AUTOMATION 2024 May

MAY | VOLUME 2
SUSTAINABILITY
▶ ESG: More than Disclosure and
Regulation
▶ ExxonMobil Champions Energy
Transformation
▶ Energy Management Starts
with Monitoring
▶ When Automation Means
Empowerment
▶ Smart Plant Modernization of
Core Process Control
▶ TSN for Transformative Change
▶ The Power of Modern Simulation
▶ Controlling Nonindustrial
Processes
▶ MQTT for Smart Manufacturing
A subsidiary of the International

Society of Automation
Table of Contents
AUTOMATION 2024 | MAY VOLUME 2
SUSTAINABILITY
Page 6 Sustainability Beyond Disclosure and

Regulation
Jack Smith, Automation.com
How mandatory ESG reporting, and automation can improve

manufacturing operations and increase the bottom line.
The AND Equation: ExxonMobil Champions

Page 13
Energy Transformation
By Melissa Landon, Automation.com
Alternate sources of energy are playing an increasing role in the

global energy mix, but oil and gas will continue be significant.
Reducing emissions is key.
When Automation Means Empowerment

Page 19 By Jan-Henrik Svensson, Beamex
How technology, data, and calibration can help eliminate global

poverty.
TSN Accelerates Plant Floor Transformative

Page 24
Change
By Jack Lin, Moxa
Time-sensitive networking improves IT-OT convergence, which is

necessary for successful digital transformation.
Energy Management Starts with Energy

Page 28
Monitoring
By Daniel White, Opto 22
By reducing energy consumption, organizations can save

thousands on electricity, maintain machine health, and reduce
their carbon footprint.

MAY 2024 ■ SUSTAINABILITY2
Table of Contents Continued
AUTOMATION 2024 | MAY VOLUME 2
SUSTAINABILITY
Page 32 Smart Plant Modernization of Core Process

Control
By Jonas Berge, ISA Fellow, Emerson
Follow these recommendations to reduce emissions, improve

energy efficiency, and stop overconsumption.
Leveraging the Power of Modern Simulation

Page 43
By Rick Kephart, Emerson
Digital twin technology is critical to navigating the new, more

complex energy generation landscape.
MQTT: The Path to Smart Manufacturing

Page 51
Sustainability
By Ravi Subramanyan, HiveMQ
MQTT-based strategies consider the manufacturing

environment and continually seek opportunities for
improvement.
Controlling Nonindustrial Processes to

Page 55
Mitigate Climate Change Effects
By Renee Bassett, Automation.com
Bela Liptak’s new book, “Controlling the Future,” describes

how automation professionals can help tackle the effects of
climate change.

MAY 2024 ■ SUSTAINABILITY3
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AUTOMATION 2024 | MAY VOLUME 2 SPONSORS
Digital Transformation for Sustainability

Environmental responsibility is increasingly being seen as
fundamental to business success and growth, and automation
professionals are often called upon to help companies achieve
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability goals.
The International Society of Automation (ISA) is committed
to “making the world a better place through automation”
regarding sustainability by supporting new ways to accelerate
environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities across
manufacturing, industry, and infrastructure. A position paper,
Achieving Sustainability Goals with Automation, discusses
balancing economic opportunity and environmental responsibility.
Whether you’re helping customers reach their ESG goals

or are looking for ways to support your company’s activities
related to energy use, carbon emissions management, and other
initiatives, you’ll find inspiration in this issue of AUTOMATION
2024. The authors show how and where industrial operations can
be leveraged to mitigate the effects of climate change or support
an end to global poverty. Others highlight the role automation
plays in the global energy sector’s shift from fossil-based systems
of energy production and consumption—including oil, natural gas
and coal—to renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
Renee Bassett
Chief Editor
[email protected]
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AUTOMATION 2024 VOLUME 2
Sustainability
Beyond Disclosure
and Regulation
How mandatory ESG
reporting, and automation,
can improve manufacturing
operations and increase the
bottom line.
Data—whether financial or operational, is at the heart of environmental, By Jack Smith,

social, and governance (ESG) regulation and reporting. So while Automation.com
sustainability may be a corporate objective, the mandates related to
ESG both depend on and affect operations on the plant floor. Because
of that, the automation professionals working to create and optimize
plant floor operations have an important role to play in corporate
sustainability efforts.
In his session at the IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona, ISA

Past President and Executive Board member Carlos Mandolesi spoke
about how automation can help companies achieve sustainability goals.
“I think there’s a missing opportunity for the automation professionals
related to sustainability initiatives,” he said. “There are a lot of business
consultants and finance people involved with ESG reporting, a lot of
Board- and C-level discussions, and lots of PowerPoints. There is a lot
of talk but no real action. The automation professionals are the ones
who can make a real impact because they know their plants and
processes, and they know the cause and effect, so they use automation
technologies to help companies make an impact.”

Society of Automation MAY 2024 ■ SUSTAINABILITY 6
Mandatory ESG
reporting is a reality
for more than 3,000
U.S. companies due to
the EU’s CSRD.
ESG reporting requires data

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) took effect for
eligible EU entities in corporate fiscal year 2024. Organizations were
to start implementing ESG reporting capabilities and infrastructure in
2023 to prepare their CSRD reporting for 2024 and beyond. According
to an October 2023 article by Jim DeLoach, managing director host of
The Protiviti View, mandatory ESG reporting is a reality for more than
3,000 U.S. companies due to the EU’s CSRD.
“CSRD compliance requires substantial data collection, cross-

functional collaboration, and, potentially, new reporting infrastructure.
Organizations should begin crucial preparatory work immediately
to improve the sophistication and rigor of their internal controls and
governance oversight related to data collection.”
DeLoach also said the data that feeds the CSRD disclosures must
be trusted, accurate, complete, and well-defined. “Satisfying this
need represents a massive challenge for most companies given that
ESG data is predominantly unstructured, stored in many different
formats, and pulled from numerous systems, applications, and sources

throughout the company and its third parties. For most organizations,
financial data governance and management likely is far more
sophisticated than their current ESG-related data governance and
management processes.”
While much of the ESG emphasis is aimed at investing and

financial considerations, the focus on reporting (mandatory or
otherwise) cannot be ignored. “Companies are facing a considerable
increase in the demand for standardized ESG disclosure rules and
reports,” said Carol Johnston, global vice president for the energy, utility,
and resources industry at enterprise software company IFS. “It means
companies are really facing increased demands for high quality data
disclosure—and data itself—and not just from stakeholders.
For most organizations, financial data governance and

management likely is far more sophisticated than their current
ESG-related data governance and management processes.
Measurement delivers data

