New SCADA System: Integrating Edge Computing, MQTT, and Cloud Platforms

Image Source: InductiveAutomation

Author | Jim Meyers

While making the system easier to meet compliance requirements, manufacturers can also gain other benefits. Just ask Roeslein Renewable Energy (RAE), which has invested in a new SCADA system that has improved not only compliance but many other areas as well.

Based in St. Louis, USA, RAE operates and develops biogas washing facilities that convert agricultural and industrial organic waste into renewable natural gas and sustainable byproducts. The system integrator Roeslein & Associates (also part of the RAE group) upgraded RAE with a new SCADA system, utilizing several modern technologies, including cloud service platforms, SCADA platforms, edge computing, and Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) capabilities.

The new system reliably collects data from different locations, stores it in one place, and provides user access. This system helps RAE meet government compliance requirements and can assist other companies in meeting these requirements. A secure network can support the addition of more companies, with each company only able to access its own data. The system provides a streamlined way to visualize data, assess operational status, and generate necessary monthly reports to ensure compliance.

The system provides a single source of truth and simplifies the data submission process. RAE also uses this new platform daily to manage and optimize production and can continuously add new features.

Check all valves to confirm whether any valve is cracked or leaking.

“Connecting all the components is not difficult,” said Mitchell Leefers, the systems engineer responsible for the project implementation. “Using Amazon cloud service resources usually requires a learning curve, but with edge technology and MQTT, everything connects perfectly.”

The project involves two separate data acquisition systems. One can handle the data required for compliance reporting and can securely include other companies. This system has a virtual private cloud. It also includes Ethernet directly connected to Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) to ensure reliable edge device communication. Data is transmitted via MQTT. The second system is solely for RAE to collect all its process data. This data is used for Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE), troubleshooting, maintenance tracking, and process improvement.

“When we decided to split it into two systems, we didn’t have any ready-made models from previous projects,” Leefers said. “We made this decision entirely based on the information provided by the client and our past experience.”

The SCADA system helps RAE report compliance to government licensing agencies. RAE’s financial manager Ivailo Chervenkov said, “It provides up-to-date operational data through a user-friendly interface, greatly facilitating our compliance work. It also allows us to simplify data collection and distribution in a more efficient manner. Before using this system, all data was collected, filtered, and distributed through cumbersome manual methods.”

Now, RAE can leverage this data for more features to further enhance operations. Chervenkov said, “The system enables us to expand reporting efforts to address the increasing capacity, as well as the challenges posed by more facilities and increased complexity. Data has also become more reliable and available, speeding up critical production and forecasting activities. The system helps us quickly identify problematic areas and find real-time solutions, thereby enhancing the efficiency and quality of information and decision-making.”

RAE’s Vice President of Engineering Eric Bancks said, “The SCADA software interacts with our daily reports, allowing single-point access to data. It provides tools for accessing and visualizing historical process data for process analysis for optimization and troubleshooting. We can plot historical biogas production against biogas forecasting models and modify forecasting models with empirical data, tracking methane recovery and methane imbalance. The data is used to identify ‘suspicious’ instruments to expedite repairs.”

The new SCADA system saves a lot of time while solving problems. Bancks said, “Since most sites are far from our office, we can now collect data and analyze it in the office, providing guidance to the field without the need for a one-way travel of up to four or five hours.”

Using the analytical tools within the SCADA platform for trend analysis also brings other benefits. Bancks said, “Our process team extensively uses customized trend tools. It allows our process team to plot multiple variables on the same chart and download data as CSV files for further manipulation and analysis.” Customized trend tools come with different data queries, such as minute snapshots, minute averages, hourly averages, etc. This helps manage data at any frequency required by the task.

RAE has already foreseen the immense value that better and more accessible data brings, which is crucial for decision-making and budgeting. It provides consistent, accurate, and timely data for different employees throughout the company. It also allows different management levels to use various types of information, thereby helping improve decision-making.

Software that creates compliance records can also help organizations without compliance requirements. “Such systems can be used for any type of data collection and analysis,” Leefers said. “We have established a highly available and redundant system that connects to a central database via the internet, reliably acquiring data from operations anywhere in the world. This is the solution to our problem, but it could also be a solution for other different scenarios.”

The system integrator is adding new features to this system. “We are integrating a barcode system for more efficient tracking of natural gas transportation,” Leefers said.

Many production sites do not have direct connections to natural gas pipelines, so when refueling trucks, natural gas must be sent to unloading stations to inject into the pipeline. Each batch must be tracked with a document containing the information of the natural gas loaded on the truck. While most of the work can be done manually, it requires a lot of operational personnel to manually input data to create documents, and manual input is prone to errors. The new barcode system will make tracking each batch of gas and its data easier and more reliable.