A virtual environment of an industrial splitter to test Dynamic Real Time Optimization

A virtual environment (VE) of an industrial splitter has been developed to test a dynamic real-time optimizer prior to on-site deployment. The paper describes the architecture of the VE, which represents the process using the EcosimPro© modeling and simulation software, and a real-time manager to maintain a controlled pace of simulation progress. The virtual process has been integrated with the same commercial predictive controller (Aspen© DMC) as installed in the plant (even with the same configuration) and a dynamic real-time optimizer has been developed in Matlab© and implemented on top of it, allowing the VE to test the optimization layer before deployment in the real factory. The data generated by the plant is stored using InfluxDB©, a time series data platform, for further analysis. The results show that the VE allows revamp studies to be conducted with less cost and more confidence.