Smart Safety Test saves time and promotes efficiency.

BASF’s largest new construction project in China, the Zhanjiang Verbund Site Project (ZVSP), requires high personnel and time expenditures for tests, especially Factory Acceptance Test (FAT), Integration Factory Acceptance Test (IFAT) and loop tests. To reduce these efforts, BASF has opted for the HIMA Smart Safety Test, integral part of SILworX®, HIMA’s engineering, diagnostics and test tool which enables a flexible, automated test concept over the entire life cycle of a safety system.

Peter Sieber, Vice President Strategic Marketing of HIMA Group remarked: “This project is an excellent example of how close collaboration between a user and a solution vendor can create added value at project implementation and operation. It is also a prove of HIMA’s commitment supporting clients in making the complexity of functional safety more handable.”

The FAT and IFAT for the first segments of the plant was carried out traditionally. After the manual execution, it became clear that a new way needed to be followed in order to meet the high-ranking project objectives and to increase efficiency. This, amongst other aspects is born by the complexity of the start and stop sequences to be tested. So, the decision was made to automate future tests with the HIMA Smart Safety Test. By doing so, fully testing of all static functions as well as the sequences got automatically tested and the test evidence got created and documented automatically.

Reflecting timelines and dimensions of this capital investment of BASF in China, new ways of implementing the safety functionalities where required to achieve the project objectives while maintaining plant safety of the highest level achievable. Based on a close collaboration between BASF and HIMA engineers a new concept for testing and verification of safety functions got implemented across the entire project.

The new solution leads to a time saving and cost reduction. In addition, the test quality and accuracy of individual tests could be optimized. Based on that a lot of small deficiencies could be found and cleaned up during the process, which resulted in a faster FAT and IFAT. Test reports that comply with the specifications, reducing a large amount of documentation – including the handling of manual test reports.

The BASF team was highly satisfied with the project quality and delivery speed, and both parties are currently exploring how to apply the smart safety test during the upcoming loop tests and automatic proof testing during the plant operations.

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#HIMA #PAuto #Safety China

Investment in mining AI solutions.

BASF Venture Capital (BVC) is leading a strategic investment round in IntelliSense.io with follow-on participation from a group of British-based technology angel investors including Dr. Steve Garnett and Stephen Kelly. IntelliSense.io is a leading provider of AI-based solutions for the global mining industry. Its customers include mining majors and diversified mining groups.

To extract metals from the mined ores, mining companies must overcome two main challenges: First, today’s known ore deposits are increasingly difficult to mine, with declining ore grades and greater environmental challenges. Second, the composition of the orebody is not known with high accuracy. This variability impacts operational conditions and control, as well as plant performance and throughput. This is where IntelliSense.io’s technology comes in.

IntelliSense.io has combined the disciplines of mining expertise with software engineering and data science, enabling products to be designed by industry experts for end-users in the mining industry. The result is a unified technology platform, including a portfolio of process optimization applications spanning the entire mining value chain, from the mine to the plant and the markets. This is unique in the industry due to its breadth, scope and scale and it helps mining operations to become more efficient, sustainable and safe with accelerated value delivery. The platform also includes built-in simulation tools that can be used to test alternative operating conditions, train staff and run non-intrusive ‘what if’ scenarios.

BASF has a broad portfolio of mineral processing chemicals and technologies to improve process efficiencies and aid the economic extraction of valuable resources while offering global technical support to mining customers. In addition to the investment by BASF Venture Capital, BASF Mining Solutions has entered into an exclusive partnership with IntelliSense.io, bringing together their expertise in mineral processing, ore beneficiation chemistry and industrial artificial intelligence technology. The joint offering is called “BASF Intelligent Mine powered by IntelliSense.io” and delivers artificial intelligence solutions embedded with BASF mineral processing and chemical expertise.

“The world is becoming increasingly digital and artificial intelligence can make a vital contribution in many areas,” said Markus Solibieda, Managing Director of BASF Venture Capital. “The IntelliSense.io team offers a flexible and future-proof system which can help to optimize the metal lifecycle from extraction to processing to disposal. We believe in the IntelliSense.io team and the potential of this technology, and we are happy to support the further development and distribution of this innovative solution with our investment.”

Sam G. Bose, Founder and CEO of IntelliSense.io, commented: “Our fast-establishing leadership in industrial AI is driven by vertical industry-specific applications that require partnerships combining decades of industrial experience with emerging technologies. In the BASF group we are humbled to have found such a partner. We are delighted to have BVC’s support in building a category-leading industrial AI company and the capital raised will be deployed to increase our applications portfolio and support distribution capacity globally.”

 @IntelliSenseio @BASF #PAuto #AI

Digitally transforming the mining industry.

