Remote monitoring of adsorber process units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10695711-B2
Application number	US-201815963840-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2018
Priority date	Apr 28, 2017
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

Adsorbers have many purposes in chemical, gas-processing, and petrochemical plants. Adsorbers may be used to remove components from gas streams. Adsorbers may be subjected to various issues, including but not limited to moisture breakthrough, spent catalyst, too high or too low pressure drop, over or under heating, over or under cooling, too high or too low flow rates, which can affect their performance or result in a shutdown of the adsorbers. Monitoring the adsorbers and the processes using adsorbers may be performed to determine if the adsorbent bed is reaching saturation, other problems are occurring, or if equipment failures are imminent. Monitoring also helps to predict behavior or problems in different adsorbers used in the same plant or in other plants and/or processes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a plant comprising an adsorber process unit;
one or more sensors configured to measure operating information for the adsorber process unit;
a data collection platform comprising:
one or more processors of the data collection platform;
a communication interface of the data collection platform and in communication with the one or more sensors; and
non-transitory computer-readable memory storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the data collection platform to:
receive sensor data comprising the operating information for the adsorber process unit;
correlate the sensor data with metadata comprising time data; and
transmit the sensor data to a data analysis platform;

the data analysis platform comprising:
one or more processors of the data analysis platform;
non-transitory computer-readable memory storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
receive the sensor data from the data collection platform;
analyze the sensor data; and
based on the analyzed sensor data, transmit a command for an adjustment to an operating condition related to the adsorber process unit;

a control platform comprising:
one or more processors of the control platform;
non-transitory computer-readable memory storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the control platform to:
receive the command for the adjustment to the operating condition related to the adsorber process unit; and
adjust the operating condition related to the adsorber process unit.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
monitor an amount of water being adsorbed in an adsorbent bed of the adsorber process unit; and
determine, based on the amount of water being adsorbed in the adsorbent bed of the adsorber process unit, whether the adsorber process unit needs to be taken offline and adsorber of the adsorber process unit regenerated.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
transmit a command for an adjustment to a cycle time of the adsorber process unit.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
determine an optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit;
determine whether there is a difference between a last-cycle operating performance of the adsorber process unit and the optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit; and
based on determining that there is the difference between the last-cycle operating performance of the adsorber process unit and the optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit, determine the adjustment to the operating condition related to the adsorber process unit.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
determine an optimal cycle time of the adsorber process unit as part of determining the optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
determine the adjustment to the operating condition related to the adsorber process unit, the adjustment configured to decrease a difference between an actual operating performance of the adsorber process unit and the optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
after a next cycle of the adsorber process unit, determine a new last-cycle operating performance of the adsorber process unit; and
based on the new last-cycle operating performance of the adsorber process unit, determine whether the difference between the actual operating performance of the adsorber process unit and the optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit has decreased.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
transmit a command configured to cause an adjustment to a capacity of the adsorber process unit.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the executable instructions of the data analysis platform, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
transmit a command configured to cause an adjustment to an amount of feed for the adsorber process unit.

10. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a dashboard configured to:
display the sensor data comprising the operating information for the adsorber process unit; and
display the adjustment to the operating condition related to the adsorber process unit.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the dashboard is configured to:
display an optimum level at which the adsorber process unit should be operated to achieve an optimization goal for the adsorber process unit.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the dashboard is configured to:
display an amount of adsorption achieved by the adsorber process unit in a particular time; and
display an amount of water load that an adsorber system is under at a given point in time.

13. A method comprising:
receiving, by a data analysis computing device, sensor data for a sensor associated with an adsorber process unit;
based on analyzing the sensor data, determining, by the data analysis computing device, an ideal operating condition for an element of the adsorber process unit;
determining, by the data analysis computing device, a difference between a most recent operating condition for the element of the adsorber process unit and the ideal operating condition for the element of the adsorber process unit;
based on the analyzed sensor data, determining, by the data analysis computing device, a command for adjusting the element of the adsorber process unit to reduce the difference between the most recent operating condition and the ideal operating condition; and
sending, by the data analysis computing device, the command for adjusting the element of the adsorber process unit.

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising:
monitoring an amount of water being adsorbed in an adsorbent bed of the adsorber process unit; and
determining, based on the amount of water being adsorbed in the adsorbent bed of the adsorber process unit, whether the adsorber process unit needs to be taken offline and adsorber of the adsorber process unit regenerated.

15. The method of claim 13 , comprising:
determining an optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit;
determining whether there is a difference between a last-cycle operating performance of the adsorber process unit and the optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit; and
based on determining that there is the difference between the last-cycle operating performance of the adsorber process unit and the optimal operating characteristic of the adsorber process unit, determining the adjustment to the operating condition related to the adsorber process unit.

16. The method of claim 13 , comprising:
generating a dashboard configured to:
display the sensor data comprising operating information for the adsorber process unit;
display the adjustment to the operating condition related to the adsorber process unit;

Assignees

• Uop Llc

Inventors

• Mccool Ryan
• Bjorklund Chad E
• Charr Jorge
• Verhulst Luk

Classifications

• C10L2290/542

  Adsorption of impurities during preparation or upgrading of a fuel · CPC title

• B01D2259/40088

  by heating · CPC title

• B01D2257/602

  Mercury or mercury compounds · CPC title

• B01D2256/245

  Methane · CPC title

• B01D53/0454 Primary

  Controlling adsorption (controlling temperature swing adsorption B01D53/0462, controlling pressure swing adsorption B01D53/047) · CPC title