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Emerson Process Experts

Connecting with the People behind the Technologies and Expertise

Flow Measurement Accuracy Impact on ProfitabilityToday

A common theme found in my 2008-blog posts was energy efficiency. Given the state of the global economy, 2009 posts will likely have a common theme on ways to improve profitability through cost savings and productivity increases.

Just before the holidays, my email spy service found a new flow measurement paper written by Emerson's Bert Konings. The paper, Accurate Flow Measurement Improves Profit, describes flow measurement and its direct impact on the profitability of process manufacturing plants. He sums up the importance of flow measurement:

Get it right, and the plant is more efficient, produces less waste, minimizes rework and lowers maintenance costs. Get it wrong and the consequences can be significant. Inaccurate measurement in fiscal applications can lead to a plant being overcharged for raw materials or effectively giving away the product. Inaccurate meters used to measure utilities can also add to costs. Meters used to provide a mass balance across the plant need to be accurate or technicians

Extending Diagnostics to Wireless Field DevicesYesterday

What's that expression... "Tan, rested, and ready"? After a nice holiday break filled with family, friends, and football (I'm in Texas after all!), it's time for me to dive back into the business of highlighting experts around Emerson Process Management.

I read a great piece in the November 2008 issue of Plant Engineering magazine entitled, Asset management leverages smart wireless devices. Laura Briggs and Joseph Citrano, both managers in the Asset Optimization business, wrote this article.

Laura and Joseph made the point that all of the diagnostics that process manufacturers get from their HART devices connected to their asset management software or HART-enabled automation systems are also available from WirelessHART devices. They describe how Emerson's AMS Device Manager software has two-way communications thro

Enjoy Your HolidaysDecember 22 2008

Like many of this blog's readers, I'll be off and enjoying the holidays this week and next and not posting again until January.

For those also on holiday, enjoy the time spent with family and friends. Let's get rested, get refreshed, and be ready to roll up our sleeves upon our return to take on the global economic challenges of 2009.

Happy holidays!

Increased Complexity in FLNG ProjectsDecember 17 2008

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a floating production, offloading and storage (FPSO) presentation shared with me. These, because of my background in offshore oil and gas production, personally fascinate me. As a freshly minted electrical engineer back in the day, I found it challenging to do projects on offshore platforms because they included safety shutdown systems, power generation and distribution, process control, and telecommunications.

FPSOs and floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) vessels add challenges way beyond what I saw--navigation, thrust, ballast and much more complex processes to safely control.

Emerson's Knut Jorgensen and Wärtsilä's Ingebjørg Lien recently presented From MAC To "BIG MAC" For FLNG at the Commercialising FLNG Asia 2008 conference last month. The focus of their presentation was to discuss generic floating LNG plant design, technologies and expertise that Emerson and Wärtsilä combine to deliver.

The name Big MAC comes from the main automation contra

Perspectives on Big Matrix and Unit-Level MPC ApplicationsDecember 15 2008

One of my posts, Improving Gas Plant Throughput and Robustness with MPC, brought a strong response from a reader. Entitled MPC Unsustainable Benefits, it described his experiences applying MPC in a major U.S. oil company over a ten-year period.

He summed up his thoughts, "MPC is an 800-pound gorilla. It can be big and ugly. Benefits are retained by thin threads. Benefits tend to leak." You can follow the link to read some of his points around design, control models, valve linearization, MPC engineering, and the monolithic nature of MPC models. Even for someone like me not steeped in the wisdom of advanced process control (APC)--it was readily apparent that he is not a fan of model predictive control.

I forward his comments to members of Emerson's advanced automation consulting team for their thoughts on some of the impassioned points made. Senior process control consultant, Greg Martin, thought the key phrase in this document was, "Large-scale MPCs are monolithic."

Greg notes that tradi