As Peter Drucker would say, “a well-managed refinery is boring. Nothing exciting happens in it because the crises have been anticipated and have been converted into routine.” The best way to keep things from being exciting is to deploy a Yokogawa solution, which will:
- Enable operational knowledge management
- Increase productivity
- Ensure compliance with health, safety, and environmental regulations.
Clear information delivered in context allows responsible personnel to deal with events efficiently and maximize plant profitability.
Discover how to realize a boring, unexciting refinery today.
Challenges
Customer Challenge
Knowledge-intensive operations in refineries such as plant startup and shutdown, compressor start-up, and crude tank switchover still require manual handling by a large number of operators. For instance, an effective crude switchover transfer will often require that a complicated set of operations including starting/stopping motors, opening/closing valves, flow measurement and flushing be executed in a specific sequence decided by only the most experienced operators.
In addition, because experienced operators will eventually retire or resign, it is necessary to retain their know-how and best practices and pass on such knowledge precisely to unskilled operators. This is crucial in order to maximize production efficiency and to avoid or eliminate shutdowns that could result from mis-operation.
Our Solutions
By using Exapilot, Yokogawa’s knowledge-based automation solution, know-how and best practices of operation can be formalized, managed and configured in a standardized procedural flowchart. This standardized approach not only enables 100% automation of complicated operations, but also guarantees that valuable expertise is precisely transferred and executed whenever there is a change of operators or a difference in their skill level.
Customer Benefits
One of our customers, a leading producer and distributor of oils, lubricants, and petrochemical products in Japan, estimates that introducing Exapilot in one of its experimental facilities reduced man-hours by up to 2,000*.
Customer Challenge
Energy savings can be achieved at a refinery by installing highly efficient facilities and operating them more efficiently. Yokogawa has solutions that help companies improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption.
Our Solutions
Ever since the oil crisis in the 1970s, the refining industry in Japan has dealt with rising energy prices and strict regulations by reducing energy consumption and cutting CO2 emissions. Refinery operators have accomplished this by introducing some of the world’s most advanced technologies, and have been supported in this by Yokogawa's systems, solutions, and engineering capabilities. Yokogawa has been involved in more than 1000 refinery projects and has built a strong reputation in this industry. The company provides solutions that save energy through increased efficiency.
1. Visualization of energy consumption and management of key performance indicators (KPI)
To save energy and reduce CO2 emissions at refineries, the status of emissions and energy consumption must be clearly visualized. Yokogawa provides a comprehensive range of solutions such as field sensors and production management systems that rely on the latest technologies to monitor and manage energy related parameters.
- Visualization through operation management
- Visualization through production management
- Visualization of field data
2. Reducing excess O2% in furnace/boiler flue gas
When excess oxygen (O2) is present in flue gas, incomplete combustion is the result. Usually, O2 is kept within 1.5–2% of the optimum level, but it has been shown that laser sensing technology can improve the speed and reliability of CO/O2/CO2 measurement and lead to even further reductions in excess O2, resulting in additional energy savings.
Enabling Technology
Yokogawa’s new TDLS8000 houses all of the industry’s leading features in one robust device. The platform design is for in situ measurements which negate the need for sample extraction and conditioning. The non-contacting sensor allows for a variety of process types including corrosive, abrasive and condensing.
Customer Challenge
Oil blending is the final step in the process of converting crude oil into finished products such as gasoline. When using traditional blending technologies such as tank blending and ratio blending, refiners tend to use excess amounts of additives to guarantee that the gasoline product meets the minimum specifications set by regulators. However, due to the high cost of blending additives, a blending solution that can both reduce quality giveaways and meet the minimum specifications is required.
Our Solutions
Yokogawa offers a blending optimization system, or a Blending Property Control (BPC) solution, which calculates the optimum blend ratios in real time, based on values measured by continuous online analysis of product properties from an NIR analyzer, and automatically modifies the controller's setpoints to automatically adjust the blend ratios online.
In addition to the BPC solution, Yokogawa can also provide fully integrated offsite solutions that cover all offsite process operations such as oil movement systems (OMS), laboratory information systems, analyzer systems and scheduling/planning systems.
Customer Benefits
Following are customer testimonials for the benifits that could be realized using Yokogawa's BPC and other offsite solutions:
- Improved security: the security of off-site area operations is guided and supervised by the system.
