Environmental Conference September 18-20, 2005 The Fairmont Hotel Dallas, Texas Implementation of a Large Real-time Environmental Data Management System Presented By: Paul Glaves Mustang Engineering, Inc./ Ellipsys, Inc. Houston, TX Claire Meurer Valero Energy Corporation San Antonio, TX Todd Spears Valero Energy Corporation San Antonio, TX Brian Funke Valero Energy Corporation San Antonio, TX National Petrochemical & Refiners Association 1899 L Street, NW Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20036.3896 202.457.0480 voice 202.429.7726 fax www.npra.org
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Implementation of a Large Real-time Environmental Data Management System By Todd Spears Brian Funke Claire Meurer Valero Energy Corporation San Antonio, Texas and Paul Glaves Mustang Engineering / Ellipsys, Inc. Houston, Texas Presented at the NPRA 2005 Environmental & Safety Conference September 19 and 20, 2005 Dallas, Texas Page 1
Introduction Valero Energy Corporation (Valero) has installed and is currently completing the implementation of a real-time environmental data management system (EDMS) project at the Corpus Christi refinery (capacity of 340,000 barrels per day). The principal purpose is to enhance the existing calculations and reporting system that used spreadsheets with continuous, real-time calculations and monitoring of air emissions. The real-time notification of environmental staff when a reportable quantity (RQ) violation has occurred was viewed as critical enhancement. This project was the final test for selection of a corporate standard real-time EDMS solution that will be deployed to many of the domestic Valero refineries. This paper presents the background for pursuing a corporate real-time EDMS to replace the legacy air calculations, the pilot and project scope of the large Corpus Christi system, and the benefits and challenges in the Corpus Christi implementation. With the success of this initial project, Valero has begun corporate-wide deployment of the real-time environmental package, E!CEMS. Background Valero Energy Corporation recently became the largest refining company in North America with 18 refineries, 16 in the United States. In early 2004, Valero was pursuing a corporate standard for air emission calculations that met their requirements using an offthe-shelf software product. With refining operations in eight states with varying permits, the challenge was to find a product that was flexible in configuration to handle the unique demands of each site. The three different components to the Valero air emission calculations are: Real-time Emissions Monthly Emissions Title V Limited real-time calculations of critical air emissions were being performed in many Valero refineries on a case-by-case basis, including Corpus Christi. The quest to improve air emissions monitoring made real-time calculations and associated notification of violations very appealing. Using real-time monitoring also addresses growing pressure to monitor and report emissions faster. An example of this is the HRVOC monitoring rules for non-attainment areas that require hourly monitoring of emissions under current rules. These pressures have increased the demand on the environmental staff time since many of the air emission calculations are desktop applications, such as Microsoft Excel, that require user intervention. Page 2
The use of common solutions such as Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access databases has limitations. These include: Single or limited number of environmental staff who own the desk-top application Requires interaction by staff to execute the desk-top application ad hoc for data collection and updated calculations Enterprise concerns: o Reliability o Security o Audit capability corrections to data are commonly not auditable Many top-down solutions are available. These often do not start with the real-time data available in the process data historian. This real-time data is required for air emissions calculations and monitoring. Often these packages are focused on other needs such as waste, compliance management, etc. Valero Challenge Page 3
Objectives As stated above, the key corporate objective was to identify a system that could enhance the air emissions calculations, event detection and automatic notification. The use of a real-time solution was appealing. Also, Valero desired a system that had the flexibility to offer a common solution to handle air emissions in many of their refineries in the United States. Business objectives include leveraging the data available in the existing process historian to be proactive in detecting violations in real-time. By ensuring that violations requiring notification of the authorities are detected in real-time, the risk of fines is reduced. Staff time to collect, calculate and evaluate all of the air emissions data is also decreased. The system would focus on the events that require attention while the emissions calculations that are within the normal range are collected with limited staff intervention. A system of this type is expected to increase data accuracy while being a robust solution that is not dependent on the limited number of staff members familiar with the operation of the desk-top based air emissions applications. Identified Project Drivers As a part of the evaluation of possible software packages, the following attributes were identified as project drivers: Real-time Data Requirements Data Historians AspenTech InfoPlus.21, OSIsoft PI, and Honeywell Uniformance/PHD Analytical Data Systems (CEMS, LIMS, etc.) Unattended Calculations Real-time Exceedance Events Detection & Notification New Capabilities (Data Recovery, Data Substitution, etc.) Web Enabled Enterprise-grade Security and Audit Capability Existing Support Infrastructure Additional Savings Page 4