Data reporting—whether financial, which information technology (IT)
departments are really good at; or operational, which encompasses
almost everything else—is at the root of ESG requirements. Operational
technology (OT) is (or should be) responsible for accurate data
captured from enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing
execution systems (MES), enterprise asset management (EAM)—
including computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS)—
emissions records, and more. Organizations must embed sustainability
throughout the entire company to unlock relevant data hidden within
their infrastructure, which will future-proof organizations and ensure
obligatory compliance and therefore cost savings.
In July 2023, the International Society of Automation (ISA) released

its position paper, “Achieving Sustainability Goals with Automation.” As

the paper describes, automation has a significant role to play in achieving

sustainability goals, and offers new ways to accelerate ESG activities
across manufacturing, industry, and beyond. From the position paper:
“Measurement is a great example of how automation can offer

immediate, accurate monitoring directly in production, rather than in
a laboratory facility—making it easier for companies and [regulators] to
monitor for compliance. Data is increasingly available and is transparent
to stakeholders, often with a layer of analysis powered by machine
learning [ML] or artificial intelligence [AI] to identify potential areas of
concern. This removes the potential for bias in analysis—where one
engineer’s threshold differs from another’s interpretation. It further
produces data that focuses on the skills of employees rather than their
For “born digital” facilities like this PureCycle plastics recycling plant in Ironton,
Ohio, not only is ESG reporting automated, so it the entire plant.
Courtesy: PureCycle
A subsidiary
A subsidiary of
of the
the International
International
Society of
Automation MAY 2024 ■ SUSTAINABILITY 9
identities—especially important as companies have increased their

strategic efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Digital transformation of industrial systems means more and

better data is available. And some new companies are building in
both data capture and sustainability goals from the start. PureCycle
Technologies holds a global license for the patented solvent-driven
purification recycling technology developed by The Procter & Gamble
Company designed to transform polypropylene plastic waste into
a continuously renewable resource. James Haw, vice president of
program management and digital strategy at PureCycle Technologies
described applying digitalization from the ground up when building
new plastic recycling facilities.
Haw said the new facilities are “born digital like a planned
community” so all aspects of the production facility and business are fully
digitized from the beginning, and all data is held within a common data
lake. This includes all systems that contribute to and draw from the data
lake, whether on premise or cloud-hosted including process automation,
maintenance, engineering, operations, HSSE [Health, Safety, Security &
Environment], building automation and business systems. That means,
“not only is ESG reporting automated, so it the entire plant,” said Haw.
New value chains: green hydrogen, CCUS, lithium

batteries
In an ISA Connect technical forum, ISA Fellow Jonas Berge, who is also
senior director of applied technology at Emerson, had much to say
in response to the question, “Can you provide examples of successful
automation projects that have significantly improved sustainability in a
manufacturing setting?”
Berge said plants deploy multiple automation solutions to enhance

sustainability, such as the monitoring of heat exchangers, cooling
towers, air-cooled heat exchangers, steam traps, pressure relief valves
(PRV), industrial light, emergency relief vents, thief hatches, seals
(methane leaks), energy management metering and submetering,
pilot-operated PRVs, and advanced process control (APC). (See Berg’s

full article on the topic, Smart Plant Modernization of Core Process

Control, elsewhere in this issue.)
“In addition to that,” Berge continued, “there is all the specialized

automation that goes into building plants for “the new value chains”
including green hydrogen, lithium battery manufacturing, and carbon
capture, utilization and storage (CCUS):
▶ Hydrogen value chain plants apply automation to electrolyzers,

reformers, compression, liquefaction, pipeline, transportation, storage,
hydrogen blending into natural gas, and hydrogen refueling stations.
▶ The lithium battery value chain encompasses mining,

concentration, refining, battery chemicals, and cell manufacturing.
▶ The carbon capture value chain encompasses membrane/PSA/VSA/

amine, compression, pipeline, storage, injection well, and more.
Berge also commented on the most common barriers to

integrating automation for sustainability. He noted the lack of versatile
wireless sensor network infrastructure and sensors, and that deploying
standards-based wireless infrastructure and sensors can overcome this
situation. He said standards-based architecture can overcome the lack
of unified architecture for data and industrial software. In addition, he
advocated using ready-made apps instead of attempting to code your
own software, and instead of attempting to use machine learning, use
first principles, he said.
“The technology and innovations to improve sustainability are

already here but are futuristic to many plants as they have not yet
deployed them,” Berge said. They include:
▶ Wireless sensor network infrastructure and sensors: WirelessHART

(IEC62591).
▶ Standards-based architecture for data and industrial software:

OPC-UA (IEC62541).
▶ Ready-made apps: mechanistic AI.
▶ First principles (1P) apps: mechanistic AI.

“Sustainable energy and sustainable goods require new

infrastructure, and this infrastructure requires automation,” added
Berge. “Without automation there is no sustainability. As the population
and the middle class within that population grows, we will need more
automation to keep up.”
Moving sustainability forward

How should organizations implement new technologies to help use
collected data to drive change and comply with regulations? Caitlin
Keam, senior director of sustainability applications at IFS, said, “Get
your data into systems. Once it’s in systems, you can do a lot with the
data that exists there. Once the data is in, the next step is ensuring data
quality, then you can start doing anomaly detection and so on.
“As we go on, [the data] gets better defined and consistent,” Keam
continued. “Once you have the right data foundation, there’s lots of
technology that you can use to support you through automation,
understanding the data, having the right insights, and having the
insights on a more granular level.”
Added ISA’s Mandolesi, “Organizations and entities that focus

their attention on sustainable automation will benefit tremendously.
Cost reduction, increased safety, and greater workforce development
opportunities are the immediately apparent benefits, but leaders must
also recognize the opportunity to demonstrate their ESG leadership in a
climate where environmental responsibility is fundamental to business
success and growth.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jack Smith is senior contributing editor for Automation.com, the news and insights
subsidiary of the International Society of Automation (ISA). Jack is a senior member of
ISA, as well as a member of IEEE. He has an AAS in Electrical/Electronic Engineering
and experience in instrumentation, closed loop control, PLCs, complex automated test
systems, and test system design. Jack also has more than 20 years of experience as a
journalist covering process, discrete, and hybrid technologies.

The AND Equation:

ExxonMobil Champions
Energy Transformation
By Melissa Landon,
Automation.com
Alternate sources of energy are playing an increasing

role in the global energy mix, but oil and gas will be
significant. Reducing emissions is key.
Wade Maxwell, vice president of engineering, at ExxonMobil Technology

& Engineering Company, delivered a keynote about ExxonMobil’s efforts
toward energy transition at the 2024 ARC Forum. He introduced “The
AND equation,” which asserts the importance of not only meeting
society’s energy and product needs but also reducing emissions at the
same time.

MAY 2024 ■ SUSTAINABILITY 13
“Alternate sources of energy like solar and wind are playing an

increasing role in the global energy mix,” Maxwell noted. “However,
under most credible scenarios, including the net zero pathways, oil
and gas will continue to play a significant role for decades to come.
With that in mind, we are continuing to work in multiple areas to meet
the needs of society today for reliable and affordable energy products
while working to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions as well as
helping others do the same. That’s the ‘AND’ equation.’ “
ExxonMobil recently established a central technology and

engineering company called EMTech that’s designed to scale
capabilities across the corporation. “Watching the collaboration and
innovation of our scientists, engineers, and project managers who
are uniquely called to take on the challenges of today fills me with
confidence and excitement about what these advancements mean for
the future,” Maxwell said.
ExxonMobil currently produces about a million tons of hydrogen

per year and is working to develop new technology to produce it
at a lower cost.
‘The AND equation’

For more than 140 years, ExxonMobil has delivered energy and products
to meet society’s needs to increase living standards and drive economic
growth. The key to success in that period of time has been the
company’s ability to evolve and meet society’s needs that have changed
over time. Underpinning that is the development of new tech, Maxwell
explained.
“As the population grows and becomes more prosperous, the call
on energy increases,” Maxwell said. “Getting on a pathway to net zero in
that context is an immense challenge that will require unprecedented
innovation and collaboration at an immense scale.”