- Enhanced product quality: system supervision minimizes the probability of operational errors that can cause product contamination.
- Improved environmental performance: movement control by the OMS resolves environmental problems that may be caused by tank overflow and other factors.
- Increased operational efficiency: the number of operations carried out by each person is minimized through valve motorization and the ability to search the existing isolation for lined-up jobs.
- Extended spatial awareness: full area awareness is available to all operators and is kept continuously up-to-date in the system database.
Details
Yokogawa has experience with approximately 1000 projects in the refining industry earning the Company's high credibility from refiners.
Design and Engineering
Front-End Engineering & Design (FEED), Main Instrumentation Vender (MIV) Services
Installation and Commissioning
Site Engineering, Integration Tests, Turn-Key Services
Operation and Optimization
Optimization Consulting, 24/7 Operation Support, Online Diagnosis Support
Maintenance and Upgrade
Asset Optimization, Online Upgrade, Lifecycle Solution Support
Revamp and Expansion
Online Expansion, Hot Cutover
Resources
- CENTUM CS 3000 plays key role in Malaysian waste oil to diesel project.
- Yokogawa proposed to provide its systems and services as the main instrument vendor.
- This has considerably improved the safety, quality, and efficiency of off-site operations.
- Yokogawa was the clear choice for installation of the OMS.
- To replace the existing CENTUM XL control station with the latest Yokogawa CS 3000 hardware and upgrade the control network.
- The plan was to minimize plant downtime by doing a hot cutover from the old to the new control system.
- Flawless refinery start-up assured by operator training simulator.
- The virtual test function of the OmegaLand simulator created the same environments as CENTUM CS 3000.
- Smooth and safe switchover to the new system
- Easy-to-use, easy-to-engineer system, plus various post-installation enhancements
- Tuned controllers for smooth plant operation and better traceability of process upsets
- Various other improvements thanks to advanced process control and MVC implementation
- Exapilot was introduced to maximize operational efficiency at an experimental refining facility.
- To prevent operator errors, it was essential to standardize operating procedures.
- Computerized Maintenance Management System by PRM and SAP Schedules Field Instrumentation Maintenance.
- The frame applications and DTMs support the preventive maintenance strategy with self-diagnostic and condition monitoring.
PetroChina Guangxi Petrochemical Company has completed construction of a combined refinery and petrochemical production complex in Qinzhou, a port city in China's Guangxi Autonomous Region. With a 10 million ton per year capacity, the refinery is one of China's largest, and is truly world class, using a highly advanced hydrogenation process, with the main process technologies coming from the USA and France.
- To decrease downtime and maintenance costs, the decision was made to introduce Yokogawa's CENTUM DCS.
- With well-experienced MAC approach, Yokogawa replaced successfully legacy DCS.
The Mathura refinery is a strategically important facility that supplies diesel, gasoline, aviation turbine fuel, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, furnace oil, and bitumen to customers throughout northwestern India.
- Successful migration of in-line blending distributed control and oil movement systems.
- To minimize operator intervention and to keep the product properties on specification.
- Smooth project execution with no schedule and/minimal safety incidents.
- Easy to use, easy to reconfigure interface that has resulted in numerous post-installation enhancements.
- Minimizing day-to-day plant operation problems including reducing the alarming factor.
- The project goals emphasized schedule, quality, cost and safety.
- More than 40 sub-system interface cards are utilized for b14 partners company7s system integrated with CENTUM CS 3000.
- Integrated CENTUM VP and ProSafe-RS Systems Ensure Nonstop Operation of ADU/DKU Processes.
- "This is a real VigilantPlant! We will continue to improve our production efficiency."
- Exapilot contributes to safety, reduces cost, and retains operational know-how.
- Exapilot smoothly starts up and shuts down the world's biggest experimental distillation unit.
- Data visualization is the key, giving operators a complete understanding of what is is going on in the process, in real time.
- Using the CENTUM CS 3000 system, many kinds of plant key performance indexes are calculated and analyzed to produce further improvements.
- During plant start-up, PRM helps the customer's engineers perform all the loop checks.
- The AR1 refinery recently replaced its legacy DCS with Yokogawa's CENTUM CS 3000.
