Oil Refineries
It is no secret that the majority of the globe is still dependent on oil for survival. With the world’s dependence on oil, it is expected that the growing demand will put a considerable increase in the production of these chemicals in the coming years. Although it is noted that the number of refineries across the globe decreased between 1993 and 2007, the average capacity produced by each refinery had significantly increased by as much as 30%. This surprising increase in production may be on account of bringing in new and larger refineries to the competition.
This rise in production, however, calls for efficiency in the oil processes themselves. Process Control, which dates as far back as the 1920s and 1930s, has been in continuous use in the refineries and chemical plants up until today. It now serves as an essential aspect of oil production, ensuring the product quality and the safety and reliability of all the processes involved.
Some of the widely used technologies in Process Control include the Proportional-Integrative-Derivative (PID) controls developed in the 1930s, Advanced Process Control (APC) that predicts real-time quality, and Model Predictive Control (MPC) that have proven to be superior to PID when dealing with MIMO (Multi-Input, Multi-Output) processes.
Smart controls are also rising technology in the oil production field nowadays. With these intelligent systems, jobs in the field become much less taxing and stressful. The efficiency of oil production also increases dramatically with this type of system, subsequently growing the profit margin and reducing costs. Smart controls also play a significant role in creating safer plants, especially for field workers.
There are already a handful of companies utilizing these types of technology in their fields, and they can attest to how much these trends helped them in achieving a more cost-efficient oil production.
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