Page 172 - CW E-Magazine (7-5-2024)

Special Report Special Report

Digital applications in the fertiliser industry stoppages of operations, and prevent mately $20-bn a year. A well-deve- try pipelines help to instantly assess in-
future accidents by analysing past data loped preventive maintenance strategy hibitory factors depressing operational
collected from plants. can bring down operating costs, which effi ciencies and expose corrosion and
INTRODUCTION on-demand production of replacement also account for downtime due to un- erosion tendencies leading to failure
ertiliser plants employ a variety parts, and data analytics for supply M.P. SUKUMARAN NAIR Operational effi ciency expected failures by 25%. An advanced situations. Precise control of stoichio-
of complex process technologies chain optimisation. Email: nairmps50@gmail.com Over the years, the fertiliser in- predictive maintenance program with metric ratio of reactants, control over
Fand precise measurement and their operations. Various performance dustry has witnessed considerable im- the support of wireless technologies, reaction kinetics and cascading input
control of various process parameters Facility management management and process optimisation provement in its operational effi ciency. IIoT, ML and AI enables even greater fl ows help to improve productivity and
is needed to help operators optimise The effective functioning of modern tools employed in the facility generate This has been possible because of their savings. Under such challenging condi- thus reduce costs.
production and energy consumption. manufacturing facilities involves voluminous data and there has been timely adoption of innovative and com- tions, there is likely to be a growth of
With the advent of digitalisation tools tremendous planning and scheduling little effort in the past to holistically mercially proven retrofi t and revamp remote operations supported by modern In recent years, industries have
such as artifi cial intelligence (AI) and regarding procurement, production, review the big data and optimise per- technologies. Modern managements artifi cial intelligent platforms. been increasingly encouraged to the
machine learning (ML) it has become quality control, safety, and environ- formance, sustainability, and safety at envision to strategically advance relia- use of wireless sensor networks and
easy to integrate real-time and histo- mental care, offsites and utilities, mar- the enterprise level. The lack of a trus- bility, availability, operational effi - Current developments in wireless supervisory control and data acquisition
rical plant data to provide guidance keting, and logistics besides ensuring ted platform to collate, segregate and ciency of manufacturing systems and technology, smart sensors, intelligent (SCADA) for monitoring oil and gas
that helps in reduction in downtime, optimal use of raw materials, energy, analyse data was a major hurdle. The achieve increased production, yields, connectivity, mobile technologies, installations. Compared to IIoT, wire-
enhancement of safety and reliability, and manpower. Aspect-specifi c systems emergence of IIoT resolved this situa- and ensure remunerative capacity utili- data storage, analytics and cyber se- less sensor networks (WSN) have limi-
and reduction in overall material and and tools are being used to address tion and it has become handy to harness sation. With advanced automation, rigo- curity are increasingly contributing to ted transmission range, storage capa-
energy consumption. Digital transfor- optimisation in each of these areas for plant data through sensors and derive rous and real time plant monitoring, advance the operability, productivity, city and power backup, all of which need
mation envisages the application of prudent decision making to improve operational and other benefi ts includ- resulting in optimisation of all kinds of maintenance, safety, and environmental more improvements. On the other hand,
information technology (IT) or IT-en- the bottom-line. Digitisation capabili- ing operational excellence, better man- resources, better management through stability in the industry. The IIoT SCADA systems are costly, diffi cult
abled technologies (ITES) to advance ties help to develop a holistic approach power deployment and utilisation, cost effective planning and scheduling intelligently connects physical devices to maintain and are not scalable. In its
existing business operations, processes, in the above decision-making process. reduction, product quality enhancement become handy. Going further, highly driving improved operating effi ciencies, place digital twins are capable of multi-
models, and strategies with the intent of and better safety and environmental connected open systems with real time business growth and environment ple access of a wide-ranging data of
making the company more productive, Major industry segments such as standards. domain and instant data integrated with friendliness. Industry engages with the several equipment at a time at a lower
environmentally sustainable, competi- manufacturing of chemicals, power enterprise resource planning (ERP) IIoT and uses several sensors of diffe- cost. Thus, IIoT is capable of addressing
tive, and profi table. Areas where digital generation, aviation, transportation, etc. IIoT safety systems offer early systems, give operators command rent designs to capture the operating the bottlenecks and improve productivity
technologies fi nd direct application for are taking advantage of the new in- detection of potential hazards and over the increasing complexities in the parameters in real time and use the output by enabling predictive maintenance in
improving productivity, reliability, and dustrial internet of things (IIoT) oppor- abnormal situations cropping up in industry regarding management of for decision-making to ensure that the place of preventive maintenance, moni-
safety of plants include facility man- tunity to unearth additional value from plants, send alert notifi cation and prompt diffi cult to handle upstream, midstream, operation of the facility adheres closely toring changes in operating conditions
agement, operational effi ciency, plant and downstream operations. to the designer’s intent and enhance in real time and reducing downtime due
maintenance, corrosion monitoring, stakeholder value. Connected devices to accidents. The IoT architecture for
data security, turnaround management, Even in well optimised plants, there sense operation data and communicate the above purpose comprises Sensor
and digitisation of workforce. exists ample scope for improvement in the same to the datacentre, where it is (smart device), Connectivity to the con-
operating effi ciency through the adop- analysed with the support of big data trol centre (gateway) and control centre
Harnessing the potential of digitali- Human Machine tion of digitisation and IIoT capabilities. analytics, AI, and cognitive analysis. (server) responsible for application and
sation throughout the industry and Robot Interface Where to tap for further improvement The output from the analysis is deve- analysis of data gathered from sensors
achieving consequential economic and indeed is a tough task. Technologies loped into actionable programs to ope- to generate information and support
other gains is thought as a means of Industry 4.0 continue to develop; operating facilities rate the facility in the most optimised decision making process for better asset
survival. The performance related data adopt newer ones as and when they be- manner. management.
of the physical assets are collected in Control System Sensor come technically proven and commer-
real time and then analysed, visualised, cially viable and the operating results Across the value chain in the ferti- Digital twins
and utilised for taking business deci- in the real-time plant environment fol- liser industry, digitisation and IIoT are Digital twins are coming up in a
sions that lead to greater effi ciency. low them. It is exactly within the gaps engaged to check variation in operat- big way in the manufacturing industry,
It uses the power of the industrial inter- between these developments lie further ing parameters, detect plant & pipeline offering to increase utilisation of capa-
net for enabling sensor-guided remote scope for optimisation. A major techno- leakages, monitor catalyst performance cities, improve product quality and
operations, drones for remote data col- Instrument Monitoring Tool logy company through internal studies and heat transfer effi ciency, oversee se- output, forecasting deviations from the
lection, robots for checking integrity has shown that 80% of production curity and integrity of installations, and designer’s intent regarding processes
of pipelines, etc., cameras for surveil- downtime is preventable – as much is check physical condition and location. and operating parameters, reduce
lance, cognitive computing for appraisal due to operator errors. These errors cost Real time monitoring of pumping and specifi c consumptions of energy and
of exploration blocks, 3D printing for Fig. 1: Digitisation-interlinking operational tools the petrochemical industry approxi- compressor stations along cross coun- feedstock, improve bottom-line, and

172 Chemical Weekly May 7, 2024 Chemical Weekly May 7, 2024 173

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