WHITE PAPER

Simulations help
create innovative and
sustainable industrial
processes

Authored by:

James Wade,
Senior Portfolio Marketing Manager, Simulation and Learning, AVEVA

Executive summary:
The chemicals, refining and power industries need to create innovative processes faster than ever
to decarbonize. Process engineers need to quickly develop plants and processes that accommodate
new sustainable products and feedstocks. Process simulations let engineers test out more ideas so
they can discover the best solutions in record time. Simulations that factor in sustainability metrics,
operations and the entire value chain let engineers continuously adapt their designs to changing
conditions. Adding hybrid artificial intelligence to simulations speeds up innovation even more, as
does running simulations in the industrial cloud so large teams can collaborate from around the
globe. Simulations unleash engineers’ creativity so they can develop the innovations the process
industries need so urgently.
 If innovation is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, the world’s process engineering departments
are going to need a lot of towels. The chemicals, refining, and power industries have just a few years
to replace products, processes and plants that have taken decades to optimize. Process engineers
have to go beyond old methods in order to innovate new processes quickly.
Sustainability: The new mother of innovation
Process industries are used to innovating. Every
chemical plant, refinery or generating station is the
product of thousands of innovations aimed at improving
efficiency, reducing risk or meeting a market need. But
new sustainability goals require those innovations to
happen faster than they have before.
Consumers, governments, and corporations agree we
need to decarbonize – and do it quickly. Governments
have pledged massive funding to incentivize
sustainable industries, including more than US$350
billion in recent legislation in the United States.1
Companies are creating new products, processes and
plants in order to be more sustainable. At a macro level,
some of the old dividing lines between industries are
blurring as the energy transition changes relationships
and incentives.
While every industry aims for the same net-zero goal,
each one takes a different route depending on its
market imperatives.
Chemicals
The chemicals industry is looking for new ways to
participate in the circular economy so that it can
increase economic growth without consuming more
resources. The value of the circular economy worldwide
could hit US$4.5 trillion by 2030.2 Building a circular
chemical industry requires a wide range of new
products and processes designed to accommodate
changing conditions throughout the entire value chain.
The chemicals industry also has major incentives to move
to bio-based feedstocks. Ninety-nine percent of the raw
materials in chemical production derives from fossil fuels,
but major customers have committed to purchase bio-
based products – despite significant price premiums.3
Bio-based processes need to scale up quickly, bring costs
down and become safer and more reliable.
02
Refining
The production of carbon-based fuels is itself a carbon-
intensive process. Refiners are looking to decarbonize
by electrifying some process operations and adding
carbon capture and storage (CCS) processes to
existing refineries. The refining industry is also one
of the largest consumers and producers of hydrogen.
Switching to blue or green hydrogen in refining is a
major opportunity for decarbonization.
The market for refined products is changing quickly
as well. Demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is
expected to grow at an astounding CAGR of 60% over
the next decade.4 Refineries need to adapt quickly to
meet demand.
Power
Because other industries decarbonize via electrification,
the power industry enjoys huge growth prospects. But
the power industry itself can only decarbonize by using
net-zero sources for generation. Nuclear technology is
one such source, but the main source of carbon-free
power is likely to be renewables, such as solar and wind.
Because these sources generate power intermittently,
they require new technologies, such as grid-scale battery
storage and, especially, green hydrogen.
By 2030, capital projects worth more than US$500
billion must come online to meet demand for low-
carbon hydrogen.5 Many of these projects are based on
hydrogen technology that has never been deployed at
scale. Across the process industries, new engineers must
develop new processes to make new products in new
plants – and they must do it faster than ever. Seventy-five
percent of the emissions reductions necessary to achieve
net zero depend on technologies that are not yet mature.6
Simulations help create innovative and
sustainable industrial processes
Digital transformation unlocks innovation, agility and collaboration
To develop these new technologies in record
time, engineering teams must embrace digital
transformation, from conceptual design to engineering,
project execution, startup and operations. Digital
transformation is the key to unlock innovation, agility
and collaboration across the project life cycle.
Digital transformation allows engineers to create
digital twins–digital representations of real-world
entities. A digital twin is a model that can mirror either
a greenfield asset that is yet to be built or an existing
brownfield asset. A digital twin includes:
y Data sources: engineering design data and real-time
plant data
y Simulation models: first principles, physics-based
models, data-analytic models and hybrid models
y Visualization: tools that let workers access and
visualize data so they can make informed decisions
03
In the process industries, engineers can use AVEVA
digital twin solutions to:
y Accelerate innovation and scale-up of
process technologies
y Rapidly evaluate design concepts against project KPIs
y Optimize processes for capacity, profitability and
carbon emissions
y Help engineers collaborate across disciplines and
organizations
y Decrease project risk through a data-centric
approach to engineering information
y Start up without surprises and with a workforce that
is ready to go
y Make ongoing operational decisions with a
comprehensive digital twin
y Put sustainability at the heart of process engineering
Simulations help create innovative and
sustainable industrial processes
Decarbonization is a market imperative, but it has
historically been difficult to directly analyze. Process
engineering simulations typically predict things such
as total capacity, conversion rate or profitability – but
not sustainability metrics. Engineers have had to
calculate sustainability metrics manually after tediously
transcribing data into separate spreadsheets, making
data transcription errors likely.
