Honeywell UOP Introduces IIoT Offering to Improve Plant Performance

Honeywell UOP has introduced a new software-based service designed to allow refiners and petrochemical and gas processing plants to improve performance.

The new Connected Performance Services (CPS) business leverages the Industrial Internet of Things to tap Honeywell’s knowledge, design expertise, and understanding of catalysis with next-generation software platforms.

“This cloud-enabled service makes plants smarter and more responsive,” said Zak Alzein, VP, CPS. “Problems that caused plants to be less efficient or less productive and that went undetected for weeks or months now can be resolved quickly and proactively, and decisions that used to take days now can be made in hours. For many plants, the avoidance of downtime and suboptimal performance, and better agility, can be worth millions of dollars per year.”

CPS includes applications to address challenges for refineries and petrochemical and gas processing plants, including asset utilization, unplanned downtime, energy efficiency, and gaps in expertise as plants becomes more sophisticated and experienced engineers retire.

At the heart is a cloud-based software service that continuously monitors streaming plant data and applies advanced analytics and machine learning to find latent or emerging underperformance, alert plant personnel and make specific operational recommendations.

In addition to identifying underperforming assets and anticipating equipment failures and process issues, Honeywell can monitor and help manage energy use to support compliance with stricter regulatory standards, and also can bridge knowledge gaps among personnel who may not be fully experienced with their equipment.

“The unique feature to this solution is the combination of customer operating data and UOP expertise that provides plant personnel with early-stage warnings that identify performance improvements,” Alzein said. “Advancements in software, instrumentation and Big Data capabilities have finally converged, which makes it possible for the first time to offer a cloud-based IIoT solution that brings the connected plant to the oil and gas industries. That combination is made even more powerful by UOP’s century-long knowledge of process technology, equipment, catalysis and commercial best practices.”