IIoT Improves Plant Sustainability
Plants consume a lot of energy so a slight improvement in energy efficiency can have a great impact on sustainability. Energy efficiency also has a significant impact on the profitability of the operation. 25 March was #EarthHour so once again I make it a point to share some personal thoughts on energy efficiency and loss control. So how can IIoT help plants become more sustainable?
I have previously written on how plants are using sensors and software for monitoring to reduce energy consumption and losses. But what if the plant personnel don’t have the time or expertise to monitor equipment efficiency and manage energy consumption on-prem? What energy efficiency and loss control solutions could be done remotely as a connected service from a corporate engineering center or by an external third party using IIoT-based solutions? As it turns out, energy conservation solutions lend themselves very well to IIoT-based connected services. That is, sensors in the plant would send the data to analytics software. When immediate action is required to improve energy efficiency the data must go straight to the operators; such as turning off idle equipment and reducing speed of other equipment such as cooling fans. When immediate action is not required, data is sent to analytics software in the cloud. Experts compile reports with recommendations such as cleaning, repair, or replacement of equipment like steam traps and heat exchangers. Using connected services thus reduces the burden on plant personnel.
The MORE Resource Efficiency Project
MORE is a development project for Real-time Monitoring and Optimization of Resource Efficiency in Integrated Processing Plants. The background and objective matches my own thinking very closely. The background is that plants up to now have relied on energy data collected infrequently and therefore averaged over long periods of time, e.g. a month or a year. The daily operational decisions in the plants influence energy consumption, but this connection up to now was not apparent due to too infrequent measurements or none at all.
The goal of MORE is to measure and monitor more frequently like hours or days, and with ever finer granularity such as for each unit and piece of equipment, to provide the necessary data to influence the operational decisions such that the plant efficiency is optimized and the environmental footprint is constantly minimized. A digital transformation of how the plant is operated.
New resource efficiency indicator (REI) KPIs and real-time model-based analytics were developed to support plant operators and plant managers.
Achieving MORE
Manually collecting data hourly for every energy stream for every piece of equipment or even plant units is not practical. Some plants even want the data by the minute. Similarly, manually testing and inspecting each steam trap, relief valve, heat exchanger, cooling tower, and air cooled heat exchanger etc. every day is not practical. The only practical way to do this data collection is using more automation. A second layer of automation beyond the control of the process itself; beyond the P&ID is needed. There is no need to change the existing control system and historian. There is no need to add a separate platform. The additional sensors and analytics software can plug into the existing platform.
Plants that were built on FOUNDATION fieldbus can easily deploy additional sensors, connecting them to existing field junction boxes. Since these measurements are by the minute, they need not load the fast sub-second control cycle.
Plants built on 4-20 mA and on-off signals can deploy additional sensors by first deploying wireless sensor networks and then deploying wireless sensors. Since the measurements are by the minute, these are ideal applications for wireless sensors.
Analytics apps with efficiency models for various process equipment take the data from the underlying sensors to determine if equipment is performing well or need overhaul or must be replaced.
Getting Started
Should every steam trap, relief valve, heat exchanger, cooling tower, and air cooled heat exchanger etc. be instrumented? Probably not. Therefore, it may be a good idea to do a plant modernization audit to identify which equipment makes sense to monitor. See further explanation of computerized energy management and monitoring of steam traps, relief valves, heat exchangers, cooling towers, air cooled heat exchangers, and other equipment in this essay:
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/saving-energy-one-bit-time-jonas-berge
Well, that’s my personal opinion. If you are interested in how the digital ecosystem is transforming process automation click “Follow” by my photo to not miss future updates. Click “Like” if you found this useful to you and share it with others if you think it would be useful to them.
20+ a?os de experiencia en distintos roles en la industria de Oil&Gas, también en el extranjero | Apasionado por la Tecnología y su aplicación en la Industria
7 年A very interesting reading, as usual, Jonas. I like specially the suitability of the acronym MORE, since is that what we need in order to keep our companies in the competition. Just automation is not enough, we need more, we need INSIGHT. How? adding measurements related with efficiency (air, water, fuel consumption) and predictive maintenance, symplifying their analysis offering the right information in the proper moment to the right people. It makes no sense to add more data in current crowded HMI just for indicate a problem or a deviation that can't be fixed or even can't be understood by the panel operator. To have on site a digital network deployed (wired or wireless) is obviously an advantage, it should be a must to for new facilities. Years ago, to have an automatic control loop for fuel in a heater was a big advantage face manual control, but today that's not enough, everybody in the business have it, so the advantage doesn't exist anymore but if you can be warned if it doesn't work properly, or if it's near to a sudden failure or even if fuel consumption can be reduced due to a better maintenance in your heat exchangers you can recover that advantage. Smart companies have realized it and they are using technology in a new useful way. Others not so brilliant just add more data but continue using it in the same way.