Ethylene Plant RTO System - Its Usages in Online Closed Loop and Offline Analysis

Ethylene Plant RTO System - Its Usages in Online Closed Loop and Offline Analysis

Nan Ye, Applied Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) LP, Houston, TX

Real time closed loop optimization systems have been installed at many ethylene plants. The advancement on the applications of the real time optimization (RTO) systems has been made constantly over the years. This paper describes several aspects of the improvements in the ethylene plant RTO applications. 

For a successful application of a RTO system in the online closed loop form, offline analysis plays an important role. A systematic approach of offline analysis before closed loop is described. This approach includes optimal move analysis, the use of sensitivity analysis to detect errors and various properly formatted reports to help the analysis etc.

This paper also describes some issues related to the closed loop RTO applications and proposes some solutions, such as the affect of system dynamics on the parameter case etc. Finally the economic benefits of an ethylene plant RTO system used in both online closed loop and offline analysis are given.