“The AND equation” involves using various projects to balance the

call to provide society with reliable and affordable energy products and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Responding to this challenge will
involve innovating new technology across multiple disciplines. Maxwell
described some of ExxonMobil’s current initiatives working toward
these goals.
Recent IEA Net Zero and IPCC Scenarios estimated the world
needs around 400 million to a billion tons of DAC CO2 removal
capacity per year by 2050.
Carbon capture: Direct air capture. Last year, ExxonMobil

announced the first three agreements to capture, transport and
store CO2 from third parties on the U.S. Gulf Coast as part
of its Low Carbon Solutions business. The first of those
projects is expected to begin in 2025. These projects
involve the fertilizer industry, an industrial gas
producer, and a steel manufacturer.
Direct air capture (DAC) is a new technology

that uses absorbent material to remove CO2
directly from the atmosphere. DAC is slated to
become one of the pivotal technologies in the
energy transition. “Recent IEA Net Zero and IPCC
Scenarios estimated the world needs around 400
million to a billion tons of DAC CO2 removal capacity
per year by 2050,” Maxwell said.
Some people identify trees as an alternative to

DAC. While trees are cheap and easy to implement,
they present challenges in rate and capacity. “As a
rule of thumb, one tree can absorb about four tons of
CO2 over the course of 40 years,” Maxwell explained.
“Compare that with a world-scale DAC plant that can remove
about one million tons of CO2 every year.”

“Just outside of Houston, we have recently completed construction

of our first DAC pilot plant,” Maxwell said. “We are working with
researchers and engineers who are using that pilot plant to develop
commercial scale DAC, which will provide a low-cost solution.”
Hydrogen: A carbon-free, low-cost opportunity. “When I started

as a process engineer, hydrogen was everywhere,” Maxwell said. “It is
carbon free, so it’s a great low-cost opportunity to reduce emissions in
the high-emitting industrial sectors. We expect it to play an important
role in the energy transition.”
ExxonMobil currently produces about a million tons of hydrogen

per year and is working to develop new technology to produce it at a
lower cost. “We are well advanced on developing a project that we think
will be the world’s largest blue hydrogen facility in Houston,” Maxwell
said. “The facility will create about a billion cubic feet of hydrogen per
day from natural gas. That’s enough to power 1.5 million homes.” As an
added bonus, ExxonMobil will capture 98 percent or more of the CO2
from that facility, which equates to 7 million tons per year.
Plastics: Processing a billion pounds of plastic waste per year

by 2026. Plastics are everywhere: phones, laptops, vehicles, packaging,
personal protective equipment, and surgical devices rely on it. “The
AND equation” applies here because it’s a challenge to balance society’s
need for these plastic products with the responsibility to deal with the
global plastic waste problem.
“We are addressing plastic waste through a process called Advanced

Recycling,” Maxwell said. “Unlike traditional recycling, Advanced
Recycling doesn’t limit itself to materials you can grind up and melt into
recycled plastic. The process converts plastic waste back to its molecular
building blocks that can be used to manufacture other useful products.”
In 2022, ExxonMobil started up an Advanced Recycling facility,

which has processed more than 40 million pounds of discarded plastic
as of October 2023. “We are working to build our global capacity to
process about a billion pounds per year of plastic waste by year-end
2026, assuming supportive public policy,” Maxwell explained.

Lithium production project. ExxonMobil’s planned lithium project

in Arkansas would present a new source of lithium production through
a new technology called direct lithium extraction, which will have a
significantly lower environmental impact—approximately two-thirds
less carbon intensity when compared with hard rock mining. The goal is
to begin production in 2027.
Final thoughts
“We announced that we plan to invest more than 20 billion dollars
in lowering emissions between 2022 and 2027,” Maxwell said. “About
half of that investment is intended to reduce emissions from our
own operated assets. The balance is reducing emissions from other
companies. We are delivering on both sides of the ‘AND’ equation.”
Maxwell emphasized that no single technology or magic bullet can

carry the energy transition on its own. “We need advances in multiple
technologies at the same time,” he said.
Sustainability, particularly through energy transition and

decarbonization, was a major theme at this year’s ARC industry
forum. Leading end user executives shared their plans for increased
investment in sustainability related initiatives, all of which will require
advanced forms of technology to make them happen as well as new
thinking around legacy investments. Find out more from the ARC
Advisory Group.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Landon is senior content editor for Automation.
com, a subsidiary of ISA, the International Society of
Automation. Automation.com is a news, new products
and technical information website focused on industrial
automation, manufacturing and engineering in all vertical
industry segments and all global regions.

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International Society of Automation
Setting the Standard for Automation™
When Automation
Means Empowerment
How technology, data, and calibration By Jan-Henrik Svensson,
Beamex
can help eliminate global poverty.
Vinice Mabansag. Remember that name. Born on 15 November 2022

in the Tondo district of Manila in the Philippines, this baby girl has the
honor of being the eight billionth resident of our planet.
She is also an indicator of just how productive human society

has been. With the global population increasing by one billion in just
more than a decade, advances in science, agriculture, medicine, and
technology mean that human beings are living longer and enjoying
a better quality of life today than at any point in history. But these
benefits have not been shared equitably.

According to the most recent estimates shared by the World

Bank, around 689 million people live on less than EUR 1.8 per day and
struggle to access essential services including quality health care, clean
water and sanitation, and proper education. Recognizing the need to
bridge this gap, the UN made eliminating poverty by 2030 one of its
main Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ambitious? Yes. Will we
manage to meet this target? Maybe not. Is it impossible? No.
Let’s not forget that global poverty rates have been steadily coming
down. From a high of 1.9 billion people in 1993 to around 689 million
in 2017, the reduction in extreme poverty is a success story that must
inspire us. China, for example, reduced its extreme poverty rate from 57
percent in 1993, to just under 1 percent. India too halved its poverty rate
between 1993 and 2011. Economic growth has helped pull millions out
of poverty.
The vast amount of data and measurements that we collect will

allow us to target goods and services more effectively to those
most in need.
Tech will reshape delivery of goods and services

I foresee this trend growing, fueled not just by economic growth,
but also by technological innovations and data. Industry 4.0, artificial
intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced sensors will
play a big role in reshaping how goods and services are manufactured,
ensuring more sustainable use of the planet’s resources while boosting
efficiency and productivity dramatically. Meanwhile, the vast amount
of data and measurements that we collect will allow us to target goods
and services more effectively to those most in need.
For example, consider agriculture. The use of sensors and AI can help
track and predict weather patterns and yields, ensuring secure and stable
food supplies. In the case of manufacturing, IoT will allow companies
to build more predictive and sustainable supply chains, getting their
products closer to different population groups, and reducing the risk of

supply chain delays. When it comes to welfare schemes, AI and wearables

can help governments identify at-risk sections of society and drive
targeted development and health care efforts.
Several real-world examples already exist. In Tajikistan, under a

World Bank initiative, smart survey boxes were installed to monitor
energy use. Meanwhile, in Somalia, GPS trackers were used for tracking
the migration patterns of nomads, while Mexico used satellite imagery
to estimate how many people live below the poverty line down to the
municipal level.
Such technologies will also be of use in more developed regions,

which are not immune to poverty. In the West, the use of IoT and
machine learning will allow us to lessen the burden on existing systems,
while the use of digital twins and predictive technologies can help
create more resilient and future-proof infrastructure to meet the food,
shelter, and healthcare needs of our citizens.
Calibration will help empower people

Tech and data’s potential to help the world do more with less is huge.
But if we are going to make decisions based on this data, we must
ensure that the data collected is of the highest quality possible.
Measures such as kilos, pressure, humidity, etc. remain constant in
the physical world, but when a sensor converts it into digital, we must
be sure that it is able to measure the data correctly and verify that no
errors exist in its collection. Any model we build to combat poverty or
any of the world’s challenges must take that into account.
Here is where I see calibration playing a critical part: You can

calibrate sensors and use data to understand if a specific sensor
measurement is wrong or use big data to understand how off these
measurements are on a larger scale. Being able to measure accurately
and verify your measurements will have a two-fold benefit. One, it helps
reduce the problem of waste and leakages in the delivery of goods and
services to the public; and two, it will help build trust in the system. The
latter goes a long way in assuring that people in different parts of the
world are getting equal and quality access to different resources.

