2021 AFPM Annual Meeting Virtual Edition: Strategies for renewable diesel plant success
4/11/2021
JULIE VALENTINE, Director, Global Refining Measurement Solutions, Emerson
Sustainability trends are key drivers for the expanded use of vegetable oils, used cooking oils, animal fats and other alternative feedstocks for many refineries.
While this trend is taking flight in an effort to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing emissions, it is also important to enhance safety, reliability and maximize profitability in renewable plants (
FIG. 1). Renewable processes can create challenges from relatively severe operating conditions, corrosion, high variability in feed quality, as well as validated flow accuracy and regulatory reporting making the need for process optimization crucial.
Sensor Fusion: The Swiss Army Knife of Digitalization
With the proper communication protocols and network architecture in place, smart sensor technology and the data it provides can be the bulwark on which digital transformation is built.
Jan 25th, 2021
If industrial control systems are the brains of a plant, then sensors are its eyes and ears. Simply put, without sensors there would be nothing for SCADA, DCS, or PLCs to respond to. That’s why increasingly intelligent or “smart” sensors packing more onboard processing power, the ability to monitor new variables, and digital communication capabilities are playing such an important role in helping plant operators and enterprise level planners alike to see better and respond to problems with more finesse.