- Achieving an Intelligent Oil Management System.
- HMEL selected an integrated solution from Yokogawa
- Yokogawa India oversaw and implemented the engineering, installation, and commissioning of the refinery
- Yokogawa successfully carried out the upgrade of off-site system in a 48 hour shutdown period with Seibu Oil.
- Control room design for HSE and smooth communication contributes to the operational efficiency and safety.
- This is the first project in which Shell Global Solutions US has used a contractor outside of Shell for its Advanced Process Control implementation
- The post implementation study shows that the overall Delayed Coker APC controller returns a benefit which is almost three times the original promise.
- The Advanced Process Control application on the GOHT unit helped control the plant with less variation during Coker drum switch and with less operator interactions and minimized giveaway.
- A post-implementation study estimated that the overall GOHT Unit APC controller returns a savings about 198% greater than the originally estimated.
In order to reduce emissions of air pollutants such as sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), power plants have installed flue gas desulfurization systems known as scrubbers.
VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) are compounds that evaporate easily at room temperature. They generate photochemical oxidants and cause soil and water pollution.
An in-situ TDLS8000 installed on a process leg or bypass stream provides a reliable and high-speed measurement that is representative of the process composition.
Conductivity measurement can be used as a reliable indicator of the real-time brine concentration. Using an online process analyzer removes the need for timely grab sample analysis.
APPFs consist of various software components in which an autonomous controller can perform control functions without writing custom code. A true turnkey solution.
The oil refining industry today faces increasingly strict regulations that dictate both the quality of its products and the diligence of its production processes. As the pioneer of the vortex flow meter technology, Yokogawa's challenge in bringing innovative flow measurement solutions to users in various process industries continues to this day.
The top gas generated at the top of a distillation column in a petroleum refinery's fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) is used to produce gasoline and LPG. The GD402 Gas Density Meter features an intrinsically safe and explosion-proof design, fast response, and a dust-proof, anti-corrosive, and flame-proof construction.
Enhance the efficiency and safety of your vapor recovery systems and flare/vent headers with Yokogawa's cutting-edge Tunable Diode Laser Spectrometers – the TDLS8000 and TDLS8220. Elevate your oxygen measurement capabilities with our interference-free analyzers, providing direct measurements. Experience unparalleled reliability, ensuring minimal upkeep and secure operations without the need for system shutdowns.
The Yokogawa DTSX1 Fiber Optic Heat Detector protects your equipment against abnormal heat events while being more affordable than other heat detection solutions.
Ideal for various tank and vessel level measurements, diaphragm seal systems with compensating capillaries set a new standard for high performance, safety, and reliability.
In limestone-gypsum flue gas desulfurization systems, the consumption of a desulfurization agent (lime) is controlled using online pH analyzers.
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a separation process that uses pressure to force a solution through a membrane that retains the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to pass to the other side. More formally, it is the process of forcing a solvent from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure.
Fired heaters are used for various processes in oil refining and petrochemical plants.
Heat exchangers are devices that provide the flow of thermal energy between two or more fluids at different temperatures. Heat exchangers are used in a wide variety of applications. These include power production; process, chemical and food industries; electronics; environmental engineering; waste heat recovery; manufacturing industry; and air-conditioning, refrigeration, and space applications. Yokogawa offers a means to control heat exchanger leakage and prevent costly maintenance, repair and downtime with an easy-to-use, virtually maintenance-free condensate conductivity measurement method.
Wireless temperature measurement solution makes modernizing operations and maintenance of delayed coker unit affordable.
Challenges
- The distance is not so long, but there are many pipes and tanks ("Pipe Jungle") in the field.
- Had to avoid the obstacles and take care multi path condition.
Solution
Repeater is installed on high place between control room and monitor position. The extend cable is used for antenna of Gateway.
- Temperature Transmitter (YTA) x1, Pressure Transmitter (EJX) x2
Ion Exchange is a method for the exchange of ions between two electrolytes or between an electrolyte solution and a complex molecule. In most cases the term is used to denote the processes of purification, separation, and decontamination of aqueous and other ion-containing solutions with solid polymeric or mineralic ion exchangers.
Fast online gas chromatograph (GC) analysis for LPG distillation. The analytical upgrade project with process GCs was a complete success.
