White Paper

ROMeo Performance Monitoring: Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring (ARPM)

A White Paper on Model-based Online Performance Monitoring (APM)
Author: Harpreet Gulati, Director, Invensys SimSci-Esscor

Whats Inside:
1. Abstract 2. Decision Making in Plant Operations 3. What is Online Performance Monitoring? 4. Condition Monitoring vs. Performance Monitoring 5. Todays Requirements for OPM 6. The ARPM Solution from SimSci Complete OPM 7. How It Works 8. How Often to Monitor Performance 9. Typical ARPM Applications 10. The Bottom Line

ROMeo Performance Monitoring: Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring

A White Paper on Model-based Online Performance Monitoring

1. Abstract
Todays economic climate requires a step-change in the timeliness and quality of decision-making in plant operations. The day when refiners and chemical manufacturers can rely upon off-line analysis alone for competitive advantage is rapidly vanishing. Monitoring operational performance has always been an essential task for any plant manager, but technology limitations have usually prevented continual success. Online performance monitoring technology can now provide the tools necessary for plant managers to achieve optimal plant performance and reliability. The requirements for a successful online performance monitoring solution includes open connectivity with DCS and other plant information systems; real-time process data reconciliation and validation; rigorous and accurate equipment models; an efficient and friendly user environment; low maintenance requirements; and full automation capability. Invensys ROMeo-based Performance Monitoring solution, ARPM, is unique among available commercial offerings in satisfying all of these requirements. Typical applications of ARPM include distillation, heat exchange, reaction, and compression trains in refinery, ethylene, and gas processing units. ARPM provides predictive de-bottlenecking, troubleshooting, and maintenance capabilities, as well as tracking actual plant performance versus targets. A large California-based refinery utilizes Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring (ARPM) to maximize crude throughput and maintenance ROI. ARPM facilitates consultative, not combative, engineering, and is an inexpensive first step toward full, real-time plant optimization.

2. Decision Making in Plant Operations

Plant Managers have always wanted to monitor the performance of their processes and operating assets to make profitable operational decisions for both the short and long term. Currently, this activity is mostly restricted to one time offline analysis, material balances, or comparisons to simple standards in custom spreadsheets. The time taken to generate even these basic analyses has been too long to enable effective action based on the results. Todays economic climate is pushing plant management to dramatically improve the quality and timeliness of their operational decisions. Fundamental economic and regulatory forces are unrelenting in punishing plants that use outdated tools and methods to make operational decisions. Global recession has put pressure on staffing levels and dramatically increased individual responsibility for plant personnel. Environmental regulations continue to become increasingly restrictive, and expensive. Capital and maintenance spending cutbacks confront plant engineers, who must already deal with the challenge of maintaining antiquated, isolated control systems. The result is a gap a crucial gap in the quality and timeliness of the information plant operators need to make plants perform optimally. Most plant managers, engineers, and operators are making daily operating decisions based on unreconciled snapshots of operating data. This analysis does not take into account instrument drifts or errors, bad data, or the inaccuracy of the data. How can plant personnel be certain the information they are using to operate the plant is fresh and accurate? Online Performance Monitoring (OPM) offers a fundamental solution to this challenge.

3. What is Online Performance Monitoring?

Equipment reliability and efficient operations are critical for long-term profitability and safety. The dynamic nature of processes means the performance of gas turbines, compressors, heat exchangers and other chemical process equipment deteriorates over time, forcing operating costs to rise. As operating plants get larger, the financial implications of even relatively short production outages are dramatic. Operating companies find it difficult to address problems or make improvements without knowing the exact performance of the existing equipment and knowing the location of process problems. Online Performance Monitoring is the process of measuring the performance of existing operating assets, understanding the deviation from targeted performance, and quantifying the impact of performance degradation.

Page 1

ROMeo Performance Monitoring: Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring

A White Paper on Model-based Online Performance Monitoring

In general, there are two types of performance monitoring employed in the industry: Basic trend type monitoring and model based performance monitoring. The basic trend type monitoring relies on straightforward calculations based on variables extracted from plant historian. Model based Performance Monitoring is the process of comparing actual plant performance versus a model or a correlation and then quantifying the impact of making process changes on the overall plant performance.

The primary goal of performance monitoring based on rigorous engineering models is to extract useful and consistent information from raw process data to support high quality operational decision-making. Application of this information may lead to fault detection, process improvements, and improved maintenance cycles.

4. Condition Monitoring versus Performance Monitoring

A great deal has been written about condition monitoring, which identifies mechanical faults in equipment such as bearing wear or imbalance in rotating machinery. Many operating companies measure vibration, evaluate oil levels, and assess the mechanical health of key process equipment. However, condition monitoring of equipment data does not provide sufficient information on the actual inherent performance, such as thermodynamic efficiency, of the equipment being monitored. The actual equipment performance can be masked by process changes such as ambient conditions, stream compositions, operating conditions, and other normal process changes. Performance monitoring based on a rigorous engineering model can account for process and feed changes of a larger section of a process unit instead of narrowly focusing on an individual piece of equipment. A structured modelbased performance monitoring approach allows accurate comparison of actual versus targeted or design performance. Additionally, performance monitoring can often signal the degradation in the inherent performance of the equipment before any mechanical degradation manifests itself. An ideal solution would be a combination of the two technologies, providing an accurate picture of the short-term mechanical performance and longer-term inherent performance. Maintenance engineers can examine both the short-term effects on operations and longer-term performance degradation to determine the optimal maintenance strategy.

