H2Tech - Q2 2022 - 45

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
gaining momentum and building demand
for renewable electricity and zero-carbon
mobility solutions.
At the World Economic Forum's Davos
Agenda in January 2021, Bill Gates talked
about the need to create a trusted global
carbon market, which will spur the need to
shift very large capital investments into low
carbon areas. He talked specifically about
the H2
economy, carbon capture and energy
storage, as well as Green Premiums and
driving the economics of new technologies
through scaling and investment.
There are unique and differentiated
technologies available today with respect
to innovating, scaling and achieving competitive
advantage in the H2
economy, biofuels
and other energy transition strategies.
There are many resource efficiency,
energy transition and circular economy
value creation levers that the process
industry is expected to employ to proactively
drive decarbonization and energy
transition. Additionally, hydrogen
provides an energy source for circular
economy programs that seek to eliminate
emissions and waste in production.
There is significant opportunity for
companies to accelerate the time-to-value
for the H2
economy, carbon capture and
biofuels by leveraging digital solutions
that help ensure faster adoption, scale and
competitive advantage.
Technology solutions to jumpstart
sustainability. The extent of the energy
transition complexity requires a balance
of the many objectives across a company's
assets and a data-based and quantitative
approach. Digitalization and industrial AI
will be crucial tools in this balancing act.
FIG. 6 demonstrates how digital technologies
map closely to the essential elements
of the energy transition that the industry
is considering. Examples of publicly disclosed
case studies of sustainability value
created by digital technologies are summarized
in FIG. 7.
Takeaway. The current macro-economic
pivot toward sustainability and energy
transition, and the momentum behind
it, make it especially attractive for industry
and technology players to work more
closely and collaboratively than ever before.
Innovative ideas from both sides can
achieve unprecedented breakthroughs.
Achieving energy transition leadership
with industrial-scale H2
production
FIG. 7. Examples of sustainability value created by the author's company's technology solutions.
and carbon capture technologies will require
an unmatched level of innovation,
creativity, agility and execution. This is
a clear area where a software technology
innovator can complement and add value
to industry participants, individually
and collectively.
Areas where shareholder value is created
from the use of technology include:
* Time to market: Accelerating
innovation, optioneering, concept
selection and capital investment
decision-making by up to 50%
* Cost of production: Reduce
capital cost through visual
estimating, reduce operating
costs by saving energy and water
through optimized designs, and
incorporating new technology
effectively into existing facilities
* Uptime, safety and risk: Employ
AI and analytics to reduce risk,
while improving uptime, safety
and reliability
* Customer satisfaction: Maximize
agility and resilience in the
supply chain.
NOTES
a Aspen Plus®
b Aspen Fidelis™
c Aspen HYSYS®
LITERATURE CITED
1 Gross, B., " Direct air CO2 capture and AI, "
Aspen Technology OPTIMIZE 2021
2
Victory, D., " Optimizing new assets, "
Aspen Technology OPTIMIZE 2017
3 Air Products at AspenTech Optimize 2021
RON BECK is the Senior Industry
Marketing Director at Aspen
Technology, Inc., leading the
company's global energy industry
marketing. During his 14 yr at
AspenTech, he has held multiple
marketing roles, including Industry
Marketing, Product Marketing and Telesales
Marketing. He has more than 30 yr of experience
in providing software solutions to the process
industries and 15 yr of experience in chemical
engineering technology commercialization. Mr. Beck
earned a Bch degree from Princeton University.
H2Tech | Q2 2022 45
FIG. 6. The author's company's solutions that strategically create value for sustainability
use cases.

H2Tech - Q2 2022

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