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“Personally, I experience the greatest degree of pleasure in having contact with works of art. They furnish me with happy feelings of an intensity such as I cannot derive from other realms.” -- Albert Einstein (German born American Physicist, 1879-1955)
“You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.” -- Pearl S. Buck (American author, 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1892-1973)

I recommend downloading and reading “Smart Refinery Guide: An Emerson Produced Supplement to Fuel Magazine” (September 2010). I recommend it for two reasons …

1) For content. While it is obviously intended to promote Emerson (http://www2.emersonprocess.com/en-US/Pages/Home.aspx) products and services, it provides a good look at the variety of ways in which refiners can use “smart” technology to cope with problems like heavier feedstocks and an aging workforce.
2) For contacts … Modern refining requires a broad range of expertise. Finding the right ex”pertise for a particular problem can be time consuming and frustrating. By noting the names and contact information of people mentioned in a document like “Smart Refinery,”

And one more tip … subscribe to Hart Energy’s FUEL magazine email. (hartonline@hartenergy.com). That’s how I found out about “Smart Refinery.”

Here is the text of that email …
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Dear Colleague:
Hart Energy Publishing and Emerson have joined forces to publish a Smart Refinery Guide. This guide is a must-read for site managers, process specialists, production supervisors and engineering managers in refineries worldwide. This brief guide aims to provide insight into how you can harness new "smart" technologies, from automation upgrades to advanced controls, to create the smart refinery of tomorrow.

A complimentary copy is available to download on this link (http://www.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0xMDk1NjU3JnA9MSZ1PTMxMTYzMTEzNiZsaT00NjIwNDc5/index.html), once you fill in your details and follow the instructions.

If this is not working for you, simply drop a short email to Marisa (mkreitz@hartenergy.com), our friendly Customer Service Representative and she will get you a copy in no time!

Best regards,
Hart Energy Customer Service
1616 S. Voss, Ste 1000 • Houston, Texas 77057 • USA
+1.713.993.0032 • Fax: +1.713.840.8585 •]
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And here are some excerpts from the document …

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Still, the complexity in refinery operations continues to increase with refiners adding units to provide flexibility in processing heavier and higher sulfur feedstocks. Product specifications have simultaneously become more geographically complicated and restrictive.
Advances in automation are enabling the smart refiners to achieve these efficiencies and improve the overall performance of their plants. These technologies enable more efficient operations, decreasing costs and increasing profit levels. The cost and size of computing elements, the continuing increase in communication bandwidths, advances in software and mathematical analyses and better modeling capabilities have provided new optimizing tools for increasingly reliable refining operations.
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While refinery objectives are mostly unchanged, the performance against these objectives can be dramatically improved while reducing costs. For example, a U.S. Gulf Coast refiner showed sustained 50% reduction in reliability risk–increased availability–by incorporating a smart refinery process to use the additional information from smart technology. Similarly, a West Coast refiner implemented wireless vibration sensors on essential pumps to monitor asset health where a wired solution was not cost effective.
The new smart refinery will complement the board operator, control engineer and maintenance tech, improving their efficiency. “With any new technology, ease of use and ease of integration with existing operations are key factors,” said Dr. Douglas White, director of refining industry solutions with Emerson Process Management in Houston. “We carefully consider the possible effects of our smart refinery technologies, not only on present staff, but also on successfully transferring critical knowledge to younger operators as a significant number of older operators reach retirement age.
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For example, more than US$4.5 billion was invested at the Fujian refining and petrochemical (FREP) facility in China, a joint venture with ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco and Sinopec, tripling the capacity of the existing refinery to 240,000 b/d to produce transportation fuels and other refined products. FREP digitally automated the existing refinery with eight distributed control automation systems, predictive maintenance software, safety instrumented systems (SIS), fire and gas systems, pressure and temperature transmitters and digital valve controllers–all using FOUNDATION™ fieldbus, HART, OPC and Modbus communication technologies and delivering information to a real-time database, as part of the largest integrated refining and petrochemicals project ever undertaken in China.
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“While there are certainly a number of large, complex process units like FCCs [fluid catalytic crackers], reformers and cokers that warrant a large-scale, multivariable approach, there is also a whole class of problems where small, high-speed and redundant embedded APC tools are an ideal fit, ” Sharpe said. “There are the very fast dynamic problems like fired heaters and compressors, where one-second execution-frequency for an MPC loop is required for safe operations. And you have the long time frame, highly-constrained single variable controllers, such as setting the feed rate to the hydrogen plant to balance the hydrogen system in the face of disturbances from the users. Each of these is a small application in terms of matrix size and implementation effort, but a large application in terms of economic impact.
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Because U.S. operators are now mandated to report GHG emissions, control systems are increasingly more important for obtaining accurate information. “On the safety side, control systems now act as a watchdog–if the H 2 S [hydrogensulfide] sensor goes off, or if a calculated quantity or prediction holds true, pagers and cell phones start ringing the alarms,” said Steve Elwart of Ergon Refining. “I predict we’ll see the same thing soon for greenhouse gas emissions.”
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The Energy Intensity Index (EII) as benchmarked by Solomon Associates generally measures energy efficiency in the North American refining market. The EII is an aggregate value that essentially indicates how much energy is expended to process each barrel of crude oil–the lower the number, the more efficient the operation. A Solomon EII value of 100 is standard; a Solomon EII plant-specific value below 100 indicates a more efficient plant, while a value above 100 indicates a less efficient plant.
“Many different factors can affect energy use in a plant, and in nearly every plant, there is the potential for energy efficiency improvement. Automated process controls can really have long term benefits not only for helping to control and monitor CO 2 emissions, but also when it comes to complying with CO 2 regulations,” Lemke said. “Automated process controls are quick to install and maintain, easy for the operators to understand and use, and many tools built into the system help operators do a better job of managing the regulatory layers.”
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Delaying investment in energy conservation programs can wreak havoc down the road. A low-cost interim solution such as repairing steam traps and other steam leaks will inevitably bring low return. Conversely, higher-cost options such as installation of integrated gas turbines, fluid catalytic cracking power-recovery turbines (vapor) and hydrocracking charge pump power recovery turbines (liquid) can bring higher returns, but are not automation-based solutions. Smart refineries should invest in automation technology, which involves low to medium initial cost, but enables substantial returns in the long run–including better flow and analytical monitoring.
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“The logistics for operating a refinery can be quite complex and dynamic,” Sharpe said. “For instance, decisions on which crude to run and how much to buy must be made months in advance. If you get it wrong, it could cost the company millions of dollars per incident.”
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Another useful contact … Jean Steinhardt (LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch ), specializing in training the people in your organization to maximize their online research effectiveness. Invite Jean to join your LinkedIn network