The importance of calibration will only grow as more rapid

digitization occurs, and different processes are continuously tested and
improved upon.
The outcome I am betting on here is empowerment. The use of

these devices and trusted data will mean greater empowerment along
the entire ecosystem. People aware of their rights will be empowered
to demand equal access to resources and services, while governments
and other organizations will be empowered with the knowledge to
standardize the production and distribution of goods and services,
while reducing waste.
Empowerment will lead to transparency, which in turn will lead to

greater trust, efficiency, and sustainability.
At Beamex, we have been in the business of

accurate measurements and precision calibration for More about this topic:
decades. Empowerment is at the heart of everything we 8 billion and counting: How will
do. The solutions we provide help different industries in we care for the growing global
sectors as varied as food, pharmaceuticals, and energy population?
comply with regulations and improve productivity. If you
Ensuring equal access to health
too want to help build a safer and less uncertain world,
care with technology
feel free to reach out to me directly.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jan-Henrik Svensson is CEO at Beamex. He has nearly 30 years of industry
experience with more than 16 years at Beamex. He has a keen interest in regulation,
smart data, and sustainability, and strongly believes that calibration is critical
for creating trustable measurement data and that a sustainable and safe future
depends on such measurements. Throughout his career Svensson has held several
roles within the global automation industry, initially as an automation and electrical
engineer and later different leadership roles in Finland, Panama, Germany, and
Switzerland. He has a BSc in electrical engineering, has studied international
business and finance, and sits on the board of several organizations. Svensson is
also a keen reader and goes through more than a hundred books per year.

Go Beyond the Limits
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TSN Accelerates Plant Floor

Transformative Change
Time-sensitive networking improves

IT-OT convergence, which is necessary for
successful digital transformation. By Jack Lin, Moxa
The lure of time-sensitive networking (TSN) is drawing interest from

a cross section of businesses that recognize its important benefits,
which include high determinism and bandwidth, short cycle times,
and better synchronization when compared to classic fieldbus
technology. TSN also benefits sustainability by enhancing energy and
resource efficiency.
This article presents another benefit: TSN’s role in improving

convergence between information technology (IT) and operational
technology (OT) that is helping usher in the transformative changes of
Industry 4.0.

One network, multiple benefits

One unified network converging both IT and OT networks means
modern IT technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine
learning (ML), can be incorporated to give stakeholders greater control
over assets. TSN also empowers companies to evolve from selling
products to selling services, offering more customization and reducing
minimum order quantity (MOQ) without compromising profitability or
wasting resources.
TSN enables the integration of control systems to achieve reduced

cycle times. A few years ago, it might have required weeks to shift an
entire production process to producing a new product. But by integrating
different control systems, it now only takes a few days, making flexible,
more agile production not only feasible but also profitable.
TSN enables the integration of control systems to achieve

reduced cycle times.
TSN in the real world

There remains a misunderstanding that TSN is still an unproven
technology—more theory than reality. To dispel this notion, Moxa
demonstrated several real-world TSN applications at Taipei Automation
2021, partnering with CLPA, Mitsubishi Electric, Intel, port GmbH,
Orisol, and Sumyen Automation to showcase proof of concept of one
unified network across different automation scenarios. Moxa is actively
helping customers leverage TSN to connect multiple applications and
diversified systems, significantly improving operations and efficiencies
while requiring less equipment and cables at the field level.
An appliance manufacturer in Asia recently adopted TSN for its

network infrastructure. The company collaborated with Moxa experts to
integrate TSN into its existing automated production line by deploying
Moxa TSN switches. By harnessing TSN, the company achieved real-time,

highly reliable, and deterministic communication, leading to improved

operational efficiency and productivity.
To enable mass customization of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)

products, a manufacturer deployed Moxa switches to build a TSN-
capable network combining existing proprietary networks into one
unified network. This simplified the amount of training required to
understand the many protocols in use and applied a network design
that decreased cabling and maintenance expenses. Now, the company
can adjust entire production processes with substantially lower cycle
times to manufacture customized products as needed at a lower cost.
Moxa recently assisted a hydropower plant in China to increase its

efficiency and ability to adjust total power output to the grid, giving rise
to lower costs, easier maintenance, higher efficiency, and improved use
of natural resources. Moxa connected different control systems to create
a network providing ample bandwidth and low latency to support large
volumes of data for a new AI system on its control network.
Final thoughts
TSN overcomes many challenges. As demonstrated in these real-world
case histories, TSN is posed to accelerate industrial growth and help its
early adopters realize improved outcomes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jack Lin is global project lead, TSN initiative at Moxa. He is
an experienced product manager working in the industrial
automation and communication industries. Lin is skilled in
new product development, product lifecycle management,
analytical skills, smart grid and smart factory, go-to-
market strategy, strategic alliance/negotiation/contracting,
team building, cross department/team communication,
advanced technology, and market research. He has an
MBA focused on telecommunications management from
National Cheng Kung University.

Energy Management
Starts with Energy
Monitoring
By reducing energy consumption, organizations can save

thousands on electricity, maintain machine health, and
reduce their carbon footprint.
On the surface, it’s difficult to know where to begin. The best place to By Daniel White,
start is analyzing your energy data. But unfortunately, you can’t find Opto 22
that data on your electric bill—it’s barely a summary. To manage your
energy, start by measuring it. Once you determine where, when, and
how that energy is consumed, areas for improvement become obvious.
How energy monitoring can help you

Unstable pricing. Did you know that in many districts, the price of
power changes during the day? It spikes during peak hours and drops
during off-peak hours. Don’t blame the utility companies. They are just
trying to manage the grid to avoid overload.

But variable energy pricing created an opportunity for Opto 22, a

manufacturing company that uses more than 500 kWh daily. Adding
a few groov RIO Energy Monitoring units (EMUs) (Figure 1) gave the
company the data to see easy ways to save tens of thousands of dollars
each month.
Powerful predictions: Unlocking machine health insights. Energy

is used in every industrial process and is usually fairly predictable.
But add energy monitoring to a process, or even just a single motor,
and new insight emerges. At some point, that motor’s electric
current consumption will change because of a bad motor winding,
inadequately lubricated bearings, a clogged cooling fan, fluctuating
incoming voltage, and so on.
One thing is certain: a sudden change to the baseline operating

current indicates a problem that could cost time and money. That’s why
Figure 1. groov RIO EMU

monitoring a pump.

industrial original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Alta Refrigeration

includes a groov RIO EMU in every system they build and install at
customer cold storage sites. Cataloging energy usage in 10-minute
intervals provides insight to help keep refrigeration running at peak
performance. As Peter Santoro, controls engineer at ALTA, explained,
“Often, we know what the problem is before the customer calls.”
Pricing per part. Most organizations consider energy costs part of

overhead—ongoing expenses of running a business that aren’t directly
tied to a specific product or service. The bill gets paid by accounting,
and most production environments never see a detailed breakdown of
where their kilowatts are going. That makes it easy to pass blame onto
other departments and hide energy inefficiencies.
You may be surprised how quickly you can start

reducing energy expense, tracking machine health,
allocating costs, and meeting ESG goals.
But Mercer Technologies, an OEM of heat treatment furnaces,

took a new approach. “In our most recent design, we’ve used the groov
RIO EMU to monitor energy consumption of a particular furnace,” said
Cody Young, Mercer’s controls and automation engineer. “With energy
monitoring, we can calculate in real time how much it costs to heat
treat parts, and we can now accurately assign the cost of energy to the
production of a particular component.”
Environmental, social, and governance. Businesses now have to

balance profitability with environmental impact. Products and brands
that uphold environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles
tend to experience stronger growth compared to those that don’t, and
government regulations and incentives for reducing carbon footprint
are on the rise.
The State of Indiana recently launched its Energy INsights

