How the control engineering profession helps sustainability
Visibility into the control loop (sense, decide and actuate) delivers sustainability goals.
Learning Objectives
- Shell in the petrochemical industry and ZF Group in the automotive industry explained how digitalization efforts are helping with sustainability goals.
- The 2023 ARC Industry Forum, in Orlando, Feb. 6-9, included discussions about digitalization, optimization of operations, energy efficiency and sustainability, among other topics.
- Optimal operation depends on the quality, design and condition of the gear set; lubricants that fit the operating conditions; and regular evaluations and maintenance.
Sustainability insights
- Sustainability requires setting goals, measuring, making decisions, taking actions and repeating, which is the control loop.
- Shell in the petrochemical industry and ZF Group in the automotive energy explain how digitalization efforts are helping with sustainability goals.
- The 2023 ARC Industry Forum, in Orlando, Feb. 6-9, included discussions about digitalization, optimization of operations, energy efficiency and sustainability, among other topics.
Industry, commercial buildings, transportation, and other sectors have created targets to adjust emissions believed to be causing climate warming. Those familiar with controls, automation and instrumentation are helping. Knowledge of measurements, controls and actuation (the control loop) can be applied to climate change goals, widely referred to as sustainability, to help us live in a sustainable way to avoid irreversible, planet-wide climatological disaster.
Control engineers know that when trying to bring a changing process within controlled setpoints, applying the right amount of corrective action over the right period of time is critical. Adjust too much, and the process fluctuates too much in the opposite direction, creating waste. Not enough corrective action may help, but it won’t produce enough results in the desired time, also missing the goal.
The 2023 ARC Industry Forum, in Orlando, Feb. 6-9, included discussions about digitalization, optimization of operations, energy efficiency and sustainability, among other topics. Shell in the petrochemical industry and ZF Group in the automotive energy explained how digitalization efforts are helping with sustainability goals.
Sustainability: Set goals, measure, make decisions, take actions, repeat
As industry looks at energy use transitions, petrochemical company Shell is shifting attention to digitalization, optimization and sustainability. The energy industry is in transition, and Allen Pertuit, Shell vice president of downstream projects, said digitalization, automation and instrumentation investments are helping. Shell’s diversifying portfolio includes chemical, biofuels, renewables, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen facilities, as well as natural gas and new feedstock plants. Shell, like many industrial companies, has committed to reduce emissions and is targeting net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
A renewable natural gas plant extracts gas from the waste produced from 30,000 cows, with digesters the size of mid-sized stadiums, giving leftovers back to farmers for fertilizer. A converted refinery creates diesel fuel from waste vegetable oil. CCS technologies are the last resort, but also are being pursued, he said.
Technologies applied to measure and optimize facilities help sustainability efforts also can improve safety and improve revenue by predicting failures. Shell has remote video communications to connect to 345 oil platforms. Intrinsically safe tablet computers help with remote operations.
The energy industry is in transition with increased efforts toward controls and open process automation upgrades to help sustainability, said Allen Pertuit, Shell vice president of downstream projects, at the 2023 ARC Industry Forum, organized by ARC Industry Forum. Courtesy: Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology
Refining the need for open process automation
As far as interoperability standards efforts go, “Why is open process automation even a question?” Pertuit asked, because those doing new upgrade projects are not a patient bunch. New energy plants are smaller facilities, perhaps $100 million, have smaller margins, and have a greater need for automation and instrumentation to leverage profits more quickly.
Digitalization helps smart manufacturing, sustainability goals
Digital manufacturing and smart manufacturing enable sustainability efforts for ZF Group, an automotive manufacturer, which provides motion controls for automotive, industrial and wind power. ZF Group is using digital transformation for faster smart factory implementations to meet sustainability requirements.
ZF Group hopes to be free of carbon emissions by 2040, and, by 2030, realize an 80% reduction from its plants’ CO2 emissions versus 2019 levels and 40% less CO2 emissions from supply chain and product use versus 2019 levels, according to Gabriel Gonzalez-Alanso, ZF Group senior vice president, corporate production management. Do so requires measurement, controls and faster smart factory implementations.
Using agile methodologies leads to better outcomes. It is not cheap nor fast, he said, noting ZF has been working at digitalization for 4 years. The effort began in 2019 with seven teams, working on moving from digital transformation to an industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) ecosystem by pushing digitalization to cloud. Smart factory elements will incorporate logistics, quality and inspections, factory management, production maintenance and shopfloor management.
Before implementation, ZF had to ensure data and infrastructure security, use of standards, digitally-enabled organization and workforce, and Industry 4.0 maturity roadmap, with strategic prefunding to optimize smart factory development, said Gonzalez-Alanso.
ZF Group is using digitalization and smart manufacturing to meet sustainability goals, said Gabriel Gonzalez-Alanso, senior vice president, corporate production management, ZF Group, at the 2023 ARC Industry Forum, organized by ARC Industry Forum. Courtesy: Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology
Increasing the speed of digitalization, sustainability in the automotive industry
In transition, first plant up had 700 personnel. Second had 8,000. Early adopters, up to 8 plants came next, and 2023 will include 48 or more plants. To complete before 2030, the pace will need to increase to up to 100 plants, which may not initially include connectivity to machines.
Even so, Gonzalez-Alanso said, “We trust in the system,” expecting 5 to 7% improvements at each plant. Benefits are enhanced productivity, increased efficiency and transparency, flexibility and quicker value to company, along with reduced complexity for the workforce.
Think again about how automation, controls and instrumentation expertise can help lead sustainability efforts.
Mark T. Hoske is content manager, Control Engineering, CFE Media and Technology, mhoske@cfemedia.com.
KEYWORDS: Controls, digitalization, sustainability
CONSIDER THIS
To meet sustainability goals in time, are the right things being measured, are optimal decisions being made and are the best actions being taken?
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