Aspen Technology, a global leader in asset optimization software, has received the prestigious Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI) 2021 Digital Technology Provider of the Year Award, which recognizes companies for implementing the most cutting-edge digital technologies in the industry. Launched in 2007, FIPI Oil and Gas Awards were created to recognize leaders, innovators, and pioneers, in the oil and gas industry. An industry interface with government and regulatory authorities, members of FIPI includes all major companies operating in the oil and gas sector in India.

A landmark Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) customer case study anchored this win by showcasing how the Mumbai Refinery adopted a real-time digital twin, based on the use of AspenTech’s digital twin and Advanced Process Control (APC) products. The digital twin has been implemented online and integrated with an associated advanced process control (APC) solution, such that the optimization engineer uses the digital twin on an hourly basis to inform the adjusting of the APC levers for optimum steam use efficiency and amine utilization effectiveness.

digital twins

A digital twin is a virtual model of the physical plant. It provides a valuable model of the physical asset, its behavior and performance, so plant knowledge workers can safely explore what-if scenarios without putting people or the asset at risk. It provides a valuable model of asset health, forecasting and recommending action to avoid degradation and asset failure events. Perhaps most important, it creates a business model representing scenarios for product creation, operations, sustainability, effective asset utilization, risk, customer satisfaction, and profit.

The digital twin is an evolving digital profile of the historical, current, and future behavior of a physical object or process that helps optimize business performance. It is based on models and real-time data across multiple dimensions, including business performance, asset planning, the physical asset, equipment condition and reliability, chemical process performance, safety and risk, energy, and sustainability, operating and project timespans and more.

The digital twin creates an evolving profile of the object or process that provides insights on system performance, guiding actions in the physical world such as changes in operating strategies, regulations and business objectives, safety, and maintenance. The digital twin may be updated in real time or periodically, taking advantage of asset data to stay up to date, and increasingly made intelligent by AI agents.

Reducing energy usage by 2030

Contributing 15% to India’s refining capacity and ranked 44th position in Platts Top 250 Global Energy, BPCL Mumbai Refinery aims to reduce energy usage by 37% in 2030. BPCL has achieved significant energy reductions, with the use of an online digital twin, integrated with advanced process control (APC) software in one of the most significant steam usage areas in the refinery, namely the amine stripping and regeneration process.

Essentially, the customer had deployed Aspen DMC3™ software with a digital twinning approach – to achieve about $1 million USD savings in utilities annually. The company is the first amongst Indian PSU refineries to implement APC in Amine Regeneration Units (ARU) and integrate digital twin output to APC. With an estimated payback of less than six months, the company could effectively reduce energy usage in changing sulphur content in crude slate, which had originally resulted in sub-optimal amine regeneration.

Aspen DMC3 software enables the adoption of a scalable and sustainable approach via its patented adaptive process control technology. This allows the intelligent plant to respond automatically, achieve real-time agility and maximize performance in a seamless yet, robust manner. With the ability to accelerate deployments, process manufacturers can achieve benefits faster, improve ROI, and enhance overall performance.

Lawrence Ng, Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, Aspen Technology, Inc., added, “The award recognition underscores AspenTech’s role in accelerating digitalization initiatives for the process industry for over four decades. Companies with the ability to balance profitability and sustainability can address the dual challenge more efficiently in the new industry normal.”