The U.S. refineries represent approximately 23 percent of the world's petroleum production, and the United States has the largest refining capacity in the world. Petroleum refining is an industry, which is undergoing intense amounts of scrutiny in the United States from regulatory agencies and environmental groups.
Industrial Combustion sources such as thermal cracking furnaces and, process heaters play a critical role in the process industry.
Yokogawa's Data Aquisition Temperature Uniformity Survey enable heat-treaters to produce accurate records of TUS, instrumentation and thermocouple calibration certificates.
NH3 injection lowers NOx in stack flue gas, boosts dust collection efficiency, and prevents erosion. Precise measurement and control of NH3 are crucial to avoid excess use, which increases costs and causes odors. The TDLS8000 solves these issues with direct measurement for effective NH3 management.
The client wanted to monitor the temperature on a chimney. Exhaust air is exposed to the heat on the way traveling from the inlet to the outlet in the chimney. Then constituent of the air transform to harmless elements. It is important to keep the temperature in the chimney as designed.
In this eBook we explain how to improve fired heaters safety & efficiency by controlling combustion using TDLS technology. Download it now and learn:
- The 4 top industry challenges related to fired heaters
- How to efficiently and safely manage combustion
- How TDLS technology can improve operational excellence in fired heaters
Download this eBook and learn:
- The top challenges that drive reinstrumentation
- How to plan for and achieve a successful project
- Best practices in identifying your project scope
- 5 ways to improve operator effectiveness
- Different scenarios and best practices for updating, migrating or replacing process controls, safety systems, and instrumentation in plants
A Basic Guide to Accurate & Reliable Flow Measurement.
A multivariable model based predictive control (MPC) was implemented at the FCCU "A" in YPF S.A. Refinería La Plata.
There are three MPC controllers installed: one covering the reactor-regenerator-main fractionator, other controlling the gas con- centration plant ant the third controlling an isolated depropanizer column. The paper describes the implementation of the project, the controller structure and the main results obtained from the MPC.
Visual MESA© is a steam system optimization and management computer program that was originally developed at Chevron and now marketed by Nelson & Roseme, Inc. Visual MESA is currently used at refinery and chemical manufacturing sites to optimize the overall site steam system and the parts of the electrical system that economically trade off with the steam system.
This paper will explore significant optimization variables and constraints commonly encountered in refinery steam system optimization, the strategies Visual MESA uses to deal with them.
Hydrogen management can have a significant effect on refinery utility supply through the integration with the rest of the utilities. Real-time optimization of hydrogen production in conjunction with steam, power and fuels can yield significant savings opportunities for the refinery.
This paper describes the tasks performed to develop and implement real time, online models, to help with the three KNPC refineries energy cost minimization and energy management, which are scheduled to perform it automatically. They allow to clearly identify the different economic trade-offs that challenges the operation of the site wide energy systems at minimum cost while reducing the energy waste and, therefore, CO2 footprint. Recommendations given by the optimizers are taken into account by operations on a daily basis
In general, refineries exhibit a very good potential for real time monitoring and optimization using Visual MESA Energy Management System.
Based on our extensive experience, overall benefit in the range of 2% to 5% of the total energy cost can be achieved. Expected project payback is always less than one year.
This article describes the tasks performed to develop and implement a real time, online model for energy cost minimisation and energy management at KNPC's MAA refinery.
After a description of the main project implementation tasks, the Real Time Energy Management System's (RTEMS) functionalities are described and the optimisation implementation procedures are commented on. Finally, several obtained results are presented.
Utilities and energy systems are often the major source of SOx, NOx and CO2 emissions, therefore, emissions control and the management of credits and quotas are tightly interrelated with energy management.
In the case of refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants, energy represents the main cost (second to feedstock) and therefore its reduction has become a bottom line business decision. The energy systems at these sites are inherently complex, with the emissions cost analysis and limits compliance introducing an additional factor to the complexity of the energy costs reduction challenge.
Process plants use different type of fuels, they often operate cogeneration units, their steam networks consist of several pressure levels, there are different types of energy consumers and there are emission limits to be observed. Import or export of electricity in deregulated markets, which could also be traded off with more or less CO2 and other contaminant gaseous emissions, increase the optimization problem complexity.
