AVEVA and HMEL sign MOU to drive AI-powered digitalisation in India’s refining sector
The agreement enables both companies to advance digital transformation in India’s refining and petrochemical sector, aligning with the Government’s Digital India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives while supporting the nation’s Net-Zero 2070 vision.
With India’s refining capacity set to increase from 250 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA) to 450 MMTPA by 2030, digital solutions will be crucial to ensuring facilities operate at global standards of efficiency and sustainability.
AVEVA offers its portfolio of industrial software solutions, including its cloud-based industrial platform, digital twins, advanced analytics, and AI-driven technologies, along with comprehensive support services and global implementation expertise.
A digital-first organisation, HMEL operates one of India’s most modern integrated refinery-petrochemical complexes - the ‘Guru Gobind Singh Refinery’ – in Bathinda, Punjab.
With powerful capabilities in refining operations, deep domain knowledge, and extensive technical expertise in petrochemical manufacturing, the complex comprises an 11.3 MMTPA Crude Oil Refinery and a 1.2 MMTPA Multi-Feed Cracker along with 1.2 MMTPA Polyethylene (PE) and 1.0 MMTPA Polypropylene (PP) Plants.
Leveraging the latest technology and partnering with the best has enabled HMEL to deliver stellar operational performance and profitability with strict adherence to safety and environmental standards.
Through this MoU, the partners seek to collaborate on initiatives such as the development of a Centre of Excellence and a next-generation Refinery Command Centre, by leveraging technologies such as real-time operational intelligence, process optimisation, predictive maintenance, and supply chain enhancement.
AVEVA owner Schneider Electric, a leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced its patent to leverage AI to help reduce the likelihood process safety hazards.
The innovation automatically, or semi-automatically, analyses potential process hazards and validates protection mechanisms in an industrial process. It is then possible to prevent hazards using an analysis tool by engaging protective mechanisms to the process.
As more industries embrace digital transformation and generate high-quality data, the advantages of implementing AI in day-to-day operations increases. This latest patent from the EcoStruxure™ Triconex Safety team has the potential to identify potential hazards and safeguards in a process.
“We are the first to push this boundary of automating the hazard process analysis with artificial intelligence,” said Chris Stogner, Schneider Electric’s senior director of offer management.
“Bringing AI to functional safety has the potential to create a more rigorous and robust HAZOP study, generating more combinations of scenarios and deviations then what was humanly possible before.”
This patent is a part of a strategic initiative to enhance functional safety using AI. It is now possible to simulate hazards, with varying conditions, and then attempt to prevent dangerous conditions by using a process hazard analysis tool to generate protective mechanisms to the process.
Three other Schneider Electric patents incorporating AI into functional safety lifecycle are pending.