Instead, simulation models should include greenhouse
gas calculations in the core functions of the simulator.
Sustainability calculations – such as CO2e emissions
and energy intensity – are just as important as
traditional economic costs. So, simulation models
should calculate sustainability metrics based on
globally recognized standards.
AVEVA™ Process Simulation and AVEVA™ PRO/II™
Simulation allow engineers to easily track sustainability
KPIs for projects in the earliest stages of conceptual
design all the way through their implementation and
daily operations.
Agile engineering and optioneering
Process design projects – and the capital projects
they lead to – have historically used waterfall project
management methodologies. Interconnected questions
of steady-state design, dynamic analysis and
optimization had to be posed in different software tools
with limited interoperability. Using multiple software
tools locks process engineering into linear workflows
that limit creative inquiry.
To accelerate innovation, process engineering needs
to adopt agile workflows like the methodologies that
have swept through the software engineering world in
recent years. Agile engineering incorporates continuous
integrated testing against project KPIs. Such testing
is only possible with a simulation platform that allows
seamless switching between steady-state and dynamic
analysis modes. By using the same simulation model
throughout project phases, process engineers can test
and adapt to improve the design at each stage. Test-and-
adapt engineering helps projects reach markets faster.
AVEVA Process Simulation lets engineers explore
all dimensions of a potential design and quantify its
impact on sustainability, feasibility and profitability.
04
With relative capital cost information and operational
KPIs, engineers can use optioneering methods to
quickly evaluate a wide range of potential designs.
They can make realistic predictions of the impact
conceptual design decisions will make on overall project
KPIs. Engineering teams that can consider so many
possibilities become more productive, collaborative,
creative and inspired.
Make AI an ally
Until recently, artificial intelligence (AI) models (based
on data) and first-principles models (based on physics
and chemistry) were two very distinct branches of
engineering practice. Very often, they were even
considered the antitheses of each other. Each method
had its detractors and true believers, and each excelled
in certain scenarios. When large datasets are available,
AI models can be built very quickly and function well
within limited boundaries. When physical relationships
are known, first-principles models can produce high-
fidelity representations of systems, even when data is
limited or non-existent.
To meet the challenge of decarbonization, process
engineering will need to merge physics-driven
simulation with AI to yield the best of both worlds.
Now that AI models have user-friendly platforms and
access to large datasets, they help simulations improve
processes, proactively detect and solve problems, and
provide guidance for risk-based decisions. Such AI are
already part of several applications:
Multi-objective design optimization
When processes or even unit operations have many
variables and multiple design objectives, optimizing
based solely on first-principles simulation can be
prohibitively time-consuming and overly conservative.
An alternative hybrid approach uses dynamic
simulation results to train an AI surrogate. Using AI
surrogates dramatically accelerates analyses while
maintaining high fidelity in the final optimization.
Simulations help create innovative and
sustainable industrial processes
As a recent example, AVEVA™ Dynamic Simulation Predictive asset optimization
helped create an AI surrogate to correctly dimension
When simulation, optimization, AI and real-time data
the anti-surge system for a multistage compressor.
combine, the whole is much more than the sum of the
Surge is a dynamic phenomenon, and a complete
parts. Predictive asset optimization (PAO) lowers risks,
exploration of the design space would require
improves performance, optimizes maintenance strategies,
thousands of simulation runs.
and maximizes availability and profitability. PAO answers
But, in this hybrid project, 130 runs of the dynamic a comprehensive set of operating questions:
simulation trained an AI surrogate, which then ran the
remaining 20,000 cases in just 26 seconds. Then, the y What actually happened in the past?
high-fidelity dynamic simulation examined the 20 best y What is happening now?
design options to find an optimally robust design with
y What should be happening now?
minimal cost.
y What might happen next?
Operating procedure optimization from y How can the outcome be improved?
simulation-trained AI y When should action be taken?
Many plants in chemicals, refining and power build
high-fidelity operator training simulators using dynamic
In a current example, a major owner-operator is using
simulations of process behavior and replications of
PAO for ongoing risk assessment for hundreds of
plant controls. These simulators are used for plant
pieces of rotating equipment across dozens of sites.
commissioning and for ongoing operator training
The company needs to predict asset failure in order
throughout the life of the plant. The same simulations
to optimize preventive maintenance. It also must
can also generate a large dataset that covers a wider
improve efficiency to achieve sustainability goals at
range of operating points than typical plant operations
speed and scale. In the case of rotating equipment,
would encounter. This dataset can help train an AI
some phenomena are best predicted by data-driven AI
agent which can then be used to quickly explore
models, while others require first-principles simulation.
alternative operating procedures.
For example, vibration pattern changes and bearing
In a recent example, a plant was changing feed on a
temperature pattern changes may indicate impending
weekly basis. After each change, operators required
failure. AI is the best approach because data is
eight hours to stabilize the plant. These weekly changes
available while first principles simulations are not.
wasted energy and lost several days of operations each
In contrast, compressor-head deviation from OEM
year. Using a containerized version of AVEVA Dynamic
performance curves is best analyzed through first
Simulation in the cloud, engineers built a dataset of
principles simulation. A hybrid approach delivers the
simulated operating data at a rate many times faster
best of both worlds.
than the real-time operations. They used that dataset to
train an AI agent, which then optimized the stabilization
time to just over four hours. Downtime went down 45%,
with a consequential reduction in wasted energy.

