Productivity & Yield Improvement in Discontinuous Processes Chris Morse - Honeywell Raw Material Costs in the Chemicals Industry • Raw Materials after feedstock significant cost element for Chemicals Manufacturers Typical Financial Basis for Chemicals Manufacturing • Optimization of raw material usage reduces cost of goods sold • Automation of Raw Material additions using Experion increases efficiency & productivity • Techniques shown applicable to Batch & other discontinuous processes 2 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Raw Material Automation - Challenges • Physical/Chemical material characteristics vary • Automation equipment requires tuning for different materials • Manual actions are prone to error • Processes/Formulations change over time • Certain materials e.g. catalysts or modifiers are high cost items • Raw Material Addition accuracy has significant QA impact 3 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Experion Functions Available to Help REG PV REG CTL • Experion Batch Manager - Scalable for many sequential processes • Sequential Control Modules - Raw material additions • Advanced Sequence Visualization HPM Tools - Operator sees status & problems • Control Modules - Advanced totalizer & controller facilities - Auxiliary Calculation • Procedure Analyst - Raw Material Usage Report ExperionTools 4 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved LOG DIG COMP Experion Batch Manager – Cycle Time Reduction Server Based Mixer Cycle Time Batch 52 Start Reactor Start Mixer Start Mix Sample 6-12 secs Controller Based Mixer Cycle Time Discharge Cycle Time Reduction Batch 53 Start Mixer Start Material 1 Material 2 5 Reactor Start Mix Sample Discharge 2 secs © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved 12 Sec 2 Sec Server step transition times Material 2 Controller step transition times Material 1 Flowmeter Feed Addition Tank T Material Qty Units Material A 187.0 Kg Material B 19.8 Kg Material C 24.5 Kg Pre Optimized Flows Flowrate Mat A Mat C Open Valve T Mat B Setup/Start Totalizer Target Value Optimization Levers: Material A Material B • Up to 4 pre-targets per totalize FT Material C • Switch between multiple totalizers in an SCM Challenges: • Material flows differ affecting cut-off point • Wide variation in quantities – same equipment • Reduce cycle time of totalizer min 50 mSec Open Valve A/B/C Pre Target x Reached Close Valve A/B/C Stop Pump Autoclave Flowrate Mat A Mat C Optimized Flows Close Valve T Mat B • Flow measurement characteristics vary by material Continuous Process 6 Start Pump Pre Pre Target 4 Target 2 Pre Target 3 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Flow Control Material Addition Tank T Material Qty Units Material A 187.0 Kg Material B 19.8 Kg Material C 24.5 Kg Flowrate Material A Open Valve T Setup/Start Totalizer Mode = Auto SP = Full Flow Start Pump Mode = Auto SP = Trickle Flow Material A Material B FI Pre Target 2 Addition challenges: Pre Target 1 Optimization Levers: • Minimise dosing time with accurate cutoff • Post target cutoff content of line can affect cost/quantity Mode = Man OP = 0% FC Material C Slope determined by OPROC • Experiment with controller modes & flow set points for minimum addition target deviation Pre Target 2 Reached Mode = Auto SP = Trickle Pre Target 1 Reached Mode = Man OP = 0% OPCV = 0% Stop Pump Autoclave • Drain line & offset against line content – may be equipment specific value • Maintenance of flow & cutoff values • Maintain values as Material or Equipment value – not recipe parameters Continuous Process 7 Mode = Auto SP= Full © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Close Valve T Mode = Man OP=100% Line Drain Time Complete Gain in Weight Addition Calculate Target Weight Tolerance Un-Discharged Tank S1 Tare 2 32% Dry Matter Tare 1 Open Vale T1 Challenges: Start Pump Stabilization Time • Reaching a Stable weight value • In flight error – varies with time & material Open Valve S1 • Residual material on sides of hopper Target Reached W1 • Material lot to lot variation Close Valve W1 Wait for Stabilization Mixer 2 m3 Intermediate Storage 5 m3 In Tolerance? No Optimization Levers: Yes Stop Pump • Tune out instability Final Storage 10 m3 Paper Machine Coating Station • Compensate for in flight error & material differences in a calculated target • Alert Operator to un-discharged material 8 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Close Valve S1 Material Quantity Target Tuning Material A Addition over 5 Batches Normal Variation with Giveaway +ve Tolerance Recipe Target 24.2Kg -ve Tolerance B 1 0 1 B 1 0 2 B 1 0 3 B 1 0 4 B 1 0 5 B 1 0 1 B 1 0 2 B 1 0 3 B 1 0 4 In spec but with material giveaway & possible quality impact In spec & consistently closer to target for better yield and quality Improvement: Maintain Accuracy for each Batch +ve Tolerance Recipe Target 24.2Kg -ve Tolerance Applying Material A Bias to next batch over 5 Batches B 1 0 5 B101 B012 B105 B104 B105 Mean Bias over 10 Batches - 0.2 -0.4 +0.3 -0.2 -0.3 -0.05 Bias correction calculated for each batch applied to recipe target. Bias monitoring for Equipment Problem Detection B101 B012 B105 B104 B105 Mean Bias over 10 Batches +0.2 +0.3 +0.4 +0.5 +0.6 +0.25 Bias calculation tries to correct low delivery but the root cause is an equipment problem. Deviation will eventually occur 9 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Mean bias over several batches alert raised if absolute value gets too high –before spec deviation Next Batch Compensation & Real Time Release Mixer Operation +ve Tolerance “Normal” Target Value Material A Monitoring -ve Tolerance B101 B102 B103 B105 B105 Material B Mix In Tolerance? Positive difference vs target No Negative difference vs target Sample Set Batch Status Calculated compensation vs normal target Assumptions Yes End: Release/Quarantine/Reject End: Release • Accurate measurements are available • Batches feed to a downstream process • Quality values can be calculated or inferred 10 Real Time Release – no quality deviations detected. Batch moves to next stage – downstream/packaging © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Reduced Sampling = Further Cycle Time Reduction Sampling Once Per Batch Batch 53 Start Mixer Start Material 1 Reactor Start Mix Sample Discharge Material 2 Reduced Sampling – Deviations Only Cycle Time Reduction Monitoring Phase • Checks for raw material qty deviations Batch 53 Start Mixer Start Material 1 Reactor Start Mix Material 2 Monitoring Discharge • Checks other quality variables which can be automated – e.g. mix time • Alerts operator to quality problems • Sets status of batch: Released/Quarantine/Rejected • MAY have Supervisor Access 11 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Procedure Analyst - Materials Usage Reporting • Material Usage Report ‒ Show target, actual and deviation material amount on a per batch basis between specified start and end dates ‒ Search for target value deviations ‒ Any material addition SCM can be recorded for reporting 12 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Raw Materials Optimization – Calculating the Value • Assumptions: ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒ Production is 340 days/year 24 hours/day Production Rate 480 Tons/day Revenue $1500/ton Raw Material Costs 35% of revenue • Annual Revenue $244M • Annual Raw Material Costs $85M • 1% Reduction in Raw Material savings $850K 13 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved Questions to Ask • Can our raw material additions be automated? • Can material addition measurements be improved? • How could variations in raw material additions be smoothed out? • What data is available for raw material usage? • Can quality checks be automated? • Is there a better way of adding some materials? 14 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved What is the value of 1% Raw Material Savings? 15 © 2015 Honeywell International All Rights Reserved