MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

1968 - Alabama Years

Bleach Plant (continued)

To explain the controller, think of your household thermostat. You set the point, the temperature you want, and the thermostat controls the heating/air conditioning system. The B-plant had six stages of bleaching each using different chemicals. Each stage had a group of controllers. The bleach plant operator’s job was to set the point for each of the various controllers for each of the six stages and to make adjustments in those set points as conditions changed. The idea was that the computer was going take over control of those set points with the goal in mind to improve the overall operation of the bleach plant.

The operator’s control room had a control panel that was about 20 feet long containing many controllers and several round 24-hour recording charts that recorded what went on in the plant during the past day. The first time I walked in the control room I noticed that every single one of the controllers were on Manual, not one controller was in the automatic position. This is akin to turning your household thermostat off and when you feel cold you would go start the gas burner in your furnace, then turn on the blower to move the hot air around. When you feel warm enough you go turn off the gas burner and the blower. The recording charts reflected this chaotic method of operation. What a mess!