Application of Digital Twin to Monitor and Optimize Utility Process

Abstract

Digital transformation utilizing the digital twin of a process can provide enormous benefit. It is possible to effectively monitor the process operation and control the process erroneous behavior by using the high-fidelity digital twin. In addition, the better operational strategy can be identified through process optimization from the digital twin. To perform such activities about the huge scale of process, we established a digital platform that allows the operational personnel to efficiently monitor the operation condition with the useful information such as economics and representative indexes that can be obtained from the digital twin. A chemical plant utility system that has a goal to supply the process utilities such as steam and power stably was used as the target process. As exclusive features of the project for the utility system the platform suggests the multi-level optimization results in terms of the process specifications as well as the trends of the key performance indicators of the process. It also provides a tool, what-if analysis, to simulate the hypothetical situation in preparation for the possible change of the external factors. Using the digital process twin technology, we were able to suggest the capability to save the cost and present the high-level information that cannot be utilized from the process data alone.