Identified Options The principal options considered were the following: Desktop Solutions These are commonly done in Microsoft Excel or perhaps a database like Microsoft Access. Some of the issues with this type of solution are the corporate concern for reliability, security and audit trail. These applications are not generally real-time and the solution can be less than robust depending on the complexity of the calculations. Any events and notifications of violations will commonly depend on execution of the application by the staff. Top-down Solution Components Some these software solutions include Essential Suite, Enviance, and ESP opsenvironmental. These packages do not typically include real-time data collection, calculation and event detection/notification. They are commonly used for other specific needs such as waste, compliance management, etc. New approach Leveraging the presence of process data historians, real-time calculations were viewed as a critical advantage to meet the objectives and project drivers. To deliver the greatest value, real-time detection of events and automatic notifications were deemed a critical advantage. This is especially true for refineries in non-attainment regions that will be required to monitor HRVOC emissions on an hourly basis according to current rules. The ability to have a free standing database that is largely configured by the environmental staff was also identified as being very desirable. By interfacing with the process historian to collect data, the risk of affecting process operations is effectively eliminated. The software package of choice was Mustang/Ellipsys E!CEMS Real-time Environmental Data Management System. The initial step was a pilot that has now been followed by a full deployment at the Valero Corpus Christi refinery. Page 5
System Overview The figure below shows the system overview for the latest version of E!CEMS. Real-time Historian Server CEMS Analyzer Data Emissions Source Process Data Hardwarespecific Interface Hardwarespecific Interface Real-time Historian LIMS Interface OPC Interface Lab Data Other Real-time Historians Manually Entered Data OPC Driver for Real-time Historian Standard real-time historian client tools E!CEMS Server Windows 2000 IIS 5.Net Framework ODBC Client for SQL Server E!CEMS Read & Write-back Module MS SQL Server DB E!CEMS Configuration Data E!CEMS Calculation Engine E!CEMS History Data Raw Values, Aggregates, Calculated Results, Events, Tasks E!CEMS Data Access Layer (VB.Net) Internet Explorer Crystal Reports Run-time E!CEMS Presentation Layer (ASP.Net) Page 6
Work Groups Overview The figure below shows the work groups that utilize or support the E!CEMS system. Page 7
E!CEMS Product Features The E!CEMS product features that were identified as key for a possible corporate-wide solution are summarized below: Data Acquisition Collection of historical data from a process data historian was an important feature. Adding calculations after emissions are required are now possible using E!Catchup to calculate the emissions using historical data. Intelligent Calculations o Data Aggregation: Starting with the ability to configure a wide range of data aggregation types is critical to meeting permit requirements. Examples of aggregates include block hourly averages, 24 hour rolling totals calculated hourly or daily, month-to-date totals daily and year-to-date totals daily. o Engineering Units: The calculations handle engineering units automatically. This was expected to reduce the amount of time to implement the project and would reduce maintenance time when the units of field measurements are changed. o Formulas: The use of formulas for all calculations enhances the reliability of the calculations. It also allows for propagation of formula changes globally. The use of formulas was deemed an advantage for demonstrating calculation methods during audits. o Data Substitution: Using data substitution, missing or errant data could be input or corrected. All dependent calculations are then automatically updated. Using the change log, all data substitutions could then be identified during an audit. Events, Tasks, & Notification o Events: A wide range of events can be configured. Events are stored in the database and can be retrieved with a search tool by a number of criteria. Events can be created as a warning of approaching limits as well as triggering permit limits events that require notification of the on-call staff for notification of the