Proprietary Software

RT-OPT proprietary software for plant modeling and optimization is based on steady-state models and builds on software and algorithm.

The software has been successfully applied in a variety of refining applications such as crude units, FCCUs, hydrocrackers, and catalytic reformers. Some refineries are linking different units to optimize the combined multi-unit performance, which is made possible by RT-OPTs open-equation modeling technology. RT-OPT has also been implemented in many chemical processes, including ammonia, bisphenol-A, ethylene, and others.

The optimization application is designed to:

• monitor the process unit and determine if the plant is sufficiently steady for optimization using steady-state models;
• collect operating conditions and solve the plant-wide model for parameters (heat transfer coefficients, etc.);
• collect the present operating limits (constraints) imposed and solve the optimization problem for the set of operating conditions that result in the most profitable operation; and
• ramp the optimized set-points to the process control system.

The package consists of an efficient (fast) equation solver/optimizer engine, coupled with robust, detailed, mechanistic (not correlation-based) process simulation models and the RT-Exec on-line interface to the process computer.

Aspen Technology, Inc., 10 Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141-2200. Tel: 617-949-1000; Fax: 617-949-1030.