Exciting news! Today, we take the next step on the journey to fulfill our vision of the Self-Optimizing Plant. We took the first step last September when we introduced Aspen Unified™ for companies looking to enhance and better align their existing business processes while reducing the gap between planned and actual performance. 

 

Laying the Building Blocks for Profitability and Sustainability 

As part of that aspenONE V12 release, we continued the discussion with you on the critical need for digital technologies, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)—and we introduced an AI that was unlike any other AI. It was Industrial AI. Or more accurately, AspenTech Industrial AI™. We also launched Aspen Hybrid Models™ (specifically AI-Driven Hybrid Models and Reduced Order Hybrid Models) to build more accurate, sustained and insightful models that were able to address problems which first principles models alone could not.

If your goal for your business is to stay competitive and relevant in these highly volatile times, you need to embrace digital transformation, perhaps now more than ever before. With the pace of digitalization having accelerated since the onset of the pandemic, more companies in capital-intensive industries are turning to us as they look to ramp up their digitalization efforts.

 

Expanding the Application of AI Across Our Industry-Leading Solutions 

As a digital solutions provider with Industrial-AI-powered technologies, AspenTech is in a unique position to help customers. With the release of aspenONE V12.1 we continue to show you that we’re listening, we’re innovating and adapting, and we’re working hard to deliver the solutions you need to achieve success. By embedding AI into our most widely adopted, industry-leading products and solutions, we are working hard to support a new era of autonomy and sustainability and we’re changing the rules of the game. With our V12.1 enhancements, we have extended Industrial AI across our solutions to drive higher levels of profitability and sustainability in customers’ operations. In addition, the Aspen Industrial AI workbench enables data scientists to collaborate with domain experts to develop AI apps based on enterprise-wide data. It provides all the tools needed to help uncover the insights of IoT data and deliver value back to business applications without adding headcount.

 

Delivering Accurate, Sustainable Models 

One of the biggest things to come out of this new release for our customers is First Principles-Driven Hybrid Models embedded within Aspen HYSYS^® and Aspen Plus^®, which brings AI directly into our simulators. An existing first-principles model is enhanced using AI with data to calculate unknown variables and relationships not captured by the original model (e.g. reaction rates etc.). Machine learning is used to determine the unknown value and its relationships to continuously calibrate the model as conditions change. This approach is a natural extension to existing first principles models and is quick and easy to adopt and significantly increases model accuracy.  

Reduced Order Hybrid models can be shared across engineering, planning and dynamic optimization solutions to improve the accuracy and predictability of these applications. And Deep Learning APC can deliver more accurate and sustainable models that cover a broad range of operating conditions. Together, these advanced capabilities deliver the next generation of operational excellence.

 

Helping Customers Reach Critical Sustainability Goals 

Helping customers achieve sustainability goals is also a critical piece of this release. We introduce new models for carbon capture and better visualization tools to reduce waste and energy use and enable customers to optimize biomass, hydrogen production, carbon capture, and carbon emissions optimization more accurately and systematically, focused on supporting energy transition initiatives. New analysis and visualization capabilities can help to reduce measurable waste and energy use, throughout the process. 

 

Extending Reach and Enhancing Industrial AI 

In November 2020, AspenTech acquired Camo Analytics AS, a leading provider of industrial analytics. The technology and expertise acquired with Camo Analytics further strengthens our AI capabilities. For industries such as pharmaceuticals, with pressure for increased time to market, we introduce Aspen Unscrambler™ and Aspen Process Pulse™ which use analytics, monitoring and optimization to improve process and product quality.  

In December 2020, we acquired OptiPlant to strengthen and enhance our solutions for owner-operators and EPC companies in the process industries. AI-driven 3D conceptual plant layout with parametric asset models and automatic pipe routing enables closer collaboration between owner-operators and EPCs to improve accuracy, reliability and speed of cost estimates. 

With V12.1, you can accelerate your digitalization journey and leverage Industrial AI to increase margins, reduce costs and achieve safer, more sustainable operations. 

 

To learn more about V12.1, we encourage you to attend our upcoming OPTIMIZE 2021 virtual conference.

 

Selected OPTIMIZE 2021 Session

Tue May 18, 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM EDT   (30 Min)
Rapid and Accurate Steam Reformer Model Development Using First Principles Driven Aspen Hybrid Models™
Nissan Chemical Corporation

The steam reforming reaction to generate hydrogen from natural gas takes place at high temperatures. Conventional rigorous reactor modeling requires a temperature profile of the process fluid, which is difficult to estimate or measure. A First Principles-Driven Hybrid Model approach from AspenTech was used to determine that a relatively simple model can accurately represent a wide range of plant data. In this presentation, the methodology of first principles driven Aspen Hybrid Models™, the importance of data conditioning, comparison with conventional methods and potential benefits are all discussed.  

Learn more about how Industrial AI and Aspen Hybrid Models can help you take the next step toward the Self-Optimizing Plant here. 

And speaking of learning, I’d like to personally encourage you to register for OPTIMIZE 2021. It’s content packed, entirely free and happening in just one week!