The Repsol YPF Tarragona Refinery operates a large, complex steam system. Utilities Optimization has been performed with an on-line computer based steam management program (VISUAL MESA) in order to make the Refinery more energy efficient and reduce steam system operating costs.
VISUAL MESA allows operators and engineers to:
- Monitor steam production and use;
- Optimize the production and use of steam, fuel and power in order to reduce costs;
- Perform "what-if" studies, and
- Audit the system with continually validated data. Nelson & Roseme, Inc. and Soteica Europe S.L. have worked with Repsol YPF Tarragona
Petronor is Spain's largest refinery, with a processing capacity of eleven million tons a year. Its energy system is large and complex, therefore the auditing and control of energy costs are a real challenge. This paper describes the tasks performed together with Soteica, using a modern on line information and optimization system tools, to reduce energy costs.
Smart devices, like Yokogawa’s line of Total Insight transmitters and flowmeters contribute to Digital Transformation during operations and throughout the lifecycle of the instrument.
This paper will not describe just all the features of the software or fully explain on-line optimization technology. The objective of this work is to present some interesting facts and lessons from the experience of implementing a cost based optimization program at thirty oil refineries and petrochemical complexes, around the world, since 1997. This paper will focus on the key optimization variables and constraints in steam system optimization, how they should be handled and how the human and organizational aspects can be addressed.
A detailed model of the steam, fuels, electricity, boiler feed water and condensates systems has been built, including all the interactions between these systems, real plant constraints and degrees of freedom of their operation. Such a model is scheduled to perform automatic executions of the optimization of the entire system and is continually populated with validated live data from the process. A calculation of equipment efficiencies is done as part of the performance monitoring activity of the model. Other monitoring aspects include the continuous auditing of the energy system so the data can be relied on for evaluating the value of energy production and usage, and waste can be reduced or eliminated.
Industrial facilities where power and steam is produced (i.e., Cogeneration) exhibit a very good potential for real time monitoring and optimization using Visual MESA Energy Management System.
Based on our extensive experience, overall benefit in the range of 2% to 5% of the total energy cost can be achieved. Expected project payback is always less than one year.
Visual MESA was successfully applied to many industrial facilities worldwide, several of them operating steam and power generation networks of different complexity and capacity but all with energy cost savings.
This paper discusses real industrial examples in which the sitewide utilities system of refinery and petrochemical Sites are optimized with a real time, on line, industrially proven software. Experiences gained during more than 20 years of industrial projects deployed worldwide are commented (Refs. 1 to 10 are related to some recent projects). Main project steps are explained and critical details to be taken into account to assure successful use and proper technology transfer are presented. Specific case studies will be discussed in the paper.
This paper describes the tasks performed, together with Soteica, using modern on line information system tools to assist with the energy system management.
After a feasibility study, TOTAL decided to test an on-line model for site wide energy system management. TOTAL operates a large and complex energy system at Feyzin refinery. A detailed model of the energy system has been built and it is continuously fed with validated (not reconciliated), real-time data. It includes all the actual constraints of the site and decision variables for their operation. Continuous performance monitoring is also done, since the model writes back its results to the Real Time Data Base (Plant Information system). It also provides reliable data that helps to audit the energy productions and usages within the site energy system, and in that way wastes can be detected and eliminated.
An online steam management program can help refineries manage their steam and utility systems more energy efficiently and reduce their operating costs through optimisation and monitoring
Big and complex industrial facilities like Refineries and Petrochemicals are becoming increasingly aware that power systems need to be optimally managed because any energy reduction that Operations accomplish in the producing Units could eventually be wasted if the overall power system cost is not properly managed. However, process engineers always attempted to develop some kind of tools, many times spreadsheet based, to improve the way utilities systems were operated. The main drawback of the earlier attempts was the lack of data: engineers spent the whole day at phone or visiting the control rooms to gather information from the Distributed Control System (DCS) data historian, process it at the spreadsheet and produce recommendations that, when ready to be applied, were outdated and not any more applicable.
Utilities and energy systems are often the major source of SOx, NOx and CO2 emissions, therefore, emissions control and the management of credits and quotas are tightly interrelated with energy management. In the case of refineries, chemical and petrochemical plants, energy represents the main cost (second to feedstock) and therefore its reduction has become a bottom line business decision. The energy systems at these sites are inherently complex, with the emissions cost analysis and limits compliance introducing an additional factor to the complexity of the energy costs reduction challenge.
