ADVANCED PROCESS CONTROL IN THE EVAPORATION UNIT

摘要

Energy consumption is a significant constituent of production costin an Alumina refinery. Indian refineries are striving to reachglobal benchmarks and have made conscious efforts to minimizeenergy consumption. Evaporation plays a significant role inconserving energy and is responsible for 30% of the thermalenergy consumption. In the Evaporation unit, due to a largenumber of interacting processes, frequent disturbances and thepresence of single line equipment, it is necessary to maximize theutilization of assets to ensure the production volumes at targetedefficiencies. The need for reduction in process variability resultingin optimizing operations, challenged by plant constraints, wasderived by adopting Advanced Process Control (APC) applicationin the Evaporation unit.APC incorporates a matrix of modeled dynamic process responseswith an optimizer to maintain the unit at the most profitable vertexof the allowable operating envelope. This paper will discuss thearea selection criteria, activities carried out during the projecttenure and post benefit analysis.