Processing, December 2020

sustainability Digital technologies assist sustainability efforts within the chemical industry R eaching sustainability targets within the industrial world has become increasingly critical as global concern about environmental impact grows and digital technologies continue to be an essential enabler for chemical companies looking to meet business and sustainability goals Processing recently connected with Dr Paige Marie Morse industry marketing director at Aspen Technology to discuss the importance of digitalization particularly arti cial intelligence to achieve these sustainability goals and o er new levels of operational e ciency Q Could you provide some background on sustainability efforts within the chemical industry to date e chemical industry has been talking about sustainability for several years now I recently rediscovered an article I wrote on the topic in 1998 Chemical Engineering News Aug 3 1998 e chemical industry has a long history of innovation which will be critical in nding solutions to address the triple bottom line balancing the impact of company operations on people the planet and pro ts Most chemical companies have targets for safety and environmental performance in addition to nancial success However sustainability related goals are particularly important as global concern about the environmental impact of manufacturing operations has grown Additionally access to the enhanced performance capabilities enabled by digital technologies is notably adding to company success in this area Digitalization is an essential enabler for chemical companies looking to meet business and sustainability objectives ese solutions provide the visibility analysis insight and process optimization needed to address the challenges inherent in sustainability goals Q The Sustainability Future for Energy and Chemicals a recent ARC Strategies report released by ARC and AspenTech that surveyed global chemical and energy companies found that 90 of companies surveyed have sustainability initiatives in place What were the primary conclusions from the survey e survey targeted leaders at chemical and energy companies to discuss the priorities and challenges of meeting sustainability targets e goal was to learn how digitalization and A other technologies were aiding chemical and energy companies in these e orts The ARC survey results indicate that chemical companies are particularly concerned about and focused on sustainability objectives more than their energy industry counterparts even as both industries place operational excellence as the top priority At the same time both energy and chemical companies acknowledge that their skills resources and capital often do not meet the requirements for success Many companies reported they often rely on an infrastructure of aging assets that are not equipped for new e ciency standards Respondents ranked the top digital capabilities that are enabling success in sustainability initiatives including Supply chain optimization to coordinate manage and improve transparency of connected processes Advanced process control to reduce process variability and energy consumption and support autonomous operations Energy and utility optimization by using process modeling and simulation technologies Predictive and prescriptive maintenance using machine learning and advanced analytics to improve asset utilization and predict and avoid failures Digital twin technology to provide an evolving digital pro le of the historical current and future behavior of an asset or process Q What barriers still stand in the way for chemical companies to reach their sustainability goals The ARC survey noted that lack of capital or resources and aging assets are the top barriers for companies to make progress toward sustainability goals Many chemical production assets have been in operation for decades which creates a signi cant investment challenge A majority of infrastructure for heavy industry was designed and built without sensitivity to sustainability goals or development of new business models according to the same survey Older plants often lack the sensors instrumentation and digital systems needed to optimize e ciency us there is an opportunity to upgrade and improve these assets by introducing digitalization without even needing to overhaul legacy equipment Q How can digital transformation accelerate sustainability goals in the chemical industry Digitalization is a crucial enabler for companies to meet both business and sustainability objectives Solutions provide visibility analysis and insight to address the challenges integral in sustainability goals Digital technologies have targeted corporate sustainability objectives for decades Paige Marie Morse Paige Marie Morse is the industry marketing director for chemicals at Aspen Technology She has signi cant experience with leading operating companies including Shell Dow Sunoco and Clariant in R D marketing commercial and strategy roles Dr Morse has a B A in chemistry from Kenyon College and a Ph D in chemistry from the University of Illinois A A 10 Processing DECEMBER 2020 A All images courtesy of Aspen Technology