PROJECT LEAD: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)
PARTNERS: Praxair, Process Systems Enterprise, AspenTech, OSISoft, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Texas Austin
PROBLEM STATEMENT: An Air Separation Unit (ASU) is a complex and energy intensive process for chemical industries. Sub-optimal performance of these processes result in a loss of energy efficiency. For Praxair in the US, each 1% in operating efficiency is worth about $10 M/yr.
PROJECT GOAL: The goal of this project is to develop a number of SM Platform™ ready tools and deploy them on Praxair’s commercial Air Separation Unit for improving energy efficiency.
TECHNICAL APPROACH:
- Create data acquisition tools, asset templates and predictive tools for the air separation units and demonstrate their application in an integrated environment.
KEY TASKS AND MILESTONES:
- Develop data model templates for the air separation unit for data acquisition and modeling & control environments
- Implement a coupled on-premise & cloud historian system to collect plant data for analysis in the cloud
- Develop steady state, dynamic, control oriented, planning and scheduling models for ASU
- Develop data models for individual assets for integration into a Remote Asset Management workflow
- Develop analysis tools for the efficient monitoring and operation of the Air Separation Unit
- Validate analysis tools through field testing on an air separation unit at Praxair
POTENTIAL IMPACT:
Increase in operating efficiencies of Air Separation Units estimated at $10M/yr. for one large manufacturer, with potentially similar impact to other manufacturers with similar ASUs Contributes to CESMII’s energy reduction and energy productivity goals
BENEFITS:
- Data templates, models, analytics tools available to other members with similar processes through the SM Platform™
- Contribution to the SM Platform™ core technologies (data acquisition, contextualization and apps)
| Member % Cost Share | CESMII % Cost Share | Duration |
| 42% | 58% | 24 months |