Advanced process control for syngas units

摘要

Advanced Process Control(APC)is recognised as a technique for improving plant performance in the process industry,and differs from conventional control due to the utilisation of process models for operation optimisation.Although use of APC is widespread in refineries and the petrochemical industry,it is only recently that ammonia,urea,nitric acid and methanol plants have been optimised with this technology.Typical benefits can be a 1-3% increase in production,a 1% decrease in specific energy consumption,a higher on-stream factor and more hands-off operation due to decreased interventions by operators.All these benefits can be realised for minimal cost,with payback times typi-cally varying between 4-9 months.This article explains how APC is able to optimise these plants and what is needed in order to deploy and maintain it.