Page 2

ROMeo Performance Monitoring: Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring

A White Paper on Model-based Online Performance Monitoring

5. Todays Requirements for OPM

A modern online performance monitoring solution must encompass the following elements to be considered complete: Connectivity with the plants control system Manually gathering information off-line simply cannot be done fast enough to bridge the gap. The solution must seamlessly interface with the existing IT infrastructure and allow direct bi-directional access to process data and performance parameters. Rigorous data reconciliation and validation The solution must be able to detect and eliminate gross errors in plant data due to instrument malfunction or drifting sensors. It must be able to rigorously reconcile the inconsistencies or small errors in the remaining data and provide calculated estimates for missing data points based on a first principles approach. Model accuracy First principles models, which apply fundamental chemical equilibrium and thermodynamic principles to model equipment performance, are far more accurate than empirical or heuristic methods. The solution should include sophisticated models for complex reactors such as FCC or ethylene cracking applications as well as engineering models to predict the behavior of operating equipment such as columns, compressors, and heat exchangers. Low setup and maintenance costs An efficient, friendly user environment enables a shallow learning curve and lower maintenance costs for an OPM solution. Open standards provide low-threshold connectivity to other information systems in the plant. Full automation capability Automatic operation provides real-time speed while allowing operator oversight. Automation of all performance monitoring tasks enables plant personnel to concentrate on plant improvements rather than running software. Manual operation should also be available when desired. An ideal Online Performance Monitoring system bridges the plant information quality gap by automating the process of gathering and reconciling plant operating data and distributing performance information at specified intervals. While there are many approaches to maintenance, an online performance monitoring approach based on predictive engineering models can substantially enhance the accuracy and the detail of performance information on the plants equipment and processes.

6. The ARPM Solution from SimSci Complete OPM

Invensys proudly offers ROMeo Advanced Rigorous Performance Monitoring as a complete, modern online performance monitoring solution. ARPM uses real-time plant data and employs rigorous engineering models to extract equipment and process information that is consistent, comprehensive, timely, and trustworthy. ARPMs external data interface (EDI) provides open, two-way access to plant historian data and performance parameters. Direct interfaces are available to popular commercial data historians such as Wonderware Historian; OSIsoft PI; Honeywell PHD; and Foxboro AIM. ARPM fully integrates the rigorous data reconciliation and validation capabilities of SimScis DATACON program to provide gross error detection, elimination, and model-calculated replacements for erroneous data points. ARPM relies on the proven, superior accuracy of first principles modeling technology from SimScis PRO/II and core ROMeo programs. It rigorously performs all chemical and thermodynamic calculations required to provide high quality information on plant performance. ARPM includes interfaces to sophisticated thirdparty reactor models from Technip (SPYRO). ARPMs real-time system (RTS) provides convenient graphical scheduling and automation of all performance monitoring and reporting tasks. RTS allows you to easily define complex event sequences for automated performance monitoring daily, weekly, or at any preset interval. Conditional branching within RTS allows operator oversight and attention to highlighted events by relaying messages directly to the appropriate individuals. Manual operation is always available when desired.
Page 3

ROMeo Performance Monitoring: Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring

A White Paper on Model-based Online Performance Monitoring

7. How It Works
ARPM first applies statistical variability tests to real-time plant operating data from the control system (flow rates, temperatures, pressures, etc.) to determine how close plant operations are to steady state. It then screens and removes gross errors from the raw plant data. This involves simple checks for limit violations and availability, as well as sophisticated statistical methods to detect which measurements, if any, are likely to contain a serious error. The next step is data reconciliation and parameterization, where measurement biases, feed compositions, and model parameters (e.g., tray efficiencies, fouling factors) are calculated to insure a good match between the model and the process. The rigorous process model then compares this reconciled data to a base-case simulation of the entire process and flags any results that indicate potential under performing equipment.