Program. Sponsored by the Indiana Economic Development

Corporation (IEDC), the program

offers smart manufacturing
starter kits to small and medium
manufacturers with the goal of
reducing energy costs by 5 to 15
percent.
Each kit contains the energy

monitoring equipment a company
needs to get started: an Opto 22
groov EPIC processor preloaded
and licensed for use with Inductive
Automation’s Ignition SCADA and a
few groov RIO EMUs equipped with
I/O points and current transformers to Figure 2. groov RIO EMU with current transformers.
measure power consumption in real
time (Figure 2).
Plug into power awareness

Are you ready to get started? Watch the IntegrateLive! Webinar to see
how easy it is to wire up a groov RIO EMU to a field device, commission
it with your web browser, and immediately start monitoring the data
flow with the SCADA software of your choice. You may be surprised
how quickly you can start reducing energy expense, tracking machine
health, allocating costs, and meeting ESG goals.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel White has worked at Opto 22 for more than a
decade. His Tufts Engineering background, MBA in
International Business, and prior industrial controls
experience give him a unique edge on automation. White
enjoys staying active through biking, basketball, skiing, and
keeping up with his three young kids.

Smart Plant
Modernization of
Core Process Control
Follow these recommendations to

reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency,
and stop overconsumption.
A lot has been said in the past 10 years about adding automation to By Jonas Berge,
plants for digital transformation of manual work. But the automation ISA Fellow,
for the core process control (CPC) should also be modernized to require Emerson
less manual intervention by production operators, for the plant to be

more autonomous, to reduce instrument maintenance work, and to
make the plant more sustainable.

Many old-style automation components remain in plants today

because when they fail there is no time to review newer and better
solutions, so they are replaced with identical components. Thus, there
are still many mechanical instruments in operation. Those components
were the best of their kind when originally selected, but today better
solutions are available. Plants that do not keep automation up to date
will be at a huge disadvantage in the long term. Instrumentation
and controls problems have direct business impact. Modernizing
automation help plants attain operational excellence. New plants being
built now can use these technologies right from the start.
Instrumentation issues like failure, underperformance, inaccuracy,

and lack of integration force production operators to manually
intervene in loops that otherwise would be in automatic.
The core process control zone includes the distributed control

system (DCS) and safety instrumented system (SIS), together
referred to as the integrated control and safety system (ICSS), as
well as the associated sensors and valves. These systems have
rigorous management of change (MoC) procedures to preserve
the robustness and safety of production. This article is about the
automation in this CPC zone. But the CPC zone does play a part
in digital transformation. Plants that successfully pursue digital
transformation adopt the NAMUR open architecture (NOA)
whereby data from the DCS is channeled securely through
data diodes out to an independent monitoring and
optimization (M+O) zone with automation for digital
transformation of other functions. The data diodes
make sure the security and robustness of the systems
in the CPC zone are not affected. Open standard Figure 1. The NAMUR open architecture
OPC-UA interfaces are used to make the DCS data defines standard interfaces between the
available to the automation in the M+O zone. Thanks to core process control zone (gray pyramid)
and monitoring and optimization zone
this security, sensors and software apps can be added (pink sliver). Courtesy: NAMUR
freely in the M+O zone.

Reducing manual intervention: Production

Instrumentation issues like failure, underperformance, inaccuracy, and
lack of integration force production operators to manually intervene
in loops that otherwise would be in automatic. Additional work causes
stress, but various new, intelligent field instrumentation, controllers,
and software components are available to help.
Transmitters with moving mechanical parts are susceptible to wear

and failure, and when they do fail, production operators are forced to
operate loops in manual. This, in turn, causes off-spec product, higher
energy consumption, and operator stress, which may lead to mistakes.
For example, displacer type interface level transmitters have moving
parts. The recommendation is to upgrade these positions with guided
wave radar (GWR) level and interface transmitters (Figure 2) that have
no moving parts whenever conditions permit.
Another mechanical example is turbine and positive displacement

(PD) flowmeters. The recommendation is to upgrade these positions
with magnetic, vortex, or Coriolis flowmeters with no moving parts. As a
result of more reliable instruments, loops stay in automatic for greater
sustainability and reduced off-spec product, plus operator stress is
reduced. In addition, many new instruments now support Bluetooth
wireless communication that enables configuration, calibration, and
diagnostics at the device using a phone, tablet, or laptop.
When the process cycles or deviates from setpoint, it could be due

to control valve issues like high friction or high/low air supply pressure.
Or the problem could be elsewhere in the loop. When analog control
valve positioners or I/P converters are used, production operators
cannot tell there is a valve issue because there is no diagnostics or
position feedback. So, production operators put the troubled loop
in manual. Again, they will experience the same manual challenges
described previously. Figure 2. A guided
wave radar (GWR)
level and interface
The recommendation is to upgrade all control valves with smart
transmitter has no
valve positioners with valve performance analytics. Valve issues can moving mechanical
be verified on the positioner display or over Bluetooth from a mobile parts that can wear or
fail. Courtesy: Emerson

device as explained earlier. As a result of diagnosing and fixing valve

issues, loops can be returned to automatic with the same benefits
described previously.
Actions that cannot be made directly on the operator console are

associated with high stress, workload, and poor health. High levels of
stress lead to errors. A good example of this is a manually actuated valve.
This was acceptable in the past but not anymore. The recommendation
is to upgrade manual valves by adding actuators. As a result of operation
from the operator console, workload and stress are reduced.
Inaccurate transmitters make production operators set setpoints

with conservative “comfort margins” to not cross limits. Comfort margins
cause quality giveaway and high energy consumption. For example,
ultrasonic or differential pressure (DP) level transmitters, turbine or PD
displacer interface levels, remote seals or temperature sensors direct to
system input cards each have their accuracy challenges.
The recommendation is to upgrade these positions with new

sensing technology such as non-contacting 80 GHz frequency
modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar for level (Figure 3),
magnetic, vortex, or Coriolis flowmeters, electronic remote sensors
(ERS) in place of remote seals in most applications, GWR for interface
level, and temperature transmitters close to the temperature sensors.
For DP flowmeters, upgrade the DP transmitter to a high accuracy and
stability model. With more accurate measurements, plants see reduced
production cost and greater sustainability.
Custody transfer storage tank level gauges or flowmeters with

moving mechanical parts can also be inaccurate. This leads to inventory
Figure 3. Inaccurate transmitters make production

operators set setpoints with conservative “comfort
margins” that decrease quality and increase
energy consumption. A radar level transmitter
(left) and radar level gauge (right) use new, more
accurate sensing technology. Courtesy: Emerson

loss or leaves the customer shorted. For example, servo or float-and-

tape level gauges and turbine flowmeters are mechanical devices that
have accuracy challenges. The recommendation is to upgrade storage
tanks with custody transfer certified FMCW radar level gauges with no
moving parts. For metering skids, the recommendation is to upgrade
from turbine flowmeters to custody transfer certified ultrasonic
or Coriolis flowmeters without moving parts. With more accurate
measurements, plants avoid inventory losses and avoid shorting
customers. Terminals have the confidence to fully use tank capacity.
Package units and skids connected to the main distributed

control system (DCS) through hardwiring or RS-485 networking carry
limited information, like a single common alarm, to the production
operators. Those operators then are forced to send someone out to
the module for closer inspection when an alarm occurs. This causes
operator stress, potential mistakes, slower problem resolution, and
production downtime.
The recommendation is to upgrade the package unit controllers

