Process Optimisation: Looking After Mother Nature (and your back pocket)

In an era where corporate social responsibility and climate change are hot topics, companies are obliged to do their bit to lessen their environmental footprint. Another business concern is the rising cost of energy bills and increased recycles. Coupling these issues together, companies which fail to oblige are at risk of social stigma and financial implications.

In light of this, process driven businesses will benefit from the ability to tightly control their outputs. Having the capacity to reduce energy consumption, reduce recycles or lower emissions, all whilst maintaining highest quality outputs, is an attractive opportunity. It tackles the problem of corporate social responsibility and results in considerable financial improvements.

Geometric Process Control (GPC) is a patented technology which enables scientific manipulation of outputs. The technology makes effective use of historian data then allows users to modify environmental values such as emissions to keep them within acceptable limits, all whilst maintaining desired product or output quality.

The technology replaces traditional Statistical Process Control (SPC) by taking unintelligible spreadsheets of data and converting them into user-friendly visual representations. Whilst the concept is simple, the technology behind it is a foray into a completely new type of multi-dimensional geometry. But the result is a very understandable display which allows simple process manipulation.

But how can a company simply choose their emission levels? GPC technology creates what is known as an ‘operating envelope’ for a process. GPC visualisation tools can easily select historical operating behaviour that meets or improves desired specifications of performance. The software then wraps a ‘skin’ around this desired behaviour and will alarm and correct the process anytime it strays from this envelope. Additionally, users can add other desired business controls into the process (such as energy consumption) and host this within the envelope also. Effectively, companies are selecting to produce higher quality outputs and directly tying these into environmental or business objectives.

Over 120 blue-chip companies from the process industry have used this technology with considerable environmental impact. Used in a project to study five years of operation with a 10MW CHP plant; GPC showed how 11, 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions could be avoided per annum, without any capital expenditure. Not only will this have a substantial environmental impact, the financial impact is also key in keeping organisations ahead of the game.

So, a new era of environmental concern brings with it new process plant challenges. But it is now possible to control environmental impact through understanding operating envelopes. Not only does this present new opportunities for corporate social responsibility, it also has financial benefits too (which, in these trying times, is never a bad thing).