authorities when an RQ is violated. o Scheduled Tasks: Scheduled tasks are one of the two types of tasks. One example of a scheduled task includes automatic generation of reports for storage or printing for morning reports. Another is reminding staff to enter reason and corrective action codes for events that have been triggered. o Notification: The other type of task is e-mail notification when an event is triggered. This method can be used to contact staff such as the operations supervisor, the on-call environmental staff and the E!CEMS administrator. Each event notification is configurable as to who is to receive the notification. Reporting A full range of standard reports are available for configuration. These include summary, change log, compliance, downtime summary, drift check summary, event list, performance summary, as well as startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM). Reports generated in HTML can be exported to Adobe Acrobat (pdf) and Microsoft Word files. Page 8
Enterprise Features o Security: Using the Microsoft network logins, E!CEMS security can be configured to manage the access of information in each E!CEMS database. Many will likely be given access view reports and events. Fewer will have additional access to the add input to tasks. Only administrators will have the ability to fully configure E!CEMS. o Web-based: Providing access via the corporate Intranet, each refinery s E!CEMS system can be configured by the E!CEMS administrator and viewed by others who have been given the security rights to access E!CEMS. o Date Retention: Systems are commonly configured to store data for 5 years or more. o Change Log: The change log collects and stores all changes made to the system. This includes all configuration changes as well as data substitutions. The user and the changes are identified. The change log can be searched using a calendar function. Analyzer Management Although not planned at this time for the Corpus Christi implementation, cylinder gas audit (CGA) data can be managed using E!CEMS. In addition, downtime tracking and drift checks can also be performed. Corpus Christi Pilot For the pilot, Valero selected their Corpus Christi refinery as the site. Corpus Christi was expanded in 2001 when a neighboring refinery was acquired. This new section is now referred to as the East Plant while the original facility is referred to as the West Plant The East Plant is operated under a separate permit. A new permit was pending and more active monitoring of current conditions was planned. The West Plant was performing the emissions calculations in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that was run on an engineer s desktop overnight or could be manually executed during the work day. The spreadsheet collected hourly data from the process data historian and performed air emission calculations. The spreadsheet was nearly 7 megabytes with 55 separate worksheets for the heaters, heavy oil cracker (HOC) and the sulfur recovery units (SRUs). The East Plant was contemplating configuring a similar spreadsheet to support the requirements of their new permit. The objective of the pilot was to demonstrate the ability to provide the calculations in real time for select units in the East Plant. In addition, a heater with CEMS for NOx and CO was configured by the Valero staff with support from the configuration team. Page 9
The functionalities demonstrated that were important to the evaluation team included the following: Automatic notification of critical events such as RQ violations Configurable by staff via web pages Reports are viewable via web pages on the Intranet by others Automatic data recovery Data substitution Change Log The benefit of automatic notification of critical events based on emissions totals calculated in real-time was identified as a very important feature. By sending the notification by e-mail to the on-call pager, the risk of a fine due to late notification of the authorities is reduced. Configuration by the staff was an important requirement. The designated E!CEMS administrator will have the ability to change the calculations, configure events and tasks via web pages with limited assistance required from the data historian team. The ability to provide access to reports via web pages on the Intranet was demonstrated. This functionality was not available with the spreadsheet. Reports from the spreadsheet were configured but only in hard copy for morning reports via the early morning execution of the spreadsheet. Up to the minute reports, say at the end of the business day, required the one engineer responsible for the spreadsheet to execute it for review of the emissions in question. Data substitution to correct errant or missing process data was viewed as an important feature. With data substitution, the dependent calculations are automatically re-executed. In combination with the change log that records the data substitution, an audit is much easier to perform. Corpus Christi Initial Deployment With the successful completion of the pilot, Valero opted to perform the first project at Corpus Christi. This initial deployment had the following scope: EMISSION SOURCES # SPECIES CALCULATED Heaters NOx/CO CEMS 15 NO2, NO, CO, VOC, PM, SO2 Heater Non-CEMS 63 NOx, CO, VOC, PM, SO2 Control Valves to Flare (mostly valve position, some flows) 38 NO2, NO, CO, H2S, SO2, C2=, C3=, C3, IC4, NC4, IC5, NC5, NeoC5, C6+, ic4=, 1- C4=, c-2-c4=, t-2-c4=, 1,3-C4== Sulfur Recovery Units 4 NOx, CO, PM, VOC, SO2, H2S FCC/HOC 2 NOx, CO, PM, PMSO4, VOC, SO2, H2SO4 Engines / Turbines 7 NOx, CO, VOC, PM, SO2 Page 10