and DCS to use Ethernet, OPC-UA, and Module Type Package
(MTP) integration technology (Figure 4). With the complete set of
information from the package unit, plants reduce operator stress and
production downtime.
DCS that use proprietary software “connectors” require custom-

coded application programming interfaces (APIs) for integration of data
into apps, which is very costly. Consequently, helpful apps like advanced
control, state-based control (procedural automation), and loop tuning
do not get adopted in the plant. So, production operators must make
various manual interventions that could otherwise be automated with
software. This is contributing to operator stress, possibly mistakes,
off-spec product, high energy consumption, and low throughput. The
recommendation is to upgrade the DCS to use OPC-UA. The added
Figure 4. Replace hardwiring or RS-485 networking with

support for Ethernet, OPC-UA, and MTP communications to
reduce operator stress and downtime. An Emerson RSTi-EP
Ethernet/IP network adapter is one solution. Courtesy: Emerson

software enables plants to reduce operator stress and off-spec product,

increase sustainability, and achieve greater throughput.
Pressure switches only have an on-off contact output, so there is

no telling if pressure is ever close to the limit or how fast it is changing.
Production operators get no early warning (no prediction). In addition,
there is no self-diagnostics so production operators cannot tell if it has
failed. This in turn leads to operator stress. When in doubt, production
operators must request a manual check on signal validity. The
recommendation is to upgrade these positions to pressure transmitters
with self-diagnostics flagged as <4 mA or >20 mA. For example,
American Petroleum Institute (API) standard 682 recommends
transmitters instead of switches for mechanical seals.
Similarly, proximity switches are sometimes used for position

feedback, but they only tell you if the valve is fully opened or closed,
and there are no self-diagnostics so production operators cannot tell
if a switch has failed. This in turn leads to operator stress. When in
doubt, production operators must request a manual check on signal
validity. The recommendation is to upgrade these valves to position
transmitters. With more information, plants can reduce operator stress
and increase safety.
Mechanical controllers, as found on some control valves in some

corners of most plants, are isolated because they are not integrated
with the operator consoles. Production operators must go to the field
to manually check the pressure or change the setpoint. This leads to
operator stress. The recommendation is to upgrade these valves to
electronic controllers with networking, enabling remote setpoint and
process monitoring from a central location. This helps plants reduce
operator stress.
Reducing the workload: Maintenance

There are thousands of instruments in a plant, so it is critical they
are reliable, requiring minimal attention and that any necessary
maintenance is made easy. This is over and above what digital
transformation can do for equipment reliability.

The mechanical servo and float-and-tape tank gauges, displacer

interface level, turbine and PD flowmeters, turbine flowmeters,
and mechanical controllers have moving parts and therefore are
susceptible to wear and failure. When they do fail, the maintenance
team must replace the failed device, resulting in increased workload
and maintenance cost as well as causing production downtime. The
recommendation is to upgrade these positions to radar level gauges;
GWR level and interface level transmitters; magnetic, vortex, or Coriolis
flowmeters; and electronic controllers, respectively.
Float-level switches used to detect high or low level also have

mechanical moving parts. The recommendation is to upgrade these
positions to vibrating-fork-level switches without moving parts.
Turbine flowmeters may also be used for custody transfer. Also, for
these positions, the recommendation is to upgrade to custody-transfer-
certified ultrasonic or Coriolis flowmeters without moving parts.
Displacer transmitters may also be used for density measurement.

For these positions, the recommendation is also to upgrade, in this case
to vibrating fork density transmitters.
Lastly, old-style control valve positioners and position transmitters

have mechanical position feedback linkages, which are susceptible to
wear and failure. The recommendation is to upgrade these valves to
positioners and position transmitters with non-contact position sensing
with no moving parts. As a result of more reliable instrumentation,
plants enjoy reduced maintenance cost and reduced process
downtime.
Replacements like temperature sensors in thermowells or pressure

transmitters with manifolds cause little downtime. However, replacing
an inline flowmeter, bottom-mounted level transmitter, an instrument
on a pressurized tank, or a valve positioner causes significant
downtime. For these positions, it is even more important to have a
reliable instrument with no moving mechanical parts.
Flowmeter calibration is labor-intensive because the flow sensor

is installed inline and must be pulled. Often, the flowmeter must

be shipped to an external lab, possibly overseas. This incurs high

maintenance cost and production downtime during the swap. The
recommendation is to upgrade to flowmeters with smart meter
verification (SMV) to predict calibration drift to assess the need for
flowmeter calibration or whether calibration can be scheduled later,
all without interrupting the process. By optimizing the calibration
schedule, plants reduce maintenance cost and production
downtime.
As explained previously, with analog control valve positioners

or I/P converters, there is no telling if control loop setpoint deviation
or hunting is due to the control valve. There is a risk of unnecessarily
overhauling the valve, adding to the workload and maintenance cost
as well as causing production downtime. The recommendation is
to upgrade all control valves with smart valve positioners with valve
performance analytics. Valve issues can be verified on the positioner
display or over Bluetooth from a mobile device. By verifying valve
issues, plants can avoid unnecessary overhaul or optimize a necessary
overhaul. Plants reduce maintenance cost and production downtime.
With analog control valve positioners or I/P converters, there is

no telling if control loop setpoint deviation or hunting is due to
the control valve.
Devices connected to the DCS through hardwiring provide very

limited information, for example, in the case of drives and motor
starters. Maintenance technicians must go to the marshalling
cabinet or motor control center (MCC) to check from the local display.
Similarly, interaction becomes very slow when RS-485 networking is
used in cases such as instrumentation through HART multiplexers.
This adds to the workload.
Another challenge is that as servers go obsolete or fail, new

servers do not support RS-485/RS-232. Many new replacement

devices no longer support RS-485. The recommendation is to

upgrade devices and DCS to use Ethernet networking with the
appropriate protocol like PROFINET for motor controls and HART-IP
for instrumentation and inf rastructure. As a result of the complete
set of information f rom the device, plants reduce maintenance cost
and production downtime.
Improving plant sustainability

Automation has a key role to play in the sustainability of industrial
plants. Solutions for several challenges such as loops in manual and
comfort zones are already mentioned. But even more can be achieved
by modernizing automation. And this is over and above what digital
transformation can do for sustainability.
Direct spring pressure release valves (PRVs) start lift and reseat
well below set pressure. This, in turn, causes emissions, flaring, and
product loss. The recommendation is to upgrade to pilot operated
PRVs (Figure 5), which have more precise pressure handling thus Figure 5. Direct spring
pressure release valves
reducing release and flaring. As a result, plants minimize product
(PRVs) can cause
loss and enhance sustainability. They are also less sensitive to back emissions, flaring,
pressure. and product loss. The
recommendation
Manual gas leak inspection with portable testers for greenhouse is to upgrade to
pilot operated PRVs
gas (GHG) emissions like methane is time consuming. This in turn leads
(shown,) which have
to delayed detection and response and therefore excessive emissions. more precise pressure
It is also labor intensive, which leads to field operator stress. The handling. Courtesy:
Emerson
recommendation is to deploy ultrasonic, infrared (IR), or non-dispersive
infrared (NDIR) sensors to detect gas leaks. As a result, plants improve
safety and sustainability.
Simple proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control does not

handle multiple interacting loops, multiple constraints, and difficult
process dynamics such as long deadtime, long time constants, and
inverse response. Production operators are forced to make frequent
manual adjustments, which leads to operator stress and mistakes.
This in turn causes off-spec product, high energy consumption,

and low throughput. Combustion control is one such example. The

recommendation is to upgrade to a DCS with advanced process
control (APC) software for model predictive control (MPC) based on
dynamic matrix control (DMC) supporting multiple inputs, outputs,
and constraints. For selected loops, this will reduce process variability
and keep the process within constraints. As a result, plants reduce
operator stress, reduce off-spec product, and improve sustainability
and throughput.
PRV in applications with back pressure such as from flare headers

often use internal bellows. When the bellows eventually fail, the PRV will
vent process gas straight to the atmosphere contributing to emissions
and potentially causing fires and explosions. The recommendation is
to upgrade to PRV with backup piston. The backup piston can reduce
emissions by more than 90 percent in the event of a bellows rupture,
and it ensures balanced operation. As a result of the better back
pressure handling, capacity, and reliability, plants reduce emissions and
product losses, while improving safety and sustainability. Bellows leak
detection can also be added.
Improving plant safety

