MOL gas processing plant shaves 9m eur off production costs 09 August 2013

European oil and gas giant MOL Group says it has significantly increased throughput, improved product quality and cut energy consumption at its Algyõ gas processing plant in Hungary, following intervention by Emerson Support Services.

Emerson engineers implemented control loop audits, advanced process control and model predictive control at the plant – which can process 12 million m3 of gas per day – and provided project support, which together have now helped MOL achieve savings estimated at more than 9 million Euros since 2006.

"The co-operation between MOL and Emerson has resulted in great achievements, since distillation columns involve highly-interactive, multi-variable processes that are difficult to control," comments Károly Oláh, production manager at MOL.

"Emerson has completed a number of major projects at our plant that have enabled significant reductions in process variability, provided large energy savings and reduced emissions."

Emerson's involvement started in 2006, when its consultants carried out a detailed audit of control loops, valves and instruments at the Algyõ plant to identify areas requiring maintenance, replacement, tuning or redesign.

Oláh says resulting improvements in control loop performance reduced variability of key process parameters by 84%. Loop optimisation also reduced re-boiler duty and heating requirements, saving 670,000 euros per year in natural gas equivalent, and cutting CO2 emissions by 4.3%.

In 2007, MOL upgraded the plant's distributed control system to Emerson's DeltaV system, and the following year Emerson performed control performance service work on the associated oil absorption plant.

These enhancements stabilised the hot oil cycle system and improved the operation of the de-ethaniser column, says Oláh.

In 2009 MOL went on to harness DeltaV's embedded APC (advanced process control) capabilities by adding Emerson's SmartProcess Distillation Optimizer software.

That in turn yielded better control of the product quality through gas distillation column modelling – which enabled MOL to further decrease costs by reducing the quantity of product blending required. So successful was that project that Emerson's distillation column software has now been applied to five of the plant's six columns – resulting in energy costs slashed by 1,200,000 euros per year.

The most recent project at the Algyõ plant was a performance audit of the model predictive control, based on MOL's current operation and plant operating objectives.

Following Emerson's recommendations, changes have now been made to the control system for two of the columns. The changes included: modifying the structure of the regulatory control scheme; introducing a new component to the model predictive control scheme to improve predictions and take account of impurities; and updating the procedure for using laboratory data.

The changes made at the plant have also reduced the site heat load, which prompted MOL to look at how best the heat supply can be managed for the whole site.

Emerson is currently supporting this project with a study to evaluate the heat balance across the site, as well as the heat loads on the furnace.

"Emerson's outstanding support and extensive industry experience has established them as trusted partners, and we will continue to use their local and global resources whenever the need arises" comments Oláh.

Brian Tinham

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