Procedural Automation – Best Operator Always Available Reliably

Ramping and switchovers during frequent transitions in petrochemical plants involve manual field and panel operator activities. Normally the ramping of setpoints and turning of automatic valves are executed manually based on standard operation procedures. These manual operations if not performed properly can have an impact to downstream process units and lead to off-spec products, less production time, lower energy consumption and unnecessary GHG emissions. In worst case they can even trigger process upsets.

An automation of these activities by the Automatic Sequence Transition module in an integrated Advanced Process Control System leads to more consistent and reliable operation. The variations during cracking furnace transitions (e.g., standby to cracking or decoking) due to less experienced operators can be mitigated by help of this kind of automation to achieve optimized olefin production.

This paper explains the potential of this solution, architecture, and challenges especially on a brownfield projects and lessons learned.