【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Processing Equipment】From 2012 to 2023: China’s first fully domestic PLC and RTU control systems for oil and gas pipelines were put into operation

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This post was last edited by Desert Fish on 2023-11-28 at 07:58. Looking back at the ten-year development of chemical technology, let’s celebrate the prosperity and strength of modern China. This is just a starting point; more participation will make the discussion more lively. Hainan Chuan becomes even better with you here. [A comprehensive overview of the ten-year development of chemical equipment] – continuous updates available; feel free to join the discussions at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html. Prevention first, life above all. ----------------------------------------- On November 8, 2023, the first domestically produced remote control terminal (RTU) was put into use at the Huanghe South valve room on the Liji branch line of the crude oil pipeline, operated by the Pipeline Network Group’s Shandong branch. This marks the commissioning of China’s first fully domestically produced RTU control system for oil and gas pipelines, effectively solving the critical bottleneck issue in the control systems for long-distance oil and gas pipelines. 　　Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and RTUs are core foundational devices for industrial automation and intelligence; they are important components of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. They enable remote control of equipment in stations and valve rooms, which is essential for ensuring safe, stable, and efficient oil transportation. In China, the automation and control of long-distance oil and gas pipelines mostly rely on foreign SCADA system software and PLC control methods; foreign control systems are used in over 80% of domestic oil and gas pipeline projects. Previously, China’s PLC and RTU industry chains were incomplete, facing threats such as a shortage of chips and software backdoors for a long time; this prevented the country from achieving self-sufficiency and control, thereby severely impacting **energy security**. 　　To break foreign monopolies and improve the level of security, autonomy, and control in industrial control systems, in 2021, **Pipeline Network Group and China Electronics Corporation jointly launched a central-state-owned enterprise innovation project titled \"Development and Application of Fully Domestic PLCs and RTUs for Oil and Gas Pipelines.\" The goal was to achieve a 100% domestic rate for hardware components in control systems through research and development as well as the promotion of these developed solutions, thereby completely resolving the issue of reliance on imported technologies in core control systems for oil and gas pipelines. 　　**Aligning itself with mainstream foreign control system products, the Pipeline Network Group carried out a series of tasks including research on the needs of oil and gas pipelines, discussions on function development, factory testing, and field testing, and invited domestic experts on multiple occasions to review the system functions and testing plans. Through the efforts of various parties, the project met the requirements for on-site industrial control, and ultimately, the first sets of PLC and RTU equipment were put into operation at Linyi Station on the Linji double-track line and the Huanghe South remote control valve room. 　　100% of the components in the domestic PLC and RTU control systems are of domestic origin, enabling the control systems for long-distance oil and gas pipelines to be truly independent, secure, and reliable, with improved performance; their overall functions and performance metrics reach the advanced level in China’s pipeline application sector. The deployment of PLCs and RTUs in production not only enhances the protection level of oil and gas pipeline control systems, but also breaks the long-standing situation in which high-end control systems in the oil and gas storage and transportation industry have been dependent on others, which is of great significance for promoting the comprehensive improvement of infrastructure construction in China. 　　Next, domestically produced PLC and RTU control systems for oil and gas pipelines will be applied in refined oil and natural gas pipelines as well, in order to improve the safety level of China’s long-distance oil and gas pipeline infrastructure and ensure **energy security.