Grant: Applied Research Tools and Instruments Grants

Automation, process control and optimization is a progressive area in industries working toward improving process operations, lowering the costs, minimizing the energy consumption and labor dependency, and increasing process reliability. Many manufacturing, refining, as well as chemical, petrochemical and bio based industries in Sarnia region are moving towards using advanced automation and process control systems. However, this requires continues research and investigations in order to select and optimally utilize the proper methodologies and tools. In-house research and development is very costly for many companies, in particular for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). Lambton College, as an only post-secondary institution in the region, is responding to the regional research gap trough developing and executing applied research projects focused on nine core areas of strength with Instrumentation, Process Control, and Optimization being among them. Lambton College has a very well established and known Instrumentation and Control Engineering Technology (ICET) program which has attracted many regional, provincial, and national industries and academic institutions for specialized training and applied research. However, Lambton College's research capacities for related projects are out-dated and extremely limited. Most equipment is also used for teaching and training purposes and cannot be relocated for use by applied research clients. This proposal aims to enhance Lambton College's advanced process control capacity which will meet the needs of on-going and future applied research projects. The equipment to be purchased with proposal funding include: a Distributed Control System (DCS) and a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) System. Praxair, KmX, Feher and FC Industries has indicated their interest to develop various applied research projects using proposed equipment.