Whether the goal is improved plant capacity, more efficient information handover, or a reduction in the frequency and impact of plant incidents, the latest solutions available to the chemical industry can only add to production efficiencies. Here we examine three approaches to improved plant operation and cutting costs.

Aspen Technology has successfully completed a project to apply a new production control solution at the BASF steam cracker plant located in Antwerp, Belgium. The project was implemented in 44 weeks while benefits include increased plant capacity and improved control of unit key operating variables.
The Antwerp facility is BASF's second-largest production unit and manufactures basic chemicals and specialty chemical products. The steam cracker generates over 730000t/y of ethylene, making it one of the largest ethylene producers in Europe. The new production control solution was built on DMCplus multi-variable control technology. This is an advanced process control system capable of maintaining the plant at its optimal operating point by driving the manufacturing process consistently against multiple constraints, and holding it there safely. The plant's optimal operating point will be determined by an on-line closed-loop third-party optimiser.
"We are completely satisfied with the results of this project," said Philippe Alluyn, production director cracker, BASF Antwerpen. "Not only was the project completed on schedule in a very short time, but the measured benefits have totally met our expectations for increased plant capacity and controller on-stream factors."
Ethylene plants like the BASF steam cracker operations are characterised by their large capacity, complex design and frequent feed changes. To operate most efficiently, and to maximise throughput, each element of the manufacturing process must be operated simultaneously against its particular constraints. The DMCplus control system drives the ethylene process consistently against these multiple constraints, increasing feed rates through the plant and resulting in significant economic benefits.
In the application at BASF Antwerp, 13 controllers encompass the ten cracking furnaces, the raw gas compressor and all major downstream units related to ethylene and propylene manufacturing. The largest controller controls the entire ethylene separation train, from the raw gas compressor to the C2 splitter column, including both refrigeration circuits; this single controller adjusts 36 manipulated variables in the process to maintain 82 controlled variables within limits.
"The fast implementation and rapid returns achieved in this facility are typical of the many similar projects the company has undertaken in the chemicals industry," noted Mary Palermo, co-chief operating officer of AspenTech. "Our deep knowledge of the process industries, and our best-in-class production control solutions, make us uniquely qualified to enable companies to become more profitable and competitive," she added.
While most model predictive control technologies can claim to achieve economic returns, the key issue is to maximise those returns over the life of the control implementation. For this, controller service factors and performance against the steam cracker's profit-limiting constraints are the key success factors. In large-scale projects like the BASF Antwerp steam cracker, DMCplus multi-variable control has proved that it can deliver increased capacity, without compromising the control system service factor.
AspenTech's installed base of model predictive control represents over 50per cent of the world's applications. DMCplus is a key foundation layer within AspenTech's production control solution. Executed on a Windows NT platform over a Honeywell distributed control system (DCS), DMCplus interfaces to processes directly with the DCS or indirectly through process information management systems. It integrates an off-line system for controller analysis and design with an on-line system for implementation.
BASF Antwerpen is the largest chemical complex in Belgium. The BASF Antwerpen factory comprises more than 50 production facilities, plus various technical workshops and laboratories. The activities are concentrated on the production of mineral fertilisers, fibre intermediates, plastics, finishing products and basic chemicals.

Reducing plant incidents

In September, the Automation and Control Solutions business of Honeywell launched what it claims is a new standard in operator effectiveness solutions. This solution builds on services, methodologies and technologies developed by the Abnormal Situation Management (ASM) Consortium, a Honeywell-led joint R&D group focused on developing solutions that can reduce the frequency and impact of plant incidents.
The ASM Consortium estimates a potential 40per cent reduction in operator-related incidents with the implementation of effective ASM practices. Providing plant operators with solutions to detect anomalies before they develop into incidents offers a competitive advantage over traditional process automation systems.
A key component of Honeywell's solution is GUSPro, new operator effectiveness technology that is fully integrated into and delivered with the company's TPS system to enhance process automation systems capabilities. GUSPro maximises operator awareness, minimises operator response time and optimises operator performance to eliminate or reduce the impact of abnormal situations.
GUSPro delivers the combined benefits and power of the TPS system Global User Station (GUS) and @sset.MAX Solutions, which enable operation that is closer to optimal conditions with increased availability and fewer incidents. GUSPro is available as an option to existing Global User Stations and can be purchased with new Global User Stations. By upgrading to Global User Stations, Universal Station users also can benefit from GUSPro's integrated operating environment.

Improved decision-making

Offered in addition to benchmarking, alarm rationalisation services and operations environment design services, GUSPro improves operators' decision-making capabilities by providing them with immediate access to essential information. Alarm help, operating procedures, equipment maintenance information, advanced trending and trend analysis tools are all available to the operator from process graphics in the GUS display environment.
A well-designed alarm and alert system is also essential to operator effectiveness. Too often alarm systems are cluttered with conditions that are not truly alarms. However, advanced user alert tools improve the alarm over-load problem by off-loading the monitoring of these conditions and notifying operators early enough to prevent a condition from becoming an alarm.
Ensuring the right alarms for every plant operating state also improves the operator's awareness of problems and selection of responses. GUSPro provides advanced alarm configuration management to reduce the effort in designing the alarm system. It also allows users to maintain the benefits of that well-designed alarm system by storing desired alarm settings for monitoring and enforcing these settings on the control system. Additionally, alarm configuration management provides operators with online details of possible alarm causes and recommended operator actions.

Best practice for plant handover

Unveiling a new approach to plant information management, the Process & Building Solutions division of Intergraph Corporation has launched Information Handover into Operations and Maintenance and Equipment Datasheet Management best practice templates. The templates are the first in a series of highly-focused solutions designed to solve key business problems for plant owners and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms operating in the process industries.
For facility owners, the Information Handover best practice template enables more efficient engineering by reducing cost and risk, increasing data quality and shortening handover schedules. The Equipment Datasheet Management best practice template, for EPCs, provides a system for effectively handling equipment data and improves project quality while reducing costs. The best practice templates comprise a mix of on-site business and technical consulting, configuration, deployment, training and support services along with the software foundation. All template packages feature a calculated return on investment (ROI) target and defined budget and deployment period.
With a projected saving of 60per cent on total handover costs, the best practice template for Information Handover enables efficient transfer of accurate as-built design engineering data at project end to the plant owner's systems to support operations and maintenance (O&M). Early in the plant life cycle, the template defines the engineering information and data format required for O&M and is the foundation of a single data source for delivering, storing, managing and sharing as-built deliverables. The Information Handover template cuts time to plant startup, lowers risk, shrinks the volume of standard documentation by about 80per cent and reduces the total volume of as-built data deliverables up to 50per cent.
Handover of information represents a number of problems and significant expense - up to five per cent of capital costs - to the plant owner.
The best practice template for Information Handover effectively solves problems such as multiple data sources with incompatible formats, redundant data, inconsistent or poor data quality as well as population of O&M systems with accurate, structured and properly formatted data.