Control fouling to improve asset availability

This video presents a case study on using self-service analytics to manage equipment fouling in a polymer reactor, ultimately improving asset availability and production efficiency.

The Challenge: Inefficient Cooling

• Situation: A polymer production reactor alternates between heating and cooling phases. The cooling phase is the most time-consuming part of the cycle, and no new product is made during this time.
• Problem: Fouling in the heat exchangers gradually increases the time it takes to cool the reactor. This extended cooling time reduces overall production capacity.
• Complication: It is difficult to monitor this fouling because the reactor is used for different product grades, each with its own unique recipe and cooling profile. Scheduling maintenance too early leads to unnecessary downtime, while scheduling it too late results in poor performance and safety risks due to insufficient cooling capacity in emergencies.

The Solution: Data-Driven Monitoring with TrendMiner

TrendMiner's analytics platform was used to monitor the duration of the cooling phase for the most frequently produced products.

• Analysis: By searching for and analyzing the cooling phases over several months, engineers could easily identify a clear trend: as the heat exchangers became fouled, the cooling time significantly increased.
• Monitoring & Alerts: A monitor was set up to automatically track the cooling time. When the duration exceeded a predetermined threshold (e.g., 45 minutes), an automatic warning was sent to the engineers.
• Action: This alert prompted the engineers to schedule maintenance in a timely manner, before the fouling severely impacted production or created a safety hazard.

The Benefits & Results

By implementing this data-driven approach, the company achieved significant improvements:

• Extended Asset Availability: Proactive and timely maintenance reduced unscheduled downtime.
• Predictive Maintenance: The system enabled a shift from reactive to predictive maintenance, lowering operational and maintenance costs.
• Reduced Safety Risk: Ensured that the cooling system always had the capacity to handle emergency situations.
• Increased Revenue: The insights and subsequent actions led to a 1% overall revenue increase for the production line by optimizing the reactor's uptime.

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