Quick Hit Financial Benefits From Pre-Engineered APC Packages

The refining industry is faced with a challenging economic environment which has led to a high emphasis on cost reduction and cash flow management. With a renewed focus on energy efficiency, green house gas reduction and yields, many refineries have embarked on a number of strategic initiatives to achieve their financial goals, but these investments don't all generate positive cash flow in the near term.  Advanced Process Control (APC) projects have historically demonstrated high payback opportunities, but often take 6-9 months to complete and another 9-12 months to recoup the benefits.  A large, midwest US refinery tried a different approach.  Using the embedded APC tools in their new DCS and a pre-engineered application supplied by the DCS vendor, they implemented an APC application on one of their distillation columns in 2 weeks, start-to-finish, that paid for itself in less than 40 days.