(202d) Using Automation to Save Energy

Energy is the single largest controllable cost for most process plants. Incremental fuel is frequently natural gas and the recent rise in prices has caused most plants to look closely at their usage. Automation and advanced automation can significantly reduce usage across all areas of the plant including process, storage/supply/distribution, and utilities. Some of these savings can be achieved with no investment, only a change in normal operating procedures. In other cases, control system upgrades including improvements to on-line analyses, measurements and control action are justified. The management of a utility complex at a major process site can be difficult with many daily operating decisions that must balance competing economic and production issues. Real time modeling of process and utility equipment and monitoring of the energy usage in plants permits allocation decisions to be made much more frequently and accurately, often resulting in substantial savings. In this tutorial, results from many installations are summarized to provide guidance to the plant staff on likely areas for savings. A systematic evaluation methodology is presented to insure that projected savings are both realistic and attainable with the proposed investment. Examples from several different process industries are included.