinery Receives HART Award

Feb. 10, 2011
The MOL Danube Refinery Received the 2010 HART Plant of the Year Award for Its Implementation of a HART Network in Conjunction With an Overhauled Plant-Wide Maintenance Strategy

The MOL Danube Refinery in Százhalombatta, Hungary, has received the 2010 HART Plant of the Year Award. The HART Communication Foundation chose the refinery, part of independent Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Group, for its creativity in applying HART Communication.

With a capacity of 162,000 oil barrels (bbl) per day and some 1,200 employees, the oil refinery uses online device diagnostics to prevent unplanned shutdowns and plant slow-downs by allowing engineers to detect and resolve automation asset problems before they become critical.

MOL engineers implemented the HART network as part of a plant-wide refining maintenance strategy after strategic planning that began in 2002 to increase operational reliability. “We made the decision going forward to purchase intelligent field instruments that support the HART Protocol and then to develop and use the in-depth and sophisticated communication options embedded in those HART instruments,” says Gábor Bereznai, MOL’s instrumentation and electrical department head.

Ron Helson (second from left), executive director of the HART Communication Foundation, presents the 2010 HART Plant of the Year Award to MOL Danube Refinery.


Connecting HART-enabled devices into an online diagnostics system has changed the way the MOL maintenance department runs its operation. Online device diagnostics—instrument signals going directly to the plant maintenance and control systems—makes it possible to prevent unplanned shutdowns and plant slow-downs by allowing engineers to detect and resolve automation asset problems before they become critical.

More than 30,000 of the refinery’s 50,000 instruments are HART-enabled with 3,700 of these devices—mostly control valves and instruments used in critical control loops—connected directly into computerized maintenance management systems. Since the introduction of the diagnostics, the number of valves selected for repair during a planned shutdown has dropped from 60% to about 5%, and the refinery has saved an estimated $2 million in reduced maintenance costs and avoided unscheduled shutdowns.

Sponsored Recommendations

HMI Development Software Supports Industrial Automation Efficiency

Discover how today’s connected HMIs help manufacturers optimize operations

Minimizing downtime with linear guide wheels in dirty environments

Is debris causing costly downtime and equipment failure? Learn how advanced self-cleaning guide wheel systems with solid lubrication can tackle debris, reduce wear, and keep operations...

2024 State of Technology Report: PLCs and PACs

Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and programmable automation controllers (PACs) are the brains of the machine in many regards. They have evolved over the years.This new State...

2024 State of Technology Report: Packaging Equipment

Special considerations and requirements make packaging equipment an interesting vertical market unto itself. This new State of Technology Report from the editors of ...