Repsol Cartagena was the first oil refinery to be built on the Iberian Peninsula. It has an annual crude distillation capacity of 5.5 million tonnes, with two main areas of production: fuels; and lube oils, asphalts and paraffinic and aromatic oils. Repsol Cartagena is currently involved in an ambitious expansion project, whereby 22 new units will be built, increasing its refining capacity to an annual 11 million tonnes.
The energy systems, the steps for the implementation of Visual MESA and several features of the model are described in this article, with a focus on the use of the software for the calculation of energy-related KPIs. The EMS implementation project is discussed and the main conclusions relative to the reduction in operating costs are also presented.
This paper shows real industrial examples in which, with the existing equipment, continuous CO2 emissions reductions were achieved while optimizing the energy systems by using an on line model. The importance of including the cost of CO2 emissions and how it should be taken into account when managing energy systems is explained. Furthermore, the optimization model is useful to perform case studies to evaluate energy system modifications taking into account this aspect.
This paper describes the tasks performed together with Soteica, by using an on-line model, to help achieve site wide energy costs minimization. A detailed model of steam, fuels, electric, boiler feed water and condensates system has been built, contemplating all the real constraints and degrees of freedom for their operation. The electric power system is also modelled as it interacts with the steam production and usage. Such a model is continually validated with live data. A continuous calculation of equipment efficiencies is done as part of the performance monitoring activity of the model that is running as a service.
A refinery energy system is modelled, including all the constraints, with continuous model validation using live data. Performance monitoring includes the tracking of equipment efficiencies by utilising validated data for its continuous calculation,
Experiences gained during more than 20 years of industrial projects deployed worldwide are commented. Main project steps are explained and critical details to be taken into account to assure successful use and proper technology transfer are presented. Specific case studies will be discussed in the paper. Open loop vs Closed loop implementation is also presented.
Rohm and Haas Company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of specialty materials, including adhesives, sealants, coatings, monomers, electronic materials, inorganic and specialty solutions, and ion exchange resins. Founded in 1909 by two German entrepreneurs, Rohm and Haas has grown to approximately $6 billion in annual revenues.
Alarm management is not just a project that has a start and end date; it's a continuous cycle. Once the alarm system has been reviewed and improvements have been identified, we must check that controls are in place to ensure the alarm system remains functional. The key is to ensure that the system is continuously monitored and any changes are fully documented. There are seven key steps for alarm management. Rationalization is one of those critical steps.
This paper shows how to improve distillation operations by focusing on procedure automation. It will review the importance of using procedures in distillation operations and highlights the collaboration work underway between Fractionation Research Inc. (FRI) and Yokogawa Corporation to improve procedural operations.
The worlds of process automation and production management have been converging for some time. What once used to be islands of automation and production management functionality connected through highly proprietary integration schemes that were costly to maintain have developed into integrated platforms that provide seamless data exchange between the world of automation and the plant floor, the functions of production and operations management, and integration with business level systems.
The world of process automation is governed by procedures. While we like to refer to the process industries as being largely "continuous", this could not be further from the truth. Process manufacturing is constantly in flux.
From engineering to installation, commissioning, operations, and maintenance, FOUNDATION fieldbus offer significant cost reductions of 30 percent or more versus conventional analog systems. Many of these cost reductions come from the advanced functions that fieldbus offers versus analog technology.
The automation suppliers that will be successful in the long term will be those that effectively address application or industry specific problems for end users with a value proposition that cannot be ignored. These problems exist throughout the process industries today, and they won't be solved by simply offering a product, but through a combination of hardware, software, services, application expertise, and knowledge.
In ARC's view, customers need a compelling business value proposition to justify investment in any kind of automation. Vigilance and VigilantPlant were created with this in mind. Yokogawa's vision with VigilantPlant is to create an environment where plant personnel and operators are well informed, alert, and ready to take action.
Yokogawa has come a long way in making its message clear to the world of process automation. Last year, the company embarked on a full-scale global marketing campaign to make customers aware of the company's focus on system reliability, security, dependability, and robustness. Dubbed "Vigilance", the campaign created a unified message for the company and greatly helped expand awareness of the Yokogawa brand and corporate philosophy.
