Success Stories

Olefins Pyrolysis Furnace Optimization and Alarm Reduction

Petrochemicals

Read Success Story

Olefins Pyrolysis Furnace Optimization and Alarm Reduction

BKOAI's engineers used mode-based alarming and predictive control to reduce nuisance alarms and improve reliability in olefins pyrolysis furnaces

Goals

Reduce nuisance alarms during critical furnace operation transitions.
Improve furnace transition handling to maintain process stability.
Minimize manual operator interventions during complex quench cycles.
Increase control reliability in olefins pyrolysis furnace operations.

Challenges

High alarm volumes during furnace transitions overwhelm control room operators.
Distinguishing critical process events from nuisance alarms is highly difficult.
Quench control processes involve complex, interactive multivariable dynamics.
Operators must frequently intervene manually to maintain stable system conditions.

Solutions

Develop specialized modal alarming software for olefins pyrolysis operations.
Implement user-friendly operator-facing interfaces for real-time monitoring and control.
Install multivariable model predictive control systems for furnace quench processes.
Optimize transitional operational logic to automate baseline stabilization processes.

Results

Nuisance alarms during furnace transitions were significantly decreased.
Overall alarm rates dropped to safer, more manageable operating levels.
Manual operator interventions were successfully minimized across both operational phases.
Control reliability of the pyrolysis furnace operations was greatly improved.