BASF and IntelliSense.io, the artificial intelligence (AI) company, has announced an exclusive partnership which will combine their expertise in mineral processing, ore beneficiation chemistry and industrial AI technology. The joint offering is called the ‘BASF Intelligent Mine powered by IntelliSense.io’ and delivers AI solutions embedded with BASF’s mineral processing and chemical expertise. This solution will enable mine operations to become more efficient, sustainable and safe.

“Our partnership with IntelliSense.io combines state of the art artificial intelligence and decades of ore beneficiation experience in to a powerful, fast and easy to deploy optimization platform,” said Damien Caby, Senior Vice President, BASF Oilfield Chemicals & Mining Solutions. “Efficiency improvements resulting from the first implementations by our joint dedicated team are helping customers accelerate the digital transformation of their mining operations.”

BASF Intelligent Mine powered by IntelliSense.io is an open, real-time, decision-making platform that can be configured for individual sites, typically within three months. Each mining process, such as grinding, thickening, flotation and pumping, is supported by an Optimization as a Service (OaaS) application which predicts and simulates future performance, generating process-specific recommendations for insights and optimization. As multiple OaaS applications link together, customers can generate efficiency gains throughout the entire mine-to-market value chain.

Remote operations access allows for 24/7 visibility of mine operational and financial performance, with BASF process experts available to provide real-time support. Additionally, the in-built simulation tool can be used to test alternative operating conditions, train staff and run non-intrusive ‘what if’ scenarios.

 Sam G. Bose (IntelliSense.io) and
Damien Caby (BASF Oilfield Chemicals & Mining) 

The AI solutions are based on a hybrid cloud architecture, enabling both on site and cloud deployments, to help mining industry partners accelerate their digitalization programs in their operations.

Early adopters of the Intelligent Mine, Image Resources, have experienced promising results from the Intelligent Mine deployment in the mineral sands industry. “Image Resources is both excited and optimistic about the potential the BASF Intelligent Mine powered by IntelliSense.io can have to positively impact the accuracy and efficiency of our process control functions to meaningfully improve our bottom-line,” said Patrick Mutz, Image Resources Managing Director. “From our experience so far, we are confident it will achieve these results whilst simplifying and de-stressing operational decision making.”

"In a tough economic climate, the need to focus on mining productivity, within sustainable and remote operational constraints, is driving pressure on operating and capex budgets and requires innovative solutions with accelerated value delivery,” added Sam G. Bose, CEO IntelliSense.io. “The partnership between BASF and IntelliSense.io ensures mining organizations have a partner that understands both their operational risk as well as new technologies.”

@IntelliSenseio @BASF #PAuto #Mining

Flexibility and production enhanced at German chemical plant.

As part of its five-year investment to boost capacity and operational excellence within its global plastics additives business, BASF has awarded Emerson a multi-million-dollar contract to modernise automation software and controllers at its specialty chemical production facility in Lampertheim (D). These enhancements will help the world’s largest chemical manufacturer increase production flexibility and enhance operations.

As the European chemical industry faces increasing market competition from outside Europe, flexible

and cost-competitive development methodologies and production technologies are needed to ensure success, says research by DECHEMA Gesellschaft für Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie e.V. (Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology Society). BASF is making a significant investment to modernise plant automation as part of its effort to sustain market leadership and achieve Top Quartile performance.

“To maximise operational efficiency and production flexibility, we will continue to implement the latest automation technology and systems,” said Jens Grimm, automation manager at BASF Lampertheim. “Emerson is a trusted business partner with the proven expertise to help ensure a seamless system migration as we partner to modernise Lampertheim for successful, long-term production.”

BASF will implement Emerson’s new hybrid automation solution that replaces existing programmable logic controllers (PLCs), used to control 20 reactors, with Emerson’s leading DeltaV™ PK Controller. The new hybrid technology integrates into BASF’s existing DeltaV automation system, which will significantly reduce the cost, time and complexity of modernising the automation system; minimise start-up time for new production batches; and make switching production easier.

“Embracing digital transformation technologies and strategies is critical to achieving top performance levels,” said Jim Nyquist, group president of Systems and Solutions for Emerson’s Automation Solutions business. “Through the implementation of Emerson automation technologies, BASF is well-positioned to drive business performance and remain the market leader.”

For BASF, Emerson will also replace an obsolete system controlling the tank farm and distillation columns at the facility, which produces additives that improve characteristics for plastics and coatings. The expansion of Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system, which is already used to control other parts of the plant, will ensure continued efficient production and enable BASF to standardise its control architecture, helping to reduce integration complexity and operator training costs.

A key part of the project is to expand automation security protections. This advanced technology, developed with Emerson to address cybersecurity threats, has been applied at other BASF manufacturing plants. By modernising its automation systems, BASF can take advantage of new capabilities embedded in Emerson’s automation systems that help fortify plant operations against cyber threats.

Emerson will also provide approximately 8,000 hours of on-site engineering services, a separate virtualised system to reduce hardware capital and operating costs, and lifecycle support services.

@EMR_Automation #PAuto @BASF #Germany  @HHC_Lewis