A chemical manufacturer in the Hunter has started moving its plant onto a new control system, designed and commissioned by Newcastle firm ControlX Engineering. The first stage, the sulphuric acid storage, went live in September 2026.
The plant’s controls were spread across an older board that had been added to over the years. Replacing it in one shutdown would have stopped production, so the plant chose to retire it a piece at a time. ControlX designed a new main control panel with room for every stage that follows, so each part of the plant can move across when production allows.
The acid storage came first. Two storage tanks now have level alarms, pump sequencing and flow totalising, with level displays, a beacon and a sounder at the tanks. The emergency stop at the tanks isolates the acid equipment. Those at the main panel and the bund isolate the whole plant. A remote panel at the tanks connects to the main panel over Ethernet, and the main panel was sized for the whole plant with 25 per cent spare capacity. The program was tested on the bench in Sandgate before it went to site.
The work stayed in the region. ControlX did the electrical design and the programming. Electix built the panels and installed them. The main panel runs on a Siemens S7-1200 with a 12-inch operator screen. Auxiliary equipment runs on JasperX, a controller designed in Newcastle by the ControlX team.
“Most plants in the Hunter don’t have a controls engineer on staff,” said Alex Sharikov, director of ControlX Engineering. “When the engineers, the panel builder and the electrician are all a short drive away, a plant can change its control system in small steps and keep producing while it does.”
The scrubber, the reactors and the remaining storage are programmed and will be commissioned in stages.
About ControlX
ControlX Engineering is a controls and automation company in Sandgate and a HunterNet member. It works on PLC, HMI and SCADA systems for plants, machines and pump stations across the Hunter.
