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The intelligent development of the coal-to-methanol production facility at Shilin Chemical Branch has entered a new phase. Author/Source: Shandong Energy Zikang Group. Date: February 25, 2021. Clicks: 3. “The average fluctuation range of 19 process parameters has been reduced by 49.45%, exceeding expectations by 30%…” Recently, at the completion report meeting for the Advanced Process Control system (APC) project at this facility, another “intelligent project” of Shandong Energy Zikang Group’s Huangtaolei Coal Company was approved, marking a new step forward in the construction of its smart factory. Since last year, Shilin Chemical’s subsidiary has implemented the requirements of the \"Three Reductions and Three Improvements\" initiative. It has taken the development of intelligence, information technology, automation, and standardization as driving forces for growth, focused on improving equipment maintenance as a key priority, and aimed to optimize its production systems in order to build a smart factory. In April 2020, the company’s methanol plant installed an APC system. The system itself has powerful computing capabilities; it can control key parameters with a control loop occurring every 30 seconds. By controlling and optimizing the upper and lower limits of system parameters, the staff can increase methanol yield and reduce steam consumption. Since the trial operation of this system, the methanol yield has increased by 0.5%, the steam consumption per ton of methanol has decreased by 3.35%, and the fluctuation range of key process parameters has been reduced by an average of 61.72%. This has minimized the impact of external factors on the methanol production unit; as a result, four workers have been laid off from the methanol workshop. “After the APC system was put into use, it enabled automatic regulation of fluctuations in various system parameters, thereby improving the safety, stability, and automation level of the equipment; it is expected to generate savings of over 3 million yuan per year. ”Wang Sanyun, the technical supervisor of the methanol workshop, said. While the APC system was in operation, the company’s pump fleet monitoring system officially entered the testing phase. They installed sensors on 7 moving equipment units, including the fan reducer in the water treatment plant’s cooling tower and the methanol circulation pump in the methanol plant, to monitor the operation of these devices 24 hours a day. When anomalies occur in the equipment, a fault report is automatically generated. “Spectral analysis” is conducted by measuring the vibration amplitude, enabling real-time monitoring of every movement of the equipment. According to Cui Hufeng, the technical supervisor of the company’s Mechanical and Electrical Management Department, monitoring of the pump system not only allows for real-time tracking of the equipment’s operating status, but also enables the identification of fault locations and the degree of equipment degradation, providing technical support for maintenance personnel during annual overhauls. In recent days, the company’s “Smart Inspection” app has added a “Risk Map” section that uses 3D models to visually display aspects such as “special operations, risk management, and inspection oversight”. In addition, this software also includes functions such as hazard identification, equipment management, and risk control; it replaces the traditional dial-based inspection method and enables tasks like hazard identification and work order processing to be carried out online. To date, out of the 5 smart factory construction projects planned by Shilin Chemical’s branch for 2020, 4 have been put into use, while the remaining 1 is under coordination for implementation.