Refinery-wide optimization solutions drive real-time performance

Invensys strengthens capabilities of the hydrocarbon processing industry offerings in its SimSci-Esscor platform.

November 6, 2012

Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions, and consulting services to manufacturing and infrastructure industries, has introduced new refinery-wide optimization solutions that complement its existing portfolio of SimSci-Esscor hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) offerings.

Invensys aims to help refiners meet the increasing demands of today’s operating environment with two new offerings: a yield accounting solution and an off-sites solution integrated with planning and scheduling systems. The company further announced that it has acquired Spiral Software, a privately held company headquartered in Cambridge, U.K. Spiral Software provides what Invensys characterizes as the only integrated refining-industry solution designed from the ground up, bringing together feedstock data management, planning, and scheduling. This means that Invensys’ SimSci-Esscor solutions will now fully support and optimize the entire refining value chain, from crude trading to supply-chain distribution, including lifecycle modeling from design to start up to  performance optimization. With this acquisition, Invensys says it is able to offer the only full-span optimization solution on the market today, one that will help customers reap cost savings and margin improvements that could total millions of dollars each year.

“Consistent with our overall goal of providing customers with cutting-edge technology systems and software that help them quantify and understand the financial impact of their business decisions in real time, we have extended our portfolio of offerings to help drive profitability and performance improvements across the refinery,” said Tobias Scheele, PhD, vice president, advanced applications, Invensys Operations Management. “For more than 45 years, Invensys modeling and optimization solutions have helped make refining better. These latest offerings strengthen our commitment to the HPI sector.”

Refiners today are inundated with data, but the key to operating efficiently is being able to determine quickly which plant data is reliable. The Invensys Yield Accounting solution streamlines data transfer between off-sites software and yield accounting software to ensure that the correct information is being used. It then converts that process data into reliable operating information by using built-in data reconciliation algorithms. Using the Invensys Yield Accounting solution increases accuracy and reliability for receipt, shipment and process data; identifies gross errors; corrects inaccuracies; and reduces or eliminates losses. Implementing the solution also results in more consistent, reliable data for cost accounting, equipment utilization, and other plant-wide key performance indicators that could yield a typical 250,000 barrel-per-day refinery an excess of $8.5 million per year in savings.

Invensys also released an off-sites solution that integrates planning, scheduling and off-sites systems to its SimSci-Esscor ROMeo optimization software. This new solution allows refineries that already have blend operations and optimization practices in place to leverage these two sources of information, ultimately improving efficiency and profitability. As a result of this integration, Invensys can provide an easier way to update linear programming models when refinery feedstock profiles or physical configurations are significantly changed.

Additionally, the newly acquired Spiral knowledge-management software will provide accurate and timely crude oil information across an enterprise, from ranking crude oils in trading to optimizing refinery processes and maximizing reliability. Spiral Software’s planning and scheduling solution provides a collaborative, multi-user environment for sharing common data and models across all supply chain work processes. Planning activities, such as crude purchasing and product sales, can now be flexed continuously with the production schedule, reacting to market and operating conditions. In parallel, scheduling decisions can be made with an understanding of their commercial impact while avoiding boxed-in scenarios. Its integrated risk-analysis feature enables users to look across many different planning and scheduling scenarios, helping refiners understand their exposure to changes in feedstock costs, product demand and refinery operations.

“Since Invensys already offers solutions for optimization and for off-sites blending operations, integration was a natural way to leverage our existing offerings to enhance refinery efficiency and profitability,” Scheele said.

In addition, recent releases of Invensys’ Visual Flow software (version 5.5) and ROMeo modeling and optimization software (version 6.0.2) further illustrate the company’s ongoing commitment to refining. The updated Visual Flow software adopts several industry standards that aid in the design and evaluation of relief systems to ensure safety within and around the refinery. The recent release of ROMeo software includes improvements that respond to customer requests, including a new hydroprocessing reactor model and an updated feed synthesis for the fluid catalytic cracker model.

“These improvements will allow refineries to operate at peak efficiency because they monitor equipment performance, reduce operating costs, increase throughput, and maximize profit,” Scheele continued. “With clear, measurable, and visible results that can amount to millions of dollars per year, refining companies that apply our solutions can make better decisions about how to deliver long-term, sustainable growth, as well as reap economic, environmental, and safety benefits.”

Invensys Operations Management

https://iom.invensys.com/optimization

https://www.spiralsoft.com

Edited by Peter Welander, pwelander@cfemedia.com