HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition - 84

Sustainability
Optimized EHS processes around sustainability requires ...
Process
historians
Field and IoT
instruments
Asset
monitoring
Material
movements
Work orders
(CMMS)
Inventory
management
Contractor
work permits
Traffic
management
...precise, accurate and timely information from assets, processes and personnel alike ...
Access control
Biometrics
LOTO detection
Injury rates
MOC frequency
Safety drills frequency
Zone
monitoring
Incident response
Predicted events
Certification and
authorization
GHG metrics
Asset
tracking
LOTO detection
biometrics
Biometrics
AR
Traffic
...to be integrated to deliver actionable visibility into appropriate leading indicators of sustainability in EHS
Health (heat stress) predictors
Instrument accuracy
Severity distribution
Inspections overdue
Loss of containment predictors
Turnaround and lay down effectiveness
Biometrics
adherence skills certification
Traffic rules adherence
Training and certification %
Security breach predictor
FIG. 2. Environment, health and safety metrics relate to all operational personnel, processes
and systems.
Economics and
planning
Feedstock
management
Transition/batch
management
Quality/yield
management
Process
optimization
Inventory
optimization
Asset utilization
FIG. 3. Data from the IIoT and cognitive tools help optimize key sustainability metrics within
the manufacturing operations environment.
and quality management, while remaining
under the constraints of safety and stability.
Multiple processes, technologies, integrated
systems, optimization tools and
visualization enable the workflows.
Techniques such as advanced control,
integrated planning, unit optimization
and supply chain integration have made
it possible for operations to stay on target
and achieve the prescribed goals. Some
of the more recent efforts broaden this
approach to cover the extended supply
chain, as well, while newer and disruptive
technologies make these workflows
largely cognitive and automated.
Meanwhile, the information required
from operations that is related to sustainability
comes from various existing
sources, some of them traditional and
others new. As an example, the environment,
health and safety (EHS) metrics
come from field assets, event records and
external information such as audits. The
nature of remote expertise support, social
distancing in field operations and continuous
health monitoring are essential for
the return to work after the COVID-19
pandemic. In the case of EHS, this information
relates to all personnel involved
in the operations, from field operators to
contractors (FIG. 2).
Examples include vehicle telematics,
drone-enabled inspections, visual
and
acoustic insights, flare monitoring, unstructured
data such as regulatory requirements,
and many more. Such new data
from the Industrial Internet of Things
(IIoT) and cognitive tools enable the asSustainability:
Beyond operational
excellence. Operational excellence, by
itself, is not sufficient to address the sustainability
impacts from production processes,
the products and their end usage.
Hydrocarbon Processing | JULY 2020 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Operational
excellence
Regulatory
compliance
Projects and
engineering
Worker safety
Waste management
Skills management
Terminal
automation
Security
and badging
system
sociated workflows, making these processes
" intelligent " and optimizing the key
sustainability metrics within the manufacturing
operations environment (FIG. 3).
Apart
from process and personnel
safety, another operational element that
relates to sustainability is energy. Production
optimization is typically based
on appropriately weighted cost functions
that are dictated by the economics
and planning group. The sustainability
aspect comes from the inclusion of energy
as a key component in the cost function.
While many plants, particularly the
greenfield operations, measure energy
for monitoring purposes, very few use it
in optimization. Balancing energy production
against consumption of utilities,
as well as exchange with a public grid, is
not only the right thing to do-it also offers
significant monetary gains.
Many of the energy balance and optimization
exercises fail due to various reasons:
* Lack of dynamic information.
Frequently, one finds that the
energy pricing information is hardcoded
or static in the calculation
of the key indices. Tiered pricing
and an associated lack of visibility
compound this challenge.
* Lack of incorporation of energy
in the optimization and control
loops. This requires an alignment
with overall economic goals and
might require a compromise in
the way the units are run.
* Lack of energy stewardship.
This is often the case when
someone is tasked with energy
tracking as an additional
responsibility, as opposed to
a cross-functional steward
who interacts with operations,
maintenance and engineering
to identify and execute
improvement opportunities.
Addressing these factors within the
operational environment in a systemic
way for an energy improvement program
would not only improve the sustainability
indices, but also identify potential
monetary gains (e.g. the traditional pinch
analysis for a heat exchanger).

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HP March 2022 eBook—Energy Transition

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