Both functional safety as well as occupational safety and health will
benefit from automation modernization. Many modern instruments
recommended in this article like the tank gauging system, radar
level, GWR interface level, level switch, ERS, temperature and
position sensors, as well as Coriolis, magnetic, and vortex flowmeters
are available as safety integrity level (SIL)-rated. This means they
have a low failure rate and high diagnostic coverage, making them
ideal for safety instrumented functions (SIFs). As a result, plants can
improve safety.
High aerodynamic noise is created by turbulence in gas, steam,

or vapor flow in high pressure-drop valves. Traditional valve trims
and insulation do not help sufficiently. Noise is an occupational
health issue, so requirements have become more stringent. The
recommendation is to upgrade to control valves with valve trims and

Figure 6. Loud control valves can be upgraded with a valve trim (left), valve cage (middle) or modal
attenuator (right) inserted to act as a silencer to decrease noise and improve occupational safety.
Courtesy: Emerson
cages designed and built using additive manufacturing for low noise
with minimal pressure drop. Additionally, a modal attenuator (Figure
6) can be inserted to act as a silencer with no pressure drop. As a
result, plants improve occupational safety.
A smart plant modernization workshop

Your plant may have some but not all these problems. And it may have
other problems. Conduct a smart plant automation modernization
workshop to uncover challenges around manual loop intervention,
instrument maintenance, sustainability, and safety. Based on the
workshop findings, replace old automation components across the
plant before they fail. But remember: Each modernization campaign
and application should be validated. Do not replace just because there
is something new.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonas Berge is an ISA Fellow and the senior director of Applied Technology at
Emerson Automation Solutions based in Singapore. He is a trusted advisor for
plants and EPCs to adopt new technologies moving the industry forward with
digital transformation. He has more than 30 years of experience and is a subject
matter expert (SME) in digital transformation (DX)/Industrie 4.0 including data
management, analytics, wireless sensors, and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
with particular emphasis on sustainability and decarbonization.

Leveraging the Power

of Modern Simulation
By Rick Kephart, Emerson
With the recent focus on electrification of human lifestyles

Digital twin
across the globe, it can feel as though the energy industry has
changed overnight. Today, the global public is hearing more about technology
photovoltaic solar, wind generation, and battery storage than ever
is critical to
before. Businesses and residences are installing solar panels at an
unheard-of pace, while expanding solar and wind farms become navigating
visible reminders that the grid is changing rapidly.
the new, more
However, solar, wind, and battery systems have existed for a complex energy
long time. Though in the past they did not enjoy the market share
they do today, these technologies have been understood and generation
improving for decades. It took a cultural shift—increased pressure landscape.
and incentives from governments and the public—to bring
renewable energy generation technologies into the spotlight.

With such a change comes increased complexity. Power

generation companies must now run their operations differently than
before. As these organizations incorporate renewables, they must
navigate continual changes, both in weather and in energy markets, to
be profitable and efficient. Simultaneously, many of these companies
face severe workforce shortages, making it hard to find people with
the expertise necessary to run generation facilities—renewable or
traditional dispatchable—at peak operational efficiency.
Fortunately, a critical technology the energy industry has relied

on for decades—digital twin simulation—has continued to evolve
to support transitions in generation portfolios. Modern digital twins
provide a way for users to navigate a changing industry. As a result, as
power generation operations increase in complexity, the business case
for digital twin simulation continues to improve.
What is a digital twin simulation?

Digital twins come in many different forms, but for the power
industry, one of the most valuable is a virtual simulated replica of a
control system that duplicates the monitoring and control of plant,
process, and system operations in a secure, risk-free environment. Key
components of a digital twin include:
▶ Simulation models that accurately reflect the operation and

interaction of plant equipment and processes.
▶ Virtual controllers that replicate plant controllers to execute

simulated models.
▶ An instructor station that controls the simulation for operator training.
▶ Standard control system software for operations and engineering.
▶ Replica control system logic and graphics.
There are many different use cases for digital twin simulations, with
the most common use case being operator training. With increasing
turnover in industry and a shortage of experienced workers available to
backfill a retiring workforce, companies need to train operators quickly,

safely, and effectively. Best-in-class digital twins use the same automation
platform as the plant control system for this training. An operator training
on such a system gains real-world experience, interacting with controls,
graphics, and tools that are identical to the ones they use when operating
the physical plant. Also, systems using a single set of common tools help
organizations realize cost savings through less maintenance, training,
and service required to maintain a single platform for both the digital
twin and plant controls, versus individualized platforms for each (Figure 1).
In addition, companies using a digital twin for training can take

snapshots of certain operational states, allowing them to quickly
return to critical training exercises repeatedly. Trainees can test a
wide variety of mitigation strategies and control options, and see how
the results cascade across the automation system, making it easy to
evaluate best practices.
Figure 1. The best

digital twin tools are
based on the same
platform as a control
system to eliminate the
complexity and cost of
maintaining separate
modeling software,
and to make it easy for
in-house staff to update
plant models and
training scenarios.

Digital twin simulation is also commonly used for engineering.

For teams looking to test new control strategies, or to develop new
automation algorithms, a digital twin provides a testing environment
that is both realistic and safe. The best digital twin systems have the
capability to mix and match the fidelity of each module. Such a solution
not only saves cost and time during deployment—high fidelity models
are more complex and costly to develop—but also provides flexibility
for modernization across the lifecycle of the system. A team can start
with a low fidelity digital twin simulation, and then upgrade specific
elements to higher fidelity as needed.
Benefits for traditional dispatchable power generators

Power generation operations are changing. Plants built decades ago
were typically designed to run continuously, supplying as much power
to the grid as possible. However, with the rise of renewables, such plants
are seeing the need for more dynamic operation, which increases
the number of complex activities operators must perform. Improved
operational efficiency is highly reliant on the organization’s ability to tap
into the knowledge of industry veterans to reskill current staff, and to
teach a new generation of digital natives how to operate plants safely
and efficiently.
However, traditional dispatchable base load power plants typically

have a lot more moving parts than most renewable facilities, with
more severe consequences for failure. Consequently, it is difficult, if not
impossible, to train new personnel on complex activities, such as startup
and shutdown, on live equipment. New operators in these plants have
likely had few or no opportunities to start up and shut down the plant.
In addition, they will have had even fewer opportunities to experience
abnormal conditions such as when a boiler feed pump fails.
These new personnel not only need to know what to do in such

situations, they also need to know what not to do. For example, if the
plant has a failure on a critical piece of equipment, the automation
might initiate a runback, bringing the power output back to a level it
can support. A system running back looks very different from a system

in normal operating mode, and operators need to recognize such a

status and understand the normal mitigation strategies common in
abnormal operations. The only way to accomplish this is to let operators
see such situations themselves, and the best way to let them do that
safely is via a digital twin simulation.
In addition, as dispatchable base load generators experience more

startups and shutdowns, it becomes more important to ensure that
those operations occur in the same, optimal manner regardless of who
is on shift at the facility. For example, as soon as a system starts burning
fuel, the team needs to close a breaker as soon as possible, without
violating equipment constraints, but doing so requires expertise. Digital
twin simulation training allows teams to score operators based on ideal
responses, training and retraining them until they can optimize operation
without creating undue mechanical stress on equipment (Figure 2).
Benefits for renewable power generators

