Process Automation in the IIoT Era
Published on : Saturday 01-07-2023
Automation in process industries – food & beverages, oil & gas, power plants, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, mining, among others – started with basic measuring instruments from the mid-1950s and evolved with various types of control systems.
The oil & gas industry in particular has vastly benefitted from automation through the entire complex chain of extracting, transporting and refining processes, helping to simplify them. The result is increased productivity and decreased costs, as well as greater safety and convenience for the personnel engaged in these operations. With the advent of the internet era and digitalisation, process industries have benefitted by combining the advantages of sensors with the connectivity facilitated by the Internet of Things (IoT), adding to the gains made by automation. The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is helping consolidate the gains further, now with the focus on sustainability adding to regulatory compliances as well. According to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the oil and gas industry needs to significantly reduce its emissions to align with the climate goals. The IEA is an organisation that was created in 1974 when the world faced the first oil shock to help coordinate a collective response to major disruptions in the supply of oil. The report estimates the oil & gas industry needs to spend around USD 600 billion in the next 10 years to achieve the cut in oil and gas emissions. It also states that the industry has made windfall gains in the recent past given the volatility in the prices in wake of global developments.
The cover story in this edition of Industrial Automation, Process Automation in the IIoT Era, has experts from leading vendors of process automation technologies debating the various trends that are now dominating the industry, helping negotiate the issues at stake.