Process automation end users are under more pressure than ever to do more with less. The current economic climate means that many automation capital projects are on hold. With capital budgets tighter than ever, users instead focus on operational budgets (where cost cutting is also a key concern), or on automation investments with a very rapid return on investment.
In today's dynamic industrial marketplace, the only constant is change. Raw material costs, energy costs, market demands, environmental and safety regulations, technology, and even the nature of the labor force itself are constantly changing, and not always in predictable directions.
Environmental pollution caused by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has become a global environment issue, including issues on effects upon health. This paper introduces a system based on detection and sampling technologies and developed for measuring goes in the global environment. Small amounts of VOCs are measured with a gas chromatograph or photoionization detector (PID). VOCs in water are sampled using a sparging method. A small quantity of VOC constituents of more than 20 different types can be measured with a gas chromatograph using a programmed temperature oven. The PID can detect a ppb level of VOCs that are ionized using a vacuum ultraviolet radiation lamp. We expect these devices will be useful for improving the global Environment.
With fired heaters, users hope to get greater efficiency and reduced emissions but often are disappointed. Given the number of fired heaters operating every day and their importance in the process industries, any improvements realized across the board will have huge impacts. More units can reach their potential with some simple changes in work practices and technology upgrades.
Migration of a refinery's DCS provided an opportunity to reconfigure and consolidate the control rooms and operational management system.
July 2011
Process plants are run according to operational procedures. These procedures consist of a set of tasks that are executed in a consistent manner to achieve a specific objective, such as starting up, shutting down or transitioning a unit as part of making a product.
April/May 2007
A Yokogawa ProSafe-RS safety instrumented system (SIS) will be the nucleus of a new fire and gas safety system at Shell's Clyde (NSW) refinery. The contract includes the control system, system engineering and installation and supervision.
Process automation in oil refineries is undergoing major changes, driven by customers frustrated by what they consider to be slow and incremental advances from the main automation original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the industry. ExxonMobil has become a de facto industry representative and is driving vendors like Yokogawa and others to reevaluate how large-scale automation projects are implemented.
Vibrating element (VBE) type gas measurement devices measure refinery reformer stream compositions, power generator hydrogen purity, centripetal compressor gas inputs, process heater fuel gas quality, and others in multiple process control environments.
Using wireless technology for monitoring a variety of measuring points in Industrial Plants has becoming a very attractive choice for plant managers. Today, the plant manager is able to build a quick and cost effective network solution to enable flexible information acquisition and to improve maintenance efficiency and safety.
Visual MESA Systems empower improved operational efficiencies in real time
Machines don't panic and they always do what they're told. But they can't think on their feet and can't react to situations for which they have not been programmed. Which do you want to depend on when your life depends on it?
CONTROL, January 2013
Standard Automation Methodology Improves Operations and Prevents Incidents by Enabling the Sharing of Best Practices Among Operators.
ARC believes that by implementing procedural automation, many process plants can minimize variability to help ensure smooth, efficient, and safe state transitions.
The global refining industry is constantly evolving and responding to new crude supplies and sources, more stringent fuel/product specifications, perpetually changing demand patterns and other global and regional trends. Increased competition from large, efficient refineries is forcing small- to mid-sized refiners to rethink their strategies to remain competitive.
Increasing oil prices are reducing the relative feedstock and energy costs advantages refiners and petrochemicals producers have recently enjoyed. Allied with the high cost and growing scarcity of skilled staff, a fundamental shift in mindset towards plant operations and maintenance is required to assure organizational resilience. Therefore, the desire to achieve enhanced cost structures through innovation in operating models and digitalization has intensified.
Wiring temperature sensors installed in a chimney back to a control room can be challenging and expensive, so many plants and facilities are instead implementing wireless solutions, such as this Yokogawa YTMX580 8-input temperature transmitter.
Adding process considerations improves energy savings and production performance.
Hydrocarbon Processing article discussing tunable diode laser (TDLS) gas analysis for combustion management in fired heaters | June 2015.
Optimizing the maintenance cycle is not always straightforward. In some cases, cleaning once a week is sufficient and other processes may require every 8 hours.