05 Simulations help create innovative and

sustainable industrial processes
 Predictive Asset Optimization merges real time data,
artificial intelligence, simulation and optimization

Optimized operation Remedial actions

Analysis / Decision-making

Asset constraints
First-principle simulation Predictive analytics

Performance Condition Operating

Soft Performance KPI
rating anomaly window
sensor KPI calcs drift
breached

Additional insights
Model library

Thermodynamics Historian

Design info

Accelerate teamwork with the scope and scale They can switch between different solutions for different
of the industrial cloud projects, so engineering teams can use the best solution
for each project without having to commit to the cost
Innovation can come from anywhere and needs to of ownership. With all these simulation solutions at
spread everywhere. The industrial cloud gives process their fingertips, process engineers can help companies
engineers a secure, stable way to develop and share transform faster, reduce costs and easily scale.
new ideas. Though many started working remotely
because of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work in the More innovation, a little less perspiration
industrial cloud is an opportunity for process engineers
At AVEVA, we understand the challenge of innovation
to share innovations more widely and develop them
because innovation is a core part of our culture.
more quickly. Engineers can make processes more
That’s why Fast Company named AVEVA as one of
sustainable and efficient by collaborating in the cloud
the World’s Most Innovative Companies. We spark
with large teams from around the globe on real-time
industrial ingenuity by connecting people with trusted
digital twins, incorporating industrial data, analytics, AI
information and insights to drive responsible use of the
and visualizations.
world’s resources.
AVEVA™ Simulation is a single cloud environment
The ongoing disruption of the chemicals, refining and
that gives engineering teams access to all of AVEVA’s
power industries demands a great deal of hard work.
leading process simulation solutions: AVEVA Process
There is no simple, predictable way to decarbonize
Simulation, AVEVA PRO/II Simulation, and AVEVA
industries that use processes that have taken a
Dynamic Simulation. With AVEVA Simulation, process
century to develop. But using digital transformation
engineers can access all three solutions through
to innovate new processes can give companies a
AVEVA™ Connect.
competitive advantage.

06 Simulations help create innovative and

sustainable industrial processes
 Process innovation in the real world
Covestro – one of the world’s largest chemical and polymer producers – is one company that is using digital
transformation to help engineers collaborate on making processes more efficient. See how Covestro puts
process innovation into action for both design and operations.

Success story
(Design) About the author
James Wade is Senior Marketing Manager for
AVEVA’s portfolio of Simulation and Learning
AVEVA PI World Presentation products. He helps communicate the role
(Operations) of process simulation to spark ingenuity for
engineers and operators throughout the value
chain. James holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical
Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy
from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA
from New York University.

1. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-the-inflation-reduction-act-will-drive-global-climate-action/
2. https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/pdf-107/accenture-chemicals-circular-economy-growth.pdf
3. https://worldbiomarketinsights.com/the-chemicals-companies-decarbonising-with-bio-feedstocks
4. https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2022/07/25/2484802/0/en/Sustainable-Aviation-Fuel- Market-to-Grow
-at-an-Astounding-CAGR-of-60-during-2022-2032-fuelled-by-New-Market-Opportunities-Future- Market-Insights-Inc.html
5. Hydrogen Insights July 2021 Update, Hydrogen Council, McKinsey & Company
6. https://www.iea.org/reports/clean-energy-innovation/innovation-needs-in-the-sustainable-development- scenario

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