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MARCH 2013

The Better Business Publication Serving the Exploration / Drilling / Production Industry

Dynamic Simulation Solves Problems


By Glenn R. Dissinger
HOUSTONDynamic simulation is a
process engineering technology that predicts how a process and its associated
control system will respond to various
disturbances as a function of time.
Companies have applied dynamic simulation successfully for critical applications
for more than 30 years. However, as
process, control and operating engineers
face the more stringent demands on
todays process plants, dynamic simulation
technology to address design, control,
operability and training issues is being
increasingly applied.
Dynamic simulation can improve both
the design and operations of a plant in a
variety of areas, including improved and
more robust designs and process control,
safety and reliability applications, deploying models into on-line applications,
and operator training.
Like other modeling techniques, the
key benefit of any dynamic model comes
from the improved process understanding
it can give a user. By understanding the
process (with or without the control system) and its possible transient responses
to both planned and unplanned disturbances, improvements in the design, control, operation and safety of the process
can be achieved.
Process Design
While process design traditionally has
used only steady state simulators, many
process design decisions require knowledge of the transient response and interactions of the process. There are several
uses of dynamic simulation within process
design.
One is surge capacity sizing. The size

of intermediate hold-up tanks can have a


significant impact on the operability of a
process by dampening disturbances as
they move from upstream equipment to
downstream units. While larger tanks
give better control and operability performance, they are more costly, tie up intermediate inventory of chemicals, and
often are a source of environmental, emission, and safety problems.
For applications such as slug catchers
on offshore platforms (where size and
weight are critical considerations), dynamic simulation can be used to properly
minimize surge capacity while providing
sufficient attenuation of process disturbances.
Another application is in heat-integrated
processes. With crude oil prices hovering
near $100 a barrel, the number of energy
efficiency projects and retrofits utilizing
pinch analysis and heat integration has
increased. However, as plants become
more heat-integrated, they sometimes be-

come more difficult to control and operate.


Dynamic simulation has been used to
evaluate the performance and operation
of heat-integrated processes for potential
transient operational problems.
Then there is the design and analysis
of batch and cyclic processes. Batch and
cyclic processes, including pressure and
temperature swing adsorption processes,
have been common in the specialty chemicals and air separation industries. However, their use in the petrochemical and
petroleum industries has grown significantly for such applications as capturing/remediating carbon dioxide and greenhouse
gases, and for separating higher-value
compounds (e.g., xylenes isomers) as petroleum companies have embraced molecule management to improve profits
and value extracted from a barrel of
crude. Dynamic simulation is a critical
technology for properly designing and
analyzing these inherently transient
processes.

Properly designing the flare header and stack is critical for offshore platforms.

Reproduced for Aspen Technology with permission from The American Oil & Gas Reporter

www.aogr.com

SpecialReport: Production and Processing

Process models built using dynamic simulation software can evaluate the performance
of control systems quickly and cost-effectively.

Finally, dynamic simulation is used


in process improvements. Once a plant
is in operation, engineers continually
look for ways to improve product quality,
minimize waste and emissions, maximize
yield, reduce energy and utility costs,
and increase capacity while responding
to both planned and unplanned disturbances. Dynamic simulation often is used
to analyze the impact and quantify the
value of these potential improvements
on plant operations and control systems.
Process Control, Operability
Traditionally, process control has been
designed at the end of process design
cycle, after the process flow diagram
(PFD) has been completed. This practice
sometimes leads to a process that requires
an elaborate control strategy or one that
is inherently hard to operate. Using dynamic simulation earlier in the design
process while the PFD is still under development can identify important operability and control issues, leading to a
better process design and a smoother operating plant. Again, there are several
uses for dynamic simulation in process
control and operability.
One example is developing and analyzing control strategies. Many control
strategies are developed using rules of
thumb and experience. However, such
methods often fall short as plants today
have become more integrated and are
operated more aggressively to meet quality,

production, safety, and environmental requirements.


Using dynamic simulation, a process
control engineer can quickly develop,
evaluate, test, and tune novel control
strategies for both new and existing processes. In addition, the dynamic model often
is a critical technology used to demonstrate
the performance of the new strategy to
plant engineers and operators, in order to
gain their acceptance for the change.
Using composition analyzers in process
control loops has become an accepted
technology. Dynamic simulation can evaluate the benefit of adding an on-line analyzer, including identifying its best lo-

cation, and can quantify the potential


economic and operational improvements.
Properly designing and implementing
advance control strategies, such as multivariable and model predictive control
algorithms, requires knowledge of the
transient responses of the process to
known disturbances. Known as the process
identification step, this knowledge usually
has been obtained through extensive plant
testing. Such testing, however, is expensive
and time-consuming.
A new best practice of using rigorous,
validated dynamic models in conjunction
with limited plant testing has emerged,
reducing the time and cost of the process
identification step. Likewise, once the
advance control algorithm has been developed, it can be tested using the dynamic
model to evaluate its performance prior
to being implementing in the plant.
Dynamic simulation also is used for
operability studies. While it is obvious
to anyone who has worked in a plant, it
needs to be stated that processes may approximate, but never actually operate, at
the steady-state design operating condition.
Unplanned disturbances such as feed
composition fluctuations, changes in
utility loads and availability, changes in
environmental ambient conditions, and
catalyst activity all impact how the process
operates minute by minute.
Other process disturbances are
planned, such as product campaign switchovers, changes in production load targets,
and startup and shutdown of the process.
All these disturbances cause the plant to
be constantly in a transient state, and can

