MOL cuts energy by eur 1.2m pa on advanced process control 18 June 2012

MOL Group's gas distillation plant in Algyõ, Hungary, has improved energy efficiency and process stability to the tune of more than eur 1,200,000 per annum since implementing advanced process controls from Emerson Process Management.

The oil and gas company, which processes up to 12 million cubic metres of gas per day at Algyõ, upgraded the plant's distributed control system to Emerson's DeltaV process automation system as part of an on-going energy saving initiative.

Attila Bodócs, production chief at MOL, explains that the site then took advantage of the system's embedded advanced process control (APC) capabilities, adding Emerson's SmartProcess Distillation Optimiser, which enables model predictive control.

"Our experiences show that distillation columns are highly interactive, multi-variable processes that are difficult to control," comments Bodócs.

"Emerson's DeltaV distillation solution was customised for our application and was exactly what we needed," he continues, adding that one of the reasons MOL selected DeltaV was for its distillation column APC package.

By automatically adjusting key flows on the column, the optimiser allows MOL to make product reliably, safely and to customers' requirements while, at the same time, minimising energy usage.

Bodócs says that as soon as the advanced controls were commissioned on the first column, MOL began to gain the benefits it had sought – including ensuring that product quality matched customers' requirements without using more energy than needed.

Emerson's distillation solution has now been applied to five of the plant's six gas distillation columns. Hot oil consumption has been reduced by 40%, and operational stability has improved as the process is automatically corrected for variations.

Operator workload has also been reduced, because small manual adjustments are no longer required to keep the column operating at the product quality limits.

"Overall, we are really pleased with this project," states Bodócs. "Emerson's DeltaV system and its embedded APC tools, as well as its engineering and consultancy services, have been instrumental in helping MOL achieve a significant improvement in energy efficiency."

Brian Tinham

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