Executive Corner: Reliability Through the Lens of Sustainability

Summary

It is well known throughout industry that a high degree of reliability is required for process plants to achieve maximum availability and reduce unplanned events. However, not everyone may initially connect improved reliability to enhanced sustainability.  

Poor reliability and excessive downtime negatively impact sustainability in myriad ways. Devices, such as relief or isolation valves, that do not operate as required can result in emissions to the atmosphere that directly degrade sustainability. These emissions may result in product losses and other waste that also affect sustainability.  

Other device failures may result in downtime, which also negatively impacts sustainability. For batch processes, entire production runs can be lost; energy and other resources must be expended to replace the batch and to dispose of waste. This is particularly problematic for batches with long processing times and very high value, as is often the case in the life sciences industry. 

Poor reliability also affects continuous processes—resulting in lost production, wasted energy and excess use of raw materials—as well as the need to reprocess resources to upgrade or replace products.  

In both cases, even more energy is required for restarts, as both batch and continuous processes are designed to run at maximum efficiency when there are no interruptions. Some of these failures may result in the need to perform maintenance on equipment or production units, expending more energy and resources, and increasing a plant’s carbon footprint. 

Fortunately, there are ways to address these and other related issues. Most fundamentally, one can make product reliability a key consideration when selecting measurement and final control devices in every part of the production system. This is especially important for valves, as these are routinely exposed to process media and the elements, and often contain multiple moving parts.  

As new plants are designed or existing facilities upgraded, it is crucial to consider using devices that will improve reliability, such as smart instruments and valves. Technological advances in valve automation and monitoring can provide the information needed to facilitate predictive or preventative maintenance. When applied to critical processes and key equipment, these types of advances can reduce unplanned downtime. 

Adding or upgrading field devices has typically required additional wiring from each device to the automation system, which is often quite costly and time consuming, and may require downtime. These issues can be addressed in two ways.  

Many field devices are now available in wireless versions, eliminating the need for field wiring. When wiring is required, it can often be connected to flexible I/O mounted in the field, so home run wiring to the automation system in the control room is not needed. 

Finally, all field devices should be maintained correctly to ensure maximum uptime. Many process plants operate with reduced staff, so field device maintenance may require engagement with a service provider, typically a vendor, preferably available 24/7/365 worldwide. Ideally, this vendor will provide advice to plant personnel, with onsite assistance available as required. New advancements in virtual reality can link service provider experts with process plant personnel, which is particularly useful where access to certain locations may be challenging at short notice. Some vendors can monitor field devices remotely with a team of experts, adding further value. 

These solutions will become ubiquitous as more field devices are digitized, and as newer models of existing digital field devices become more intelligent. These devices will take advantage of more powerful networking technologies, both wired and wireless, for both on-premises and cloud-based connections. This improved connectivity will result in lower storage costs for data, along with easier and more secure remote access. These advances will increase reliability and uptime, and in turn deliver sustainability improvements.

_{This feature originally appeared in the October 2023 issue of InTech digital magazine.}