This rather large scope was approached as follows: Aggregates The aggregate required were identified and configured. Calculations Different types of calculations were identified as common such as heaters with CEMS and heaters without CEMS. A special challenge was the HOC for the West Plant. An extremely detailed calculation in the spreadsheet was converted to a series of formulas. From the HOC, the East Plant FCC emissions calculations were configured. The control valve flow calculations based on valve position were required to estimate flow to the flares. Also, each control valve could use a lab data for the composition or a manually entered composition. A section of the heater with CEMS calculation flow chart is shown below: Example: Calculation Flow Chart Page 11
A unique part of the scope was the hourly tracking of exceedances to monitor reportable quantities (RQ) using 24 hour rolling aggregates. RQ Calculations Using hourly averages of process data, emission totals are calculated. If an emissions limit has been set for a species, the limit is checked to determine if an exceedance has occurred. A 24 hour rolling total of the species exceedance is calculated each hour. RQ Event Detection and E-mail Notification Task The rolling 24 hour total of each species exceedance is checked in a permit limit event for each species RQ limit. The types of units checked include the heaters, HOC/FCC, sulfur recovery units, and control valves. When a 24 hour rolling total exceedance violates a species RQ limit, a task has been configured to automatically notify the on-call environmental staff for notification of the authorities. RQ Reporting When a RQ event has been detected, a report will need to be filed. The staff determines the start and end times for the event. To assist in the reporting, E!CEMS was configured to allow collecting of the total exceedances. Using data substitution., the staff member sets a flag that in turn places the exceedances in RQ variables. The project is nearing completion as the final checkout is performed on the calculations prior to activating the task notifications. Additional reporting will also need to be completed. Migration to the latest version of E!CEMS was recently started. Page 12
Benefits Realized The following are the benefits realized by this project: Better Operations/Maintenance Integration o Real-time Notification Reduced Risk of Fine RQ Exceedances Now notifications to the on-call staff is based on an RQ violation that is confirmed to exceed the species limit for the 24 hourly rolling average. Emission Rate Exceedances Long before a RQ is violated, when an emission rate has been exceeded and exceedances have begun to accrue, the event will be detected in real-time and a notification to the operations team will provide operations with feedback that an emission event has started. The operations staff will have the opportunity to make adjustments to the process to reduce emissions, if possible. Improved Maintainability of Emissions Data o Standardization of Calculations With the use of formulas that are used in many calculations, the calculations are consistent. The calculations can also be more easily shown during audits. o Centralized Repository of Emissions Data The separate database with air emissions is viewed as a positive. This database is managed by the environmental staff with limited support required from the process data historian staff. o 5 years of On-line Emissions Data With a separate, smaller database, five year of on-line emissions data will be collected. Adaptability for future regulations o Title V, HRVOC, etc. o Allows addition of future Sources o Allows choice of averaging period in order to comply with regulatory requirements Page 13
Project Challenges The project challenges identified include: Number of Emissions Calculations The number of speciated emissions calculations exceeded 1,100. In addition, for species with a permit limit, a total of 5 emissions values were calculated total, exceedance, cap, internal reportable and RQ. The checkout of the calculations has proven to be challenging since the staff has had to perform the checkout into their already busy schedules. Complex Calculations Several of the more complex calculations such heaters with multiple burners and multiple fuel gas, the HOC/FCC, and the control valves were a challenge to checkout and troubleshoot. This included the need to interpret the calculations in the spreadsheet. The control valves required control valve parameters and the selection of either a lab value or manually entered data. Data Error Handling To leverage the capabilities of E!CEMS, the error handling for measurement data was an involved process. Abnormal