Reducing Energy and Emissions through Predictive Performance Monitoring System

Abstract

Abstract Air emissions from combustion sources are monitored by different techniques such as use of emission factors, engineering calculations, periodic stack monitoring, Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) and Predictive Emission Monitoring System (PEMS). CEMS despite being seen as best practice but is expensive and requires extensive maintenance. PEMS has become recently popular in estimating real-time emissions from various air pollution sources using measured process parameters. Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) based on a wide techno-economical survey had chosen PEMS to monitor its emission and maintain compliance report on air quality as per the requirements of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ADNOC. In addition, ADCO's innovation ensured additional modules to monitor energy performance and also provide a platform for maintaining energy and emission KPIs. ADCO commissioned the first pilot PEMS in Bab field in 2010 covering all emission sources and typical units of the major energy users such as gas turbines, heaters, oil export pumps, water injection pumps and gas compressors. PEMS real-time information and remote access through web helped in taking prompt corrective actions to control equipments and optimize use of fuel which resulted in subsequent reduction of energy and Green House Gases (GHG) emissions besides compliance assurance against ADNOC's air emission limits for process units. PEMS was proven to be as accurate as the hardware based CEMS over the entire range of operations and therefore it can be readily applied for tracking air emissions and energy efficiency from gas turbines, heaters at marginal cost. In addition to providing data for emissions compliance, ADCO was able to use the PEMS to optimize machinery operation for better performance and efficiency, and consequently reduced emissions. This paper demonstrates ADCO's success in integrating energy performance and emissions reporting in one simple yet effective solution. The paper further describes how the PEMS was able to integrate data from various plant sources into one reporting system while at the same time meeting ADCO IT protocol.