Customer Profile

Company Name Sitech Services

Crude Oil Production Utilities Provider

Challenge: Copy.... Gain control across power plant controllers at the most cost Solution: effective level and handle rapid Copy... changes in steam demand Benefits: Solution: Copy.. Adaptive Process Control featuring MPC on two of the individual Copy.. boilers and a master Aspen Copy.. application to coordinate DMCplus upgraded Copy.. remote flow control on other boilers Copy.. Benefits: Take optimal control across power plant with more accuracy Drive better results and react to rapid changes in steam demand quickly Increase profits Educate operators on controllers functions

Full Steam Ahead: Sitech Services Helps Utility Provider Optimize Control and Increase Profits
Services team deploys aspenONE Advanced Process Control (APC) solution for a major European power plant, generating greater efficiency and control of entire steam operation.
Sitech Services is a spin-off of DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition, and materials. Sitech has more than 700 employees providing services for DSM, SABIC, Borealis, and other industry-leading companies. One of Sitechs clients, EdeA, is a major utility supplier to operating companies in Geleen, Netherlands. The main EdeA power plant provides steam, electricity, water, and industrial gases to over 40 plants. Sitech was responsible for maintaining appropriate pressure for the power plant in multiple steam headers, while keeping costs as low as possible. Accelerating the plants response time to sudden changes in steam demand was an additional challenge. The fact that there were Distributed Control Systems (DCS) from multiple vendors installed on the different steam headers, as well as older boilers without remote flow control further complicated this project. Sitech used AspenTechs Adaptive Process Control capabilities including Aspen DMCplusto streamline the project and quickly develop accurate models for the process. The solution included implementing Model Predictive Control on two of the individual boilers, upgrading the basic boiler controls to enable remote flow control, and implementing a master model predictive controller that covers all of the boilers and coordinates control of the complete system. Adaptive Process Control enabled automatic background step testing, automatic slicing of bad data to remove bad values, and automated model identification.

Adaptive Control is a powerful tool, shortening the classic workflow. Hurray for this, it works very well.
Erik Debie, Process Control Engineer, Sitech Services

Taming the Beast

Sitech had several challenges during implementation. Existing DCS systems were from different vendors, resulting in wrong setpoint mapping, difficulty in communication between units, and inconsistent behavior. Two of the boilers had no flow control, so adding the control was part of the remedial engineering for the project. One boiler was dedicated to one customer specifically, requiring extra attention and restricting use. Only partial remote was control enabled, but full remote control was desired.
Dedicated

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Remote flow control Remote flow control DCS Vendor 1 DCS Vendor 1

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Pressure control Fixed control Strategy DCS Vendor 1

Honeywell

AspenTech is a leading supplier of software that optimizes process manufacturingfor energy, chemicals, engineering and construction, and other industries that manufacture and produce products from a chemical process. With integrated aspenONE solutions, process manufacturers can implement best practices for optimizing their engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain operations. As a result, AspenTech customers are better able to increase capacity, improve margins, reduce costs, and become more energy efficient. To see how the worlds leading process manufacturers rely on AspenTech to achieve their operational excellence goals, visit www.aspentech.com.

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Thinking Big, Starting Small

Part of Sitechs solution to maintaining steam balance was to give the older boilers flow control. Controllers were applied so the pressure control drove steam production to the desired load. This was accomplished in three steps. First, model predictive control was applied to the two boilers with no existing control (boiler #2 & boiler #3). Second, remote flow control was implemented on all other boilers. Finally, a master DMCplus controller was developed to coordinate control across all of the boilers and headers.
Worldwide Headquarters

Securing Buy-In from Operations

Gaining buy-in from the end users is critical in any APC project. Sitech used DMCplus built-in simulation capabilities to illustrate how the new control scheme would function. This type of simulation has proven to be very effective in gaining the confidence of operators and to help them understand what the controller is doing and why.

Aspen Technology, Inc. 200 Wheeler Road Burlington, MA 01803 United States phone: +17812216400 fax: +17812216410 info@aspentech.com

Regional Headquarters

Achieving Self-Sufficiency & Sustainability

With AspenTechs Adaptive Process Control technology, Sitech developed an effective solution. Fluctuations in process variables were minimized and optimal control of steam production was achieved. Notably, the standard deviation in steam flow production was reduced from 1.309 to 0.8024. These improvements led to an increase in profits; an overall success and prime example on the benefits of AspenTechs APC solution.
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