Global warming, can we put it on hold?

The increase in Earth’s temperature and its effects have already been clearly measured – from changes in ocean temperature and acidification to global ice cover. Global surface temperature will continue to rise unless there are large reductions in CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions. It would take a concentrated effort to return to pre-industrial levels.

At 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) Held in Paris in December 2015, climate experts reached an agreement to reach “net zero” by 2050 in order to limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2 ° C. Climate change and actions are again discussed at the 26th Annual Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) currently taking place in Glasgow, Scotland. What will be the result of this meeting? Will the guidelines get stricter this time around?

Think about your sustainability story

Companies clearly need to reduce their energy and water efficiency and switch to alternative processes to meet evolving emission mitigation goals. Most energy and chemical companies are already investing in alternative processes to reduce their energy needs, but are struggling to remain profitable while meeting their emissions targets.

AspenTech’s solutions for resource efficiency, energy transition and circular economy can help you achieve your short-term goals to meet emissions targets, optimize the use of energy, raw materials and water, and the long-term goal of eliminating waste and emissions while maintaining profitability.

If you can’t measure, you can’t attenuate

It is important to understand that emissions mitigation is at the heart of any sustainability story. There are several ways to reduce emissions. However, before selecting one, it is necessary to locate the source of the emissions and track them effectively.

It is important to understand that emissions mitigation is at the heart of any sustainability story.

A fundamental challenge that most companies face is not having enough sensors and sampling points in their assets to fully characterize the extent and details of their emissions.

For decades, companies have used default emission factors or installed analyzers to calculate emissions in their processes.

The use of factors is an approximation and may lead to inaccurate values ​​for fuels other than homogeneous fuels, such as natural gas. This factor-based emissions calculation is also manual, time consuming, and does not provide a complete view of your plant’s emissions. Other methods using scaled analyzers make it difficult to find the culprit and take the necessary action in a timely manner. There is a need to improve real-time factory emissions monitoring at a higher level of detail, to enable proactive production management to meet sustainability goals.

Measure in real time with digital twins

Digital twin models offer the opportunity to overcome many of these challenges. Models can be developed to provide a detailed picture of emissions associated with process (process simulation digital twins), utilities (utility online models), product losses (hydrocarbon accounting), and optionality raw materials (planning models).

Our digital twin solution for real-time emissions monitoring has helped companies improve monitoring transparency between organizations and maintain compliance with evolving emission rules. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), an Indian petroleum refining company, has developed an award-winning digital dual emission model using our solutions for their Kochi refinery to choose an optimal fuel blend that can reduce emissions while by balancing profitability.

Our strategic independent service provider (ISP) partner, Equinox Software Services has enhanced BPCL’s real-time emissions management system at one of its locations by providing source and type-based visualization to create a benchmark. ’emission. Equinox further strengthens BPCL’s emissions management system by integrating it with satellite monitoring of flares and other emissions.

Visualize the impact of variability and accelerate your sustainability journey

Multiple digital twins can be deployed to aggregate data from various processes to manage plant-wide key performance indicators (KPIs).

The question is, what can you do with all that data and KPI information?

The answer? Create custom KPI dashboards to provide operators, engineers, and management with easy access to plant performance data. This data provides insight into energy systems and utilities at the equipment level, site scale, or even across multiple sites. Digital dashboards provide better visibility into sustainability metrics to understand past and current trends, as well as how mill adaptations are helping to reduce emissions and meet sustainability goals.

Equinox helped ADNOC, an upstream Middle East company, develop multiple sustainability dashboards by deploying AspenTech’s digital twin solutions, which improved site-wide visibility of consumer gas fields water, steam consumption and performance of key equipment. This provided ADNOC with role-based information and helped streamline their decision making from wellhead operators to the executive level.

In our on-demand webinar, Track emissions and manage site-wide compliance with Digital Twins, Equinox takes an in-depth look at the deployment of AspenTech’s digital twin solution, enabling leading global companies to leverage online models, get real-time insights and build multiple dashboards for a advanced visibility. This strengthens decision-making capacities across the organization while ensuring compliance with regulatory and sustainability goals.

To learn more about how digital twins form the heart of an emissions monitoring system and other sustainability solutions, visit our sustainability page.