1. Pilot Plant Automation Survey AIChE Pilot Plant Benchmarking Study Pilot Plant Automation Sean Murray, Zeton Inc. Pilot Plant Automation Sean Murray, Zeton Inc.

2. Pilot Plant Automation Survey n Automation and Control systems being used, and how are they chosen. n What degree of automation is being used in pilot plants, and to what level of satisfaction. n How much is on-line instrumentation being used, and how is it selected. n What level of unattended and remote monitoring is performed. Areas of interest in the survey are:

3. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Industry Category within the CPI Type# Specialty Chemical16 Commodity Chemical4 Pharmaceutical7 Oil & Gas4 Total31

4. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Do you routinely automate new units, or is a detailed justification required? Other Case by case evaluation Basic automation of utilities, not processes Prefer manual data collection to ensure observations are being made Clients vary, some automate, some run manually. Our preference is flexible automation; so we prefer cheap off the shelf stand alone controllers and a robust pilot plant design so things are designed to stay stable. Had some very bad delays from software modifications needed with SCADA type systems. The software guys are usually not part of the pilot team and are busy fixing some big plant problem. In principle, don’t automate – just data logging and basic control Do you routinely automate?# Routinely Automate14 Detailed economic justification required12 Other5

5. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Do you routinely automate new units, or is a detailed justification required? (By industry) Specialty Chem.Pharmaceutical Commodity Chem. Oil & Gas.

6. Pilot Plant Automation Survey What percentage of your pilot units are automated? Percent Automated# 100%2 75 – 100%10 50-75%11 Less than 50%7

7. Pilot Plant Automation Survey What percentage of your pilot units are automated? (By Industry) Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem.

8. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Percentage Change# Increasing18 Decreasing0 Staying the same12 Is the percentage of units automated in your pilot plant increasing, decreasing or staying the same?

9. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Is the percentage of units automated in your pilot plant increasing, decreasing or staying the same? (By Industry) Specialty Chem.Pharmaceutical Commodity Chem. Oil & Gas

10. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Would you classify you control system as Stand alone controllers, PC based, PLC based, DCS or combination ? Control System Classification# Stand alone controllers7 PC based4 PLC based7 Distributed Control System (DCS)10 Combination of above11

11. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Would you classify you control system as Stand alone controllers, PC based, PLC based, DCS or combination ? (By Industry) Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem. Stand AloneDCSPLCCombinationPC based

12. Pilot Plant Automation Survey What systems do you use for control and automation of your pilot plants? Automation Systems Used# Allen Bradley – PLC4 Emerson – Delta V, RS3, Provox4 Foxboro2 Honeywell – TDC, Plantscape, S91003 Siemens – PLCs, Moore APACS3 PC based – WonderWare, Camile, Labview, Genesis, etc.9 Manual2 Other – Yokagawa, GE Fanuc, Bailey, Turnbull4

13. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Control Systems Selection Criteria# Cost10 Performance12 Legacy8 Other3 If more than one system is used, what are the criteria for selecting one over the other? Other Flexibility, Ease of Configuration, Scale of Unit (bench or pilot) Testing systems that could be applied in main plant at lower cost Matching other areas of company (consistency)

14. Pilot Plant Automation Survey If more than one system is used, what are the criteria for selecting one over the other? (By Industry) If more than one system is used, what are the criteria for selecting one over the other? (By Industry) Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem. CostOtherLegacyPerformance

15. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Control Systems Selection Criteria# Very Satisfied5 Satisfied21 Marginally Satisfied2 Unsatisfied1 How satisfied are you with your control systems?

16. Pilot Plant Automation Survey How satisfied are you with your control systems? (By Industry) Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem. V. SatisfiedMarginalDissatisfiedSatisfied

17. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Percent On-line Analysis# 0 - 25 %24 25 – 50 %2 50 – 75 %4 75 – 100 %0 What percentage of your analytical testing /operations are done with on-line instruments installed directly on the pilot plant? 80% 13% 7%

18. Pilot Plant Automation Survey What percentage of your analytical testing /operations are done with on-line instruments installed directly on the pilot plant? (By Industry) Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem. 25-50%0-25%50-75%

19. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Criteria for selecting analysis method # Speed9 Cost12 Reliability12 Other11 What are your criteria for selecting on-line versus off-line analysis ? Other Process control necessity need vs. set up time flexibility – process-specific Lower analytical staff Off line is usually cheaper in the short term. Also semiconductor industry tests tend to be difficult and costly (measuring ppb in solids) On-line only when absolutely necessary HS&E Needs no on-line Unique information (in situ analysis, etc)

20. Pilot Plant Automation Survey What are your criteria for selecting on-line versus off-line analysis ? Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem. SpeedReliabilityOtherCost

21. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Allow unattended operation# Yes10 No19 Do you allow unattended operation of your automated units?

22. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Do you allow unattended operation of your automated units? Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem. YesNo

23. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Allow Remote Monitoring# Yes12 No17 Do you allow remote monitoring of your pilot plants?

24. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Do you allow remote monitoring of your pilot plants? Commodity Chem. Pharmaceutical Oil & Gas Specialty Chem. YesNo

25. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Summary AIChE Pilot Plant Benchmarking Results Section C: Pilot Plant Automation n About 50% routinely automate, and 40% justify automation. For a majority of responses, < 50% of pilot plants were considered “automated”. This held true across all industries. n Only 10% of responses indicated 100% automation, though the % automation is increasing with time. n Pharmaceutical industry shows a greater tendency towards increasing automation needs. n Control systems span the gambit of what is available: stand alone, PLC, and DCS. Pharmaceutical and commodity chemical industries show a preference for PLCs and DCS systems. n By far most are happy with their control systems. Justification is based equally on cost / legacy / reliability. n Overwhelmingly 80% of response's indicate less than 25% of analyses are done via on-line instrumentation. Where on line is used, speed, cost, reliability are all equal factors. n A majority of pilot plants do not allow unattended operation, and do not provide for limited remote monitoring. Automation (S. Murray)

26. Pilot Plant Automation Survey Other Comments: What other issues associated with “Pilot Plant Automation” are of significance to your organization, and would be of interest to you in future benchmarking studies? n Automated data acquisition n Inline accurate color measurement systems to compliment physical property measuring systems would be extremely helpful. n Cost and performance of other control systems., Programming support - how is it done and what does it cost? n Very important to provide safety monitoring of pilot plant from main plant control room. Could run tests on day shift with pilot personnel then leave plant on automatic control overnight if there was a safe way to respond to a problem such as a toxic leak. Would reduce manpower needs which is highest operating cost. Need some cross training of operating personnel but would be useful cross-fertilization and prepare groundwork for introduction of new process. n PAT (Process Analytical Testing) n High degree of automation of major units. Also a second trend toward ultralow cost micro units with minimal control, minimal cost, minimal safety risk, less precise data n More on PC based systems n How often are controllers tuned and what is the Plant Maintenance frequency? n How does quality of data correlate to unattended operation. n General and ongoing data, studies, etc.