Figure 1: ARPM directly accesses the process and equipment data from the plant historian and extracts performance information Figure 1 shows a rough schematic of the flow of information in an online performance monitoring solution. ARPM accesses data directly from plant historian, calculates the performance parameters and distributes the appropriate information to maintenance, process engineering and operations. The Real-Time System within ARPM can be configured to run various case studies as a part of the daily performance monitoring tasks. These case studies can include predicting the consequences of performance maintenance in a certain area of the process units, predicting the economic impact of cleaning a particular heat exchanger, or determining the best maintenance action to improve bottom line profitability. Since ARPM uses rigorous models to calculate the performance parameters, it essentially provides an evergreen self-tuning model of the process. Process engineering can use these models anytime to perform troubleshooting and debottlenecking studies or offline advisory optimization.
Page 4

ROMeo Performance Monitoring: Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring

A White Paper on Model-based Online Performance Monitoring

8. How Often to Monitor Performance

Although the RTS automates the process of performing monitoring, the frequency and schedule for performance monitoring still needs to be determined by plant engineers. If the frequency is set too high, there will be no significant change from one estimate to the next. If set too low, then it is possible to miss a critical shift. A general rule of thumb is that the rate at which performance monitoring tasks are run should be chosen to reflect the anticipated decay in the value of the parameters being monitored. There are several key factors in determining the frequency of performance monitoring. The rate of fouling for heat exchangers is dependent on the fluid being processed, giving distinct optimal cycle times. Key distillation columns may need to be monitored several times a day to detect subtle performance changes. Compressors and reactors have different rates of change ranging from weeks to months. It is most important first to choose the parameters that have engineering meaning and are good indicators of true performance of the equipment or the process. For example, the overall heat transfer coefficient of a heat exchanger, the isotropic efficiency for a compressor stage, and the separation factors in a distillation tower are good indicators of performance. One can then determine the optimal frequency of performance monitoring by looking at the range and time duration for the parameter to move between its clean (base or design) state and a fully-fouled condition, when the condition of the unit significantly influences the economics of the process. ROMeo Performance Monitoring allows users to conduct what-if simulation case studies, evaluate the economic impact of changing any process parameter and quantify the economic difference between current and fouled conditions for the process.

9. Typical Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring Applications

A large California refiner uses ARPM to monitor plant performance at a plant in the Los Angeles basin. The plant consists of an atmospheric crude oil distillation section, a vacuum flasher, a coker, and associated hydrotreaters. They have a complete ROMeo Performance Monitoring model of the atmospheric unit and use it to reconcile and fit heat exchanger fouling factors and distillation column tray efficiencies. The plants performance goal is to maximize crude throughput and corresponding feeds to downstream plants. ARPM has enabled the identification and repair or replacement faulty instruments. The Reliability Supervisor reports that they have been able to optimize their maintenance targets and schedules using results from ARPM. The best maintenance targets are not always obvious or intuitive. A solution like ARPM helps maximize their return on maintenance investment. Another client recently was able to use the quality information ARPM provides to make an important decision affecting the turnaround schedule for their gas plant. ARPM had highlighted a debutanizer tower as under performing. Operations staff felt the cause was damaged tower internals and recommended opening the column during the next scheduled turnaround. The units contact engineer uses ARPM to study performance patterns, and was able to demonstrate that the performance problem could be corrected by changing operational guidelines for the tower. The resulting decision to leave the tower unopened substantially reduced the overall turnaround schedule and expense while maximizing operating profit. Another client (a large integrated oil company) monitors a compression train located at a geographically remote site. The openness of ARPM allows visiting engineers at the site and their counterparts at corporate headquarters to view the same quality data in real time. The common ground provided is conducive to cooperative engineering efforts and remote engineering. A client at a large Caribbean refinery plans to take full advantage of ARPMs real-time system, by fully automating all data acquisition, reconciliation, base modeling, and case studies activities. ARPM provides the assurance that any trouble spots will be detected quickly and accurately on a systematic basis.

Page 5

ROMeo Performance Monitoring: Automated Rigorous Performance Monitoring

A White Paper on Model-based Online Performance Monitoring

10. The Bottom Line

ARPM is the only commercially available OPM solution that satisfies all modern requirements for performance monitoring excellence in a single package. ARPM enables timely, effective maintenance through rapid, accurate diagnosis of operational problems and limitations. It also provides insight on problems that may require operational solutions instead of expensive maintenance intervention. Using a performance monitoring system based on rigorous model-based technology provides highly accurate information to users, reducing the effect of instrument noise and bad data on the calculations. ARPM accurately quantifies economic damage due to poor performance, and enables maximum return on maintenance investments. ARPM users know, with confidence, how to make their maintenance investments wisely and keep their plants operating at optimal conditions continually. It is also an inexpensive first step toward fully automated, online, closed-loop process optimization. Every bit of a ROMeo Performance Monitoring installation may be leveraged upward in future online optimization projects, as it is based on SimScis ROMeo solution. ARPM is part of the ROMeo Online Performance Suite (OPS), a set of modules that delivers the latest generation of rigorous model based solutions to help users obtain peak performance from their operating units. Call your Invensys representative today to find out more about how ROMeo Performance Monitoring can provide cost effective, online performance monitoring for your plant, or visit us at iom.invensys.com.

2010 Invensys Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Avantis, Eurotherm, Foxboro, InFusion, Invensys, SimSci-Esscor, Skelta, Triconex, Validation Technologies and Wonderware are trademarks of Invensys plc., its subsidiaries and affiliated companies. All other product names are the trademarks of their respective holders. rel. 07/10 PN SE-0117

Page 6