Process Digital Twins for Optimal Plant Operations

Process Digital Twins for Optimal Plant Operations

Process simulations have been used in most industries since the invention of computers primarily for engineering efforts in process design, troubleshooting and debottlenecking. More recently process digital twins have emerged as a tool to support plant operations. Petroleum refining and major chemical plants pioneered the use of process digital twins for feedstock selection, planning and process optimization of complex units. As the robustness of process digital twins has continued to improve, their adoption has expanded to other industries and for a wider variety of purposes.

A robust process digital twin has the attributes of 1) an accurate representation of the current performance of an asset over its full range of operation including the disposition of each molecule, and 2) fully automated model updating and runs that complement business workflows. This digital twin can support process engineering, project engineering, planning and scheduling, operations, process control and plant maintenance.

The future process digital twin is expected to merge with other digital twins including behavioral digital twins and supply chain digital twins. Next generation digital twins will also include more artificial intelligence capabilities to model poorly understood processes and enable autonomous operations by detecting and responding appropriately to abnormal conditions.

This presentation will cover:

• the history of process digital twins
• the structure and functions of a robust process digital twin
• the benefits of process digital twins with actual case studies
• the future for process digital twins