Select the correct pH glass and reference type to improve your pH sensor lifetime and you can limit or even eliminate the effects of temperature and pressure on especially the reference sensor.
The lifetime of a pH sensor has a significant impact on the overall annual costs of a pH measuring loop. Optimizing four key factors will decrease these costs and optimize process control and overall plant efficiency.
Kind of. Calibration itself will not extend the life of a sensor, however, a sensor that is not calibrated properly can cause unreliable measurements - that are often misdiagnosed leading to unnecessary replacements.
Learning these four lessons will help you improve your engineering skills and most importantly extend the life of your pH sensors.
Downloads
Brochures
- Yokogawa Corporation of America Corporate Overview - Products & Solutions (3.5 MB)
- Brochure: Five Mistakes When Selecting a Flowmeter
- Differential Pressure Level Solutions (23.1 MB)
- Steam Methane Reformer for Methanol Production
- Improved Combustion with TDLS - TDLS8000, TDLS8100, TDLS8200 Series (9.7 MB)
- Five Mistakes When Selecting a Flowmeter (440 KB)
- Yokogawa Performance Blending Solution
- Yokogawa Engineered Solutions for Ambient Air Monitoring (761 KB)
- Improved Combustion Efficiency and Safety with TDLS Measurements (526 KB)
- Extractive Tunable Diode Laser Spectrometer TDLS8220 (5.6 MB)
- TDLS8220 LOC (Limiting Oxygen Concentration) Infographic
- Refining Solutions (12.5 MB)
- Yokogawa Performance Distillation Solutions
- Overcome Temperature Effects for DP Level (778 KB)
Technical Information
Videos
The YSS1000 setting software (hereinafter referred to as the YSS1000) is package software to configure the functions of the YS1000 series (hereinafter referred to as the YS1000) devices. Writing and reading of parameters and user programs of the YS1000, and PID tuning and monitoring of user programs can be performed through the use of communication.
Yokogawa programs each oven to suit one or multiple process samples via its main components (sets of valves, columns, and detectors explicitly designed to the customer's application), and the combination of which is based on the chemical properties of all or some of the components in the specific gas mixture.
The GC8000 has an innovative predictive diagnostics; Virtual Tech, package built in to help keep the unit operating at peak performance. A number of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are monitored during every analysis to verify the analyzer is operating within proper tolerances. The data monitored includes: Chromatogram Shape, Peak Data, Valve Data, Detector Data, Oven Performance Data
The GC8000 has a built-in 12-inch color touch screen display that dramatically simplifies maintenance. At the touch of the screen, the technician can access all of the analytical parameters and measurement results; displayed in easy-to-understand graphical color screens.
The GC8000 is a process analyzer that uses gas chromatography to measure the composition of multiple components in a stream. Engineered with reliable electronics and intelligently designed columns and valves, the GC8000 improves ease of maintenance while reducing operating costs. Its intuitive touchscreen HMI with system diagnostics reduces operation and maintenance headaches, maximizing measurement accuracy, reliability, and uptime. More Information
How much do you know about pressure transmitters? Are you accurately, quickly and reliably measuring pressure? Ultimately, the drive of any good pressure transmitter is to get an accurate, reliable pressure measurement to the data user quickly. This video gives you the answers to your basic questions about pressure and pressure transmitters.
Fired heaters are the largest energy consumer in the manufacturing sector and represent a tremendous opportunity for energy savings. However, energy efficiency is not the only concern for fired heaters. Compliance and safety are continuous challenges.
In this one-hour presentation, we will discuss:
- How to improve fired heater safety and efficiency by controlling combustion using Tunable Diode Laser Spectrometers (TDLS) technology
- The 4 top industry challenges related to fired heaters
- How to efficiently and safely manage combustion
- How TDLS technology can improve operational excellence in fired heaters
In this webinar, we will:
- Share best practices for monitoring, recording, and transferring data
- Challenges in data acquisition and how Yokogawa can help
- Demonstrate GA10 Data Logging Software capabilities
Sample systems are a crucial component of and have a significant impact on the performance of a process gas chromatograph analyzer. When working on sample systems, you must have a constant awareness of time delays. This fundamentals webinar will take the mystery out of lag times.
Looking for more information on our people, technology and solutions?
Contact Us