This rigorous dynamic model of a pipeline pigging operation was deployed to operations
personnel using a simplified Excel-based interface.

SpecialReport: Production and Processing

be only truly evaluated rigorously by


using dynamic simulation.
Safety Studies
Safety is (or should be) job number
one within any plant or facility. Accidents
caused by poor design or improper operator responses can lead to damaged equipment, loss of production, and even injuries
or death. Dynamic models have played a
key role in identifying potentially hazardous situations and the changes in
design and operation policies needed to
mitigate or avoid them.
Among the examples of how dynamic
simulation models are used for safety
studies are designing and analyzing emergency and relief systems. Emergency and
pressure relief systems are critical parts
of a process. Properly designing these
systems is required to protect both the
safety of personnel and the capital invested
in process equipment during severe operational transients.
Dynamic simulation is the only modeling technology that can evaluate, test,
and quantify the performance of these
emergency and relief systems. Evaluating
reactor and distillation relief systems, and
compressor surge control are typical examples of dynamic simulation in this area.
One of the largest uses of dynamic
models has been in the area of hazard
and safety what if studies. With a dynamic model, a process or control engineer
can explore such questions as What if I
lose cooling water to my reactor? or
What if this valve fails to open?
The dynamic model provides quantitative answers to the questions on how
the process will respond, how much time
is available to respond to the situation,
what can be done about it, and/or how it
can be prevented. These situations are
time critical. The dynamic simulation
model allows one to examine many more
scenarios than would be possible without
it, thus making it possible to quickly validate the danger of a number of scenarios
and focus corrective actions on the most
critical ones. In this manner, using dynamic
simulation can improve the safety and

operation of a process significantly.


On-Line Applications
Rigorous dynamic models have been
used as part of an operator training system
for many years. More recently, interest
in moving dynamic models into on-line
applications has grown considerably.
Among the current and potential online applications is distributed control
system (DCS) checkout. DCS configuration and checking the process control
strategy is a time intensive exercise during
any new DCS plant implementation or
extensive process or control modification.
A dynamic model can be used to assist
in testing the control strategy prior to
putting it on line for real operation.
The dynamic model is linked to the
DCS control system, and emulates the
actual operating process to test the control
algorithms responses to various disturbances. Configuration errors in DCS control strategies can be identified quickly,
and control loops can be tuned prior to
actual plant startup, leading to much
smoother and quicker plant startups and
substantial economic benefits.
Modern control algorithms need timely
input of key process operating data, including many critical compositions and
process performance parameters that cannot
easily be measured directly. Dynamic
models running on line, accepting processoperating data and shadowing the actual
operation of the plant in real time, can act
as soft sensors for those critical process
data not easily measured. The performance
of advanced control algorithms can be
improved significantly on such applications
as polymer reactors and complex refinery
fractionation towers.
Many operational problems could be
avoided if it was possible to detect the
disturbance long before its impact was
seen in measurable parameters or within
critical equipment. For example, slugging
can occur in long distance pipelines that
transport oil and gas from offshore fields
to onshore separation facilities.
An on-line dynamic model of the
pipeline can provide an early warning. The

dynamic model, which can accept operational data and run faster than real time,
can predict the possibility of slugs in the
pipeline, allowing operators to anticipate
the arrival of the slug flow and make any
necessary adjustments to level and pressure
set points at the onshore facility.
An example of such an application is
the production surveillance done by
Process Ecology, a Calgary-based engineering consulting company, for a large
independent North American oil and natural gas company.
Process Ecology developed a dynamic
model of the production asset, and calibrated the model based on historical operational data. The dynamic model was
used by operations personnel as a production surveillance application, helping
them anticipate changes in production
and calculating real-time well flow rates
where physical instrumentation was not
available. Overall response times and operational flexibility was improved using
the on-line dynamic model.

GLENN R.
DISSINGER

Dr. Glenn R. Dissinger is a director


of product management for Aspen
Technology, specializing in dynamic
simulation and the oil and gas products
within the Aspen HYSYS product family.
Dissinger has 30 years of experience
in managing, marketing, and applying
mathematical models and computer
simulation technology within both operating and process simulation software
companies, including Mobil, Air Products, KBR and Simulation Sciences.

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