t cht lk and operators ’ ability to achieve monthly production that is as close to the plan as possible , and gaps can usually be traced to out-of-date or inaccurate planning models . One of the largest global refiners projects the ability to generate up-to-date revisions of these detailed reactor models as often as needed , will deliver value over US $ 10 million annually for a typical 200,000-barrel-per-day refinery . This technology is especially timely as refineries contend with dramatic changes in the products they must produce .
Fulfilling objectives
The development of hybrid model solutions will also , for many refiners , be the first step in realising the vision of the self-optimising plant . At AspenTech , we define this as a facility that can automatically adapt and respond to changing operating conditions . Relying on a combination of AI and key domain knowledge , the self-optimising plant will rapidly assess all available data streams , both within an asset and beyond its boundaries . It will rapidly react to changing conditions to achieve the best possible outcome , taking into account safety , sustainability , asset health and operational objectives .
Furthermore , it will use AI to anticipate future behaviour and provide workers and managers with alternative operational scenarios moving forward . In the selfoptimising plant of the future , operators and engineers will be supervising faster and more agile decision-making , freed up from low value-add , repetitive tasks , by the systems that have closed the loop to operate the plant close to intended limits and automatically react to unforeseen scenarios . Moreover , asset reliability information and operating data will inform the models to achieve safer , more sustainable designs .
That ’ s the end goal we are all driving towards . There is still some way to go on the journey for the refining industry , but the advancement achieved through hybrid modelling capabilities has opened up a completely new opportunity and is a transformative step forward on the route map to the self-optimising plant . •
Antonio Pietri , President and CEO , Aspen Technology
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THE SOLUTIONS SUPPORTED BY HYBRID MODELS ACT AS A CONNECTION POINT BETWEEN THE FIRST PRINCIPLES- FOCUSED WORLD OF TODAY AND THE ‘ SMART REFINERY ’ ENVIRONMENT OF THE FUTURE .
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