HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition - 83

Sustainability
V. KRISHNAN, IBM Corp., Denver, Colorado
Digitally enabled sustainability
in process manufacturing
Demands for sustainability are pervasive
and are mandated, legislated or
strongly encouraged in different social,
industrial and political segments. This
was an imperative even before the " new
normal " was defined by the COVID-19
pandemic. Now, sustainability has received
increased emphasis across industries.
Beyond being a good corporate
citizen, emerging opportunities exist in
the pursuit of sustainability that deliver
economic gains to the enterprise.
This article discusses how process
manufacturing can impact sustainability
within the current operations landscape,
market demands, and disruptive technology
capabilities.
Relevance and prioritization of sustainability
goals. Sustainability has been
a salient topic for some time, but now
it is rapidly moving from being a factor
recognized for global good citizenship to
something essential for all walks of life.
Some would argue that the transition is
at its peak, and that it is something to be
intricately woven into every aspect of life
today. Multiple domains and targets have
been established by global organizations1
to mitigate the threat of uncontrolled industrialization
and social dynamics, such
as consumption patterns. The biggest recipient
of this scrutiny is on the planet's dependence
on the hydrocarbon value chain.
From a manufacturing perspective,
the hydrocarbon value chain-and, to a
lesser extent, the inorganics segment-
has a profound impact on our global
sustainability. While many of the sustainability
goals can be traced back to an
influence from process manufacturing,
only a few can be materially and directly
impacted (FIG. 1).
Usage of fossil fuels in some form or
Goals impacted directly by process manufacturing
FIG. 1. Several sustainability goals are impacted directly by process manufacturing.
another poses a macro-level challenge
that is being mitigated by investments in
alternative energies and advocacy of the
more prudent use of natural resources.
From a process manufacturing perspective,
energy management is a critical component,
particularly in operations where
energy is both consumed and generated.
Optimal plant operations with energy
costs as an objective function is becoming
more of a common practice. This is likely
to include frequent trade-offs and compromises
when it comes to plant objectives
that are strictly economic in nature.
Increased usage of water sources in
manufacturing-examples being chlorine,
cement, upstream petroleum or
fertilizer production-offers opportunities
for the plant(s) to supply the nearby
community with desalinated potable water
while also addressing the needs within
the process units. In particular, multiple
greenfield complexes are deploying and
leveraging incremental investments
in
technologies like membrane separation
units to ensure supplies of potable water
for local communities.
Achieving speed to market and pressure
on realizing increased returns from
research and development (R&D) investment
have been the driving factors
for intermediate and specialty chemicals
manufacturers. To address sustainability
goals, they also are refocusing on new
processes, improved feedstocks, catalysts
with improved activation/life and process
unit designs that deviate from the traditional
approach. Some are market-driven
(crude-to-chemicals, for example), and
others are sustainability-driven.
The realization has arrived that innovation
in this field extends beyond materials
research and into product end-usage
applications. Understanding and addressing
the demands of the market and the
product's or application's end usage is
critical for the enterprises, not only to be
cognizant of the regulations but also to be
relevant and competitive.
From operational excellence to sustainability.
Process manufacturing operations
typically function under the targeted
guidelines of production capacity, yield
Hydrocarbon Processing | JULY 2020 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
http://www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com
HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition

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