December 13, 2010 - SAFCO's Jubail Saudi Arabia Urea plant, the largest in the world, is successfully running its SF4 unit using MAX APC. Project leader and MAX APC inventor Dr. Charles Cutler commented, "We built a MAX APC controller for the world's largest Ammonia Plant with 41 manipulated variables and 160 controlled variables. The main sub controller was commissioned in April and has not been turned off since then, except when we requested it to be off. Normally there are four operators assigned to the main console each shift and they alternate in pairs so that two operators are always watching the board.
The operators love the controller, since it takes care of keeping everything in balance. The remaining sub controllers were completed in June and they have not been turned off. We then built them a training simulator that had the 41 independent manipulated variables and 610 dependent variables that were presented on 32 displays. The Saudis have given us a contract to remotely support their control engineers for the maintenance of the controller and simulator.
SAFCO has placed an additional order this month for over $200,000 of Cutler APC software."