Case Studies European Refiner Tackles Heat Exchange Issues and Saves Millions in the Process

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	European Refiner Tackles Heat Exchange Issues and Saves Millions in the Process

European Refiner Tackles Heat Exchange Issues and Saves Millions in the Process

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries	Oil & Gas
Applicable Functions	Process Manufacturing
Use Cases	Predictive Maintenance Process Control & Optimization
Services	System Integration
Challenge	INEOS, Europe’s leading independent crude oil refiner, processes more than 410,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Their production network spans 76 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries around the world. INEOS’ success is linked to a simple approach to business — a focus on customer satisfaction, total quality and reliability. When INEOS set its mission toward continuous improvement to become a low-cost producer of high-quality products, the heat exchange system became a priority because of its impact on productivity, costs and overall profitability. Fouling in each heat exchanger and the entire heat exchanger train is a common problem for refineries. Without proper monitoring and insight, refiners resort to reactive rinsing and cleansing operations, significantly disrupting the safe, efficient operation of plants — and costing them millions of dollars in lost revenue. Read More
About Customer	INEOS is Europe’s leading independent crude oil refiner, processing more than 410,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Their production network spans 76 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries around the world. INEOS’ success is linked to a simple approach to business — a focus on customer satisfaction, total quality and reliability. When INEOS set its mission toward continuous improvement to become a low-cost producer of high-quality products, the heat exchange system became a priority because of its impact on productivity, costs and overall profitability. Read More
Solution	INEOS created and implemented an automated fouling monitoring application utilizing Aspen HYSYS, Aspen EDR, and Microsoft Excel for visualization of the data. The ability to link the AspenTech solutions with Excel allowed INEOS to distill complex and rigorously processed data and render it in user-friendly, easy-to-read graphical output. Temperatures, flow rates, process stream characteristics, and heat exchanger design data were used to calculate heat transfer variables for the exchangers. For each heat exchanger, a clean heat exchange coefficient was calculated and compared to the actual (fouled) heat exchange coefficient. INEOS monitored this ratio between the coefficients and could, as a result, effectively assess the performance of the system, allowing the manufacturing team to consider and implement various cleaning scenarios that optimized production efficiencies. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Oil & Gas

Applicable Functions

Process Manufacturing

Use Cases

Predictive Maintenance

Process Control & Optimization

Services

System Integration

Challenge

INEOS, Europe’s leading independent crude oil refiner, processes more than 410,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Their production network spans 76 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries around the world. INEOS’ success is linked to a simple approach to business — a focus on customer satisfaction, total quality and reliability. When INEOS set its mission toward continuous improvement to become a low-cost producer of high-quality products, the heat exchange system became a priority because of its impact on productivity, costs and overall profitability. Fouling in each heat exchanger and the entire heat exchanger train is a common problem for refineries. Without proper monitoring and insight, refiners resort to reactive rinsing and cleansing operations, significantly disrupting the safe, efficient operation of plants — and costing them millions of dollars in lost revenue.

About Customer

INEOS is Europe’s leading independent crude oil refiner, processing more than 410,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Their production network spans 76 manufacturing facilities in 20 countries around the world. INEOS’ success is linked to a simple approach to business — a focus on customer satisfaction, total quality and reliability. When INEOS set its mission toward continuous improvement to become a low-cost producer of high-quality products, the heat exchange system became a priority because of its impact on productivity, costs and overall profitability.

Solution

INEOS created and implemented an automated fouling monitoring application utilizing Aspen HYSYS, Aspen EDR, and Microsoft Excel for visualization of the data. The ability to link the AspenTech solutions with Excel allowed INEOS to distill complex and rigorously processed data and render it in user-friendly, easy-to-read graphical output. Temperatures, flow rates, process stream characteristics, and heat exchanger design data were used to calculate heat transfer variables for the exchangers. For each heat exchanger, a clean heat exchange coefficient was calculated and compared to the actual (fouled) heat exchange coefficient. INEOS monitored this ratio between the coefficients and could, as a result, effectively assess the performance of the system, allowing the manufacturing team to consider and implement various cleaning scenarios that optimized production efficiencies.

Impact #1	Enables INEOS to implement smart tube cleaning timetables to minimize maintenance cost and downtime
Impact #2	Ensures more predictable, reliable operations
Impact #3	Integrates easily with other systems, such as Aspen InfoPlus.21® for deployment at other plants worldwide

Impact #1

Enables INEOS to implement smart tube cleaning timetables to minimize maintenance cost and downtime

Impact #2

Ensures more predictable, reliable operations

Impact #3

Integrates easily with other systems, such as Aspen InfoPlus.21® for deployment at other plants worldwide

Benefit #1	Saves INEOS $1.5 million to $2 million per VDU; total of $4 million per annum

Benefit #1

Saves INEOS $1.5 million to $2 million per VDU; total of $4 million per annum

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Overview

European Refiner Tackles Heat Exchange Issues and Saves Millions in the Process

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit