Chemical Engineering May 2023 - 32

Feature Report
A Boundless Future for
Process Control in the CPI
Emerging automation-system architectures will provide the foundation required for
optimized operations across the enterprise
Claudio Fayad
Emerson
F
IN BRIEF
NEW NEEDS
CHANGING NEEDS, NEW
ERA
OLD STRATEGIES
STRUGGLE
INTEGRATING
OPERATIONS
UNIFIED SOFTWARE
ECOSYSTEM
A SINGLE TECHNOLOGY
STACK
MULTIPLE DOMAIN
OPTIMIZATION
PREPARING FOR THE
FUTURE
or decades, when a person mentioned
process control, most engineers'
minds went to proportional
integral derivative (PID) loop control,
interlocks, safety and advanced process
control. Perhaps even more in the chemical
process industries (CPI) than many others,
the ability to manage these aspects of control,
and correctly configure them, has been
the key component to improve operations,
and as such, the main criteria in selecting
control systems. Users were laser focused
on designing systems that ran individual
plants as efficiently as possible, and these
tools were integral to those efforts.
Of course, part of keeping those systems
efficient and effective was isolating
them from intentional and unintentional interference.
As a result, engineering teams
employed the Purdue model and segregation
of systems to ensure the control system
was isolated in its own layer, and -
perhaps most importantly as technologies
advanced - isolated from the internet.
At the time, plants were frequently instrumented
for control only, and that model
of control worked well for safe, efficient
operation of individual facilities. Engineers
focused on ensuring instruments could
communicate with PID controllers. Control
capabilities and optimal human-machine
interfaces were therefore key criteria for
selecting technologies.
Even in the most forward-thinking plants
- those applying advanced process control
strategies and technologies - the control
system was still isolated within its own layer
in the Purdue model. Communication occurred
among different control technologies
in different process units, but that communication
was carefully managed and tightly
controlled. Systems worked well and were
safe, but they were not necessarily prepared
for impending changes, particularly a
connected future of self-optimizing plants, a
shrinking workforce, and shifting business
and public expectations. These and other
trends upended process manufacturing
across the span of only a few years.
32
New needs
For years, teams have considered sustainability
initiatives, energy management and,
in some cases, even predictive-reliability improvements
to be burdens at odds with production.
However, these needs are simply
high-level optimization problems, with each
requiring teams to look at process control
and operations in a more holistic way.
Much of this struggle stems from the fact
that, for decades, automation - often because
of rigid design structure - has been
implemented plant by plant or unit by unit,
leaving a wide variety of systems all operating
independently. Many process plant
teams have long since maximized the gains
from such a strategy. But sustainability, energy
and reliability initiatives are refocusing
efforts on optimizing the entire fleet or enterprise
to capture previously unnoticed or
undervalued synergies.
For a company with multiple plants manufacturing
the same product, a focus on
enterprise optimization typically results in
significant gains from balancing production
based on equipment status or green energy
availability. Or, for companies with limited
personnel, enterprise optimization can make
it easier to move people and products from
one site to another, creating consistency
among plants to improve efficiency. But all
these strategies require the implementation
of modern and upcoming advanced automation
technologies.
Changing needs, new era
Today,
the
process control landscape is
rapidly changing. As shifts in corporate and
public opinion have increased focus on reliability,
sustainability, energy use and more,
operations teams are rapidly transforming
the way they design, build and operate their
fleet of plants. With those changes come
new needs (Figure 1).
Increased production now rarely comes
from simply deploying a new plant to manufacture
more product, and costs are higher
and demand is more volatile than ever before.
As a result, companies are much more
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MAY 2023
http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering May 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering May 2023
