Large-Scale Distillery Production Facility Design and Automation

Large-Scale Distillery Production Facility Design and Automation

Industry: Distilled Spirits
Project Type: Process Engineering | Automation | Controls Electrical | Procurement | Facility Design

Project Overview

A confidential distilling company partnered with Matrix Technologies to design its first large-scale production facility and significantly increase its capacity for distilled spirits. The building design and major distillation equipment were already complete before process engineering started, so the facility had to be engineered around those fixed constraints. The project also began at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team kept it moving through remote collaboration and virtual design coordination.

Scope of Work

Matrix Technologies provided design, procurement, and automation for the new distillery, including:

• Complete process design around the existing pot stills, covering grain handling, cooking, fermentation, product handling, utilities, and clean-in-place (CIP) systems
• Support for multiple recipes, with controls to prevent cross-contamination between production runs
• 3D modeling and full facility design to integrate the process equipment into the existing building
• Design of six independent control panels and the network architecture, plus procurement of equipment and panel hardware
• An automation platform built on Rockwell Automation ControlLogix, FactoryTalk Batch, and FactoryTalk View SE, with distributed HMIs and handheld tablets for operators
• Automated fluid transfers, valve sequencing, level, temperature, and pressure control, product routing, and system interlocks

Project Results

The client now has a large-scale distillery that significantly increases its production capacity and can run multiple product recipes. Automated process control and validated cleaning systems keep product quality consistent, and the automation platform can scale as the business grows.