CHEMICALS: Are Slow Cycle Times Eating Your Profits?
Accelerating Batch Reactor Cycle Times
Although not a financial services company, Evonik Industries fully appreciates the time value of money. That's especially true in terms of how the company manages the cycle time of its batch processes. A long cycle time often corresponds with erratic control. Evonik sees an opportunity for improvement through leveraging Control Station's LOOP-PRO PID tuning technologies to improve control and to strengthen bottom-line financial performance. Evonik Jayhawk Fine Chemicals located in Galena, Kansas has successfully applied LOOP-PRO to a variety of batch processes. Where other technologies were unable to effectively model the dynamics of batch processes, LOOP-PRO - equipped with patent-pending Non-Steady State (NSS) Modeling technology - has produced quick and consistent results. With improved control and shorter cycle times, Evonik is able to improve productivity.
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CEMENT: Do Process Disturbances Upset Your
Profits?
Improving Stability and Profitability
As a member company of a worldwide group leader in cement production, Essroc Italcementi Group understands that process disturbances have a direct and negative impact on profitability. Disturbances oftentimes result in inconsistent production quality and reduced throughput. What's more, disturbances can cause staff to operate control systems in manual mode rather than automatic. That places additional strain on a plant's resources and reduces its overall efficiency. Essroc has successfully applied Control Station's award-winning LOOP-PRO software technologies to tackle the issue of process disturbances. At the company's plant in Logansport, Indiana, Essroc has put LOOP-PRO to the test on processes ranging from Kiln Feed Rate to Roll Press Bin Weight. In each instance, the technology proved an easy solution for improving control and mitigating the impact of disturbances. For Essroc, that's an easy decision and a profitable solution.
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OIL & GAS: Is Process Drift Fueling Inefficiency at Your Plant?
Improving Stability and Profitability
In the highly competitive market for alternative fuels, Glacial Lakes Energy LLC understands that inefficient processes can have a negative effect on plant profitability. Drifting processes hinder quality and reduce throughput. Additionally, the inability to control production within tolerances often demands greater energy consumption. Such inefficiencies put a manufacturer at a distinct disadvantage, especially when the competition includes "Big Oil". Glacial Lakes successfully applied Control Station's award-winning and patent-pending LOOP-PRO software to address process drift and other control related issues. At the cooperative's plant in Watertown, South Dakota, Glacial Lakes put LOOP-PRO to the test on processes ranging from Beer Feed and Slurry to Mash Train Cooler and Rectifier Temperature. In each instance, the technology proved the right solution for improving control. That type of efficiency is helping Glacial Lakes to fuel growth and profit.
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OIL & GAS: Are Your Tunings Refined?
Lowering Energy Costs by Controlling Steam Fluctuations
A leading petrochemical company faced a dilemma with power generation at one of their refineries. Oscillation in a critical steam flow loop persisted in spite of relentless efforts to stabilize it. The loop was vital to one of the refinery's distillation columns and its inefficiency was resulting in significant energy loss. Although refinery staff used multiple software tools to assist with diagnosis and optimization, the loop's oscillatory behavior prevented those tools from producing an accurate model of the process and thwarted tuning. Although experience made them skeptical of loop tuning software, refinery staff agreed to trial Control Station's LOOP-PRO Product Suite. Equipped with a patent-pending capability for modeling non-steady state process data, LOOP-PRO quickly produced an accurate process model and optimal tuning parameters. Where other tools fell down, LOOP-PRO stood alone.
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POWER & UTILITIES: To Master the Kilowatt Master...
Optimizing Control for More Profitable Operation
Professionals in the process control world understand that "less" can often mean more. That is especially true when referring to reduced cycling within a given production process. Reducing oscillations and otherwise tightening constraints around the control objective can present a significant challenge. It also presents an opportunity to dramatically improve a plant's profitability. Control Station's LOOP-PRO technologies have made a significant impact on the University of Connecticut's (UConn's) 25 MW cogeneration power plant. Commissioned in 2006, the plant is legally constrained to generate sufficient power - and not a KW more - for the university's exclusive use. With the introduction of LOOP-PRO, loops that had been highly oscillatory were easily analyzed and their performance immediately improved. For the plant's staff, less oscillation has resulted in a more reliable work environment and the plant's best performance ratings to-date.
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POWER & UTILITIES: A
Stable Desuperheater is Super Profitable!
Improving Set Point Tracking and Process Profitability
Tightening control around Set Point will improve the performance and profitability of most every production process. This is especially true of desuperheater processes that are used by power companies to reduce variability in the temperature of steam that is sent to a plant's turbines. Oscillations in the process can result in damage to the turbines, cause leaks, and affect heat rate. To address their challenge, this company sought a software solution that could handle the dynamics of a desuperheater. They found LOOP-PRO with its ability to accurately model transitional and oscillatory process data.
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