Operating Modes As is typical in many refineries, operation modes change due to scheduled maintenance or other unplanned shutdowns. One example was the West Plant Belco unit that normally collected the HOC and two SRU incinerators. The SRUs normally went through individual incinerators with SO2 measurements in the incinerator stack. From the incinerator, effluent entered the Belco downstream of the water wash tower for the HOC effluent. For process reasons, it was sometimes necessary to change the SRU effluent to bypass the incinerator and put the effluent upstream of the water wash tower. In this non-normal mode, the normal SO2 calculations for the SRU s incinerator must be set to zero since the Belco stack will now measure all of the SO2 emissions. The E!CEMS configuration allowed the staff to change a flag for when either SRU is being directed to the front end. In addition, if the environmental staff are not informed by operations in time to make the change in E!CEMS at the start, they can use data substitution to set the flag for the missing period so that the correct emissions are calculated during this non-normal operating mode. RQ Events As discussed above, the handling of exceedances each hour required design and detailed testing of the logic to store emissions data in the five variables total, exceedance, cap, internal reportable and RQ. With the 24 hour rolling total exceedance being calculated ever hour, an RQ event can be detected a few minutes after an hour is completed. Page 14
Valero s Path Forward With the successful initial project deployment at Corpus Christi, Valero has plans to install E!CEMS at four refineries in 2005. Additional projects are planned for 2006. The Corpus Christi project initially installed a version of E!CEMS that collected and stored data in a separate process data historian. Since the initial installation, E!CEMS has been updated to provide storage of the measurements and calculated values in a separate database, Microsoft s SQL Server. This separate database is exclusively used to store air emissions data. This latest version of E!CEMS uses E!Catchup and OPC-HDA drivers to collect historical data from the process data historians. Migration at Corpus Christi to the latest version of E!CEMS is underway at the time that this paper was written. Page 15
E!CEMS Product Highlights This section includes sample screenshots from Valero s E!CEMS implementation: Example: Calculation Aggregates Security Roles Example Aggregates Page 16
Example: Calculation Aggregates Calculation Formula Units Page 17
E!CEMS Report Types Page 18
Example Summary Report Report Output Options Page 19
Example: Events List Permit Limits Page 20
Example: E-mail Notification Task Example: Change Log (Audit Trail) Page 21
Biographies Todd Spears, has worked in the information technology project management industry for the past 11years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Education degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and later earned a Master of Science in Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems from Texas Tech University. He worked as a high school teacher and coach for three years before starting his project management career. He worked at USAA for nine years as a technical project manager in their e- commerce department. Todd is currently employed as a Lead I/T Specialist for Valero Energy Corporation in San Antonio, Texas. Brian Funke has worked in the regulatory, refining, and environmental industries for over eight years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station. He worked for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for three years in the Title V permitting department and as an environmental consultant for two years. Brian is currently employed as a Senior Environmental Engineer at the Valero refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. Claire P. Meurer, P.E., has worked in the petrochemical, refining, public works, and environmental industries for over 20 years. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station, and later earned a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. She served for five years in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps, worked as an environmental consultant for 10 years, taught environmental technology at Bee County College, and worked as a process engineer for Celanese Chemical Company. Claire is currently employed as a Senior Environmental Engineer at the Valero refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. Paul Glaves has worked in the oil and gas, refining, petrochemical and environmental industries for 29 years. Paul has principally worked in the engineering services business. He has experience as a process engineer, project manager, control engineer and consultant. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Masters of Chemical Engineering, both from Rice University. Paul is currently employed as a senior consultant with Mustang Engineering as a member of their Automation and Control sector. He was with Ellipsys when Mustang Engineering acquired the company to form the Advanced Applications department. Page 22