Advances in Digital Automation within Refining

Over the past three decades advancements in process control technologies have allowed dramatic improvements in plants' operating efficiencies, productivity and asset utilization. Distributed Control Systems (DCS) established in the 1980s brought a step change in capability and efficiency over pneumatic and electronic controllers. Throughout the 1990s, technology advanced to enhance DCS performance with widespread use of Advanced Process Control (APC) applications. During the 2000s, Digital field architectures brought another step change in performance over DCS platforms. With intelligent field devices and digital bus technologies to communicate the information for display, refiners now have advanced diagnostics integrated with asset management functionality to achieve new levels in efficiency, reliability, and safety. The introduction of wireless technologies has given refiners the opportunity to add additional process measurements without the cost and concerns of pulling new cable through an operating process unit. These additional process measurements enable the refiner to manage the health and efficiency of the refinery equipment in ways that was not available before; process engineers now have the information they need to make operational decisions for optimal performance and reliability.

This paper will show how advances in technology have changed the refinery work culture to be more informed about the assets, thus able to make better decisions that effect operating performance, reliability, and safety.