Decarbonisation Technology - February 2022 Issue

Case studies: MOL Group

electrical infrastructure as possible • Diversify and optimise electricity sourcing • Increase hydrogen production including green and blue hydrogen • Reduce and purify carbon byproducts to increase their use as feedstock or products and use capture and underground storage (CCUS) where possible • Minimisation, gathering, treating, and disposal of produced water While each of these areas is singularly invaluable to the decarbonisation process, when deployed together they add up to a comprehensive, holistic decarbonisation strategy. To fully implement and realise this strategy, fuel producers must move beyond basic historical operational, environmental, and carbon data use. They must embrace solid operational and carbon data management with intelligent, self-serve real-time decision support. They should adopt a strategy that prioritises proactive, integrated layers of analytics, including a hybrid cloud architecture with highly secure, In light of the European Union’s proposed Fit for 55 legislative package, Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Group faces some of the strictest emissions mandates in the world. If it adopts the legislation, the EU will require a 55% cut to carbon emissions by 2030. Responding to these foreshortened time-frames and the consequential challenges, MOL turned to advanced analytics and machine learning to execute its holistic decarbonisation strategy. Among other carbon saving measures, MOL Group has reduced energy consumption by using layers of analytics that include SME- configured streaming analytics integrated with asset performance management. These AI-powered digital tools analyse its distillation towers across its refineries and heat exchanger effectiveness across a range of different feedstocks. MOL Group then visualises this operational intelligence in real time using PI Vision. As it progressed through the journey of electrifying its assets, MOL integrated electrical assets used to replace traditional stream- powered assets into the advanced condition-

on-premises streaming analytics, events, and notifications as part of the operational and carbon data management and an SaaS or multi- tenant cloud for more advanced analytics with bidirectional integration. tools, which expanded the capabilities of the company’s existing PI System and allowed it to optimise its digital value chain, source green energy from distributed energy resources (DERs), and empower its SMEs and engineers with unparalleled sel-serve insights. Need for new, data-driven decarbonisation strategies To get the most out of operational data in the new low carbon fuels landscape, companies must invest in advanced, self-serve streaming analytic tools to improve efficiency. While increasing operational efficiency provides plenty of traditional benefits – reduced operations costs and hours worked, better asset maintenance practices, and safer plant environments – rapid decarbonisation requires both scaling back energy consumption and moving to renewable energy sources, to name a few dimensions. One of the first steps for any company in its journey to decarbonisation, then, is to use asset and operational data intelligence to accelerate traditional energy efficiency efforts, based maintenance it has used for years, to ensure reliable and effective use. The company also sought to cut carbon emissions from its furnaces, which can account for more than 85% of a refinery’s total carbon emissions. It relied on a combination of advanced digital tools and state- of-the-art technologies to optimise the furnace’s combustion; AI-powered decision support and tunable diode laser spectrometers allowed it to minimise and optimise the flue gas’s oxygen content in real time, while maintaining safe and reliable furnace operations. Without a commensurate evolution of its business strategy, however, the strides MOL Group made towards cutting its emissions and coming in line with strict environmental mandates would have been nearly impossible. Decision- makers invested in a portfolio of advanced digital