Companies with renewables operations are seeing the most benefit
from using digital twin simulations when they use them as test beds
for engineering and improving operation. A digital twin can be used
to test and validate new control strategies before starting commercial
operation. This capability is particularly beneficial to organizations
investigating microgrids—a collection of assets that presents
Figure 2. Digital twin simulation provides a safe, risk-free environment for training operators to respond to
abnormal conditions, and for engineers to test and validate control logic changes.

itself as a single entity for energy distribution. Using a digital twin

simulation, teams can more easily build and manage their portfolio
of assets, modeling loads and determining the capability of electrical
components.
Teams can also use a digital twin to model the way distributed
energy resources (DERs) interact more easily with each other. As
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order number 2222
gains more traction, allowing DERs to compete more easily in energy
markets, new players in the industry will likely use digital twins to build
virtual power plants, aggregating all their disparate DERs into larger,
more easily controllable generation assets.
Many companies are also extending their digital twin capabilities

outside of the plant with smart grid extensions. These tools are
used with grid-level simulation packages to provide simulation
of an organization’s total power system. Such a solution can help
organizations understand the grid’s varying conditions, while managing
communications and data flows to optimize production across the total
power system, from generation to distribution.
Predicting the future

One of the most significant trends in the power industry is the shift
toward control room consolidation. The historical footprint for power
generation is far less applicable to renewables sites, many of which
maintain few or no personnel on premises. Even traditional plants have
been forced to cut back on their onsite personnel, as many are facing
worker shortages. As these changes occur, the way the fleets are being
controlled and monitored is also changing. Consolidation of multiple
plant operations into a single, remote operations center is a common
strategy power generators are using to improve reliability, reduce costs,
and increase operational flexibility.
As power companies centralize operations, digital twin simulations

help them cross-train co-located experts to remotely monitor, operate,
and maintain a wider variety of assets. Technicians, engineers, and
operators in a centralized control facility can also use the digital twin

as they collaborate to improve maintenance strategies and develop

improved operations across the enterprise.
Another increasing trend in power generation is the use of artificial

intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency and productivity. Under the right
circumstances, a digital twin could be used in a predictive capacity,
incorporating real-time plant data and running at faster than real time
to identify potential flaws, bottlenecks, or other problems that will occur
in the future.
Today, accomplishing this predictive capability on a digital twin is

a difficult task. First principles models are hard to run faster than real
time due to the complexity of their calculations and the computing
overhead necessary to accomplish such a task. As tools improve,
however, AI components could exercise digital twin models to learn the
dynamics of a system, enabling them to build lightweight surrogate
AI models that could be run faster than real time. Coupled with a
generative AI-driven copilot, these tools could make a predictive digital
twin more approachable, empowering personnel to ask the AI to
predict the results of any changes to standard operations (Figure 3).
Figure 3. A built-
for-purpose digital
twin simulation
helps teams adjust
operations to test
future technologies,
such as AI.

Building a flexible foundation

The rise of renewable power has brought increased complexity for
generation and distribution organizations. Operations teams need to
be much more flexible, which requires them to lock in best practices to
ensure peak safety and operational efficiency. Digital twin simulation is
a critical enabler of that flexibility, helping teams not only teach all their
personnel to operate at their best, but also providing a test bed for the
increasing number of operational changes necessary to compete in a
more complex, hybrid environment.
The best digital twin tools will be based on the same platform
as a control system designed specifically for the power industry.
Such solutions eliminate the complexity and cost of maintaining
separate modeling software, and they make it easy for in-house staff
to update plant models and training scenarios using familiar—and
often, automated—tools. Moreover, implementing a built-for-purpose
system today will provide the foundation necessary for the smart
grid extensions, centralized control, and AI technologies that will help
organizations navigate the even more complex dynamic operations just
over the horizon.
All figures courtesy of Emerson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rick Kephart has more than 30 years of automation experience in the power and
water/wastewater industries. Over his career, he has become an expert in control
systems and theory, embedded systems, and real-time systems. Kephart currently
serves as the vice president of technology for Emerson’s power and water solutions
business. Previously, he was the vice president of software solutions and responsible
for the Ovation automation platform. He has a BS in electrical engineering from Penn
State University and an MS in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

MQTT: The Path to Smart

Manufacturing Sustainability
By Ravi Subramanyan, HiveMQ
MQTT-based
strategies consider
the manufacturing
environment and
continually seek
opportunities for
improvement.
Smart manufacturing benefits such as downtime reduction of 30-50

percent, throughput increase of 10-30 percent, and forecast accuracy
increases of up to 85 percent are being realized as a result of adopting
Industry 4.0 technologies like the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT),
artificial intelligence (AI), digital twins, digital threads, augmented
reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), according to a 2022 McKinsey study.
Helped by Industry 4.0 technologies and the best practices advocated
by smart manufacturing, manufacturing industries are being
transformed back into an economic powerhouse.
A key aspect of Smart manufacturing is having an enterprise

data augmentation strategy that enables real-time bidirectional
communication between the various systems powered by MQTT,
paving way toward energy optimization and sustainability.

MQTT is a lightweight messaging protocol designed for efficient

communication in IIoT and smart manufacturing systems. It is an
integral part of smart manufacturing. It has become the de facto
standard for communicating industrial data from on-premise to
enterprise or cloud due to various advantages it provides in optimizing
energy usage and promoting sustainability in smart manufacturing.
The following sections highlight the advantages (Figure 1).
Efficient communication
MQTT was created as a very efficient event-based publish-subscribe
(pub sub) data communication protocol. The message packet size
is only up to 200 KB, which helps minimize the amount of data
exchanged between industrial devices, systems, applications, and the
broker, reducing energy consumption. Using MQTT, devices, systems,
and applications only receive relevant information, minimizing
unnecessary data transfer. This also helps optimize the bandwidth
and help reduce costs of operation. MQTT also allows the message
Figure 1. Advantages of MQTT, the de facto standard for IIoT.

payloads to be optimized by using efficient data serialization formats

like JSON and protocol buffers to reduce network bandwidth usage
and energy consumption.
Quality of service levels

MQTT provides the flexibility to select the appropriate quality of service
(QoS) level for message transmission, based on the criticality of the
data. This empowers users to optimize their data transmission strategy,
ensuring efficiency and reliability. Higher QoS levels ensure message
delivery but may result in increased energy consumption. Also given
the async nature of MQTT, devices can implement sleep modes during
idle periods to conserve energy.
Devices can wake up based on MQTT triggers when there is

relevant data to exchange. In addition to MQTT clients, local brokers
allow much of the data to be processed at the edge before sending it
up to the enterprise broker, reducing the amount of data transferred
over the network, thus saving energy.
Device management
Remote device configuration and management can be implemented
using MQTT data to optimize device settings, update firmware, and
apply energy-efficient parameters. In addition, monitoring systems
can be implemented to track energy usage and sustainability metrics.
Reports and exception alerts can be created based on predefined
thresholds to identify areas for improvement.
Renewable energy integration

With MQTT, energy consumption and production can be monitored in
real time to optimize the use of renewable energy sources. The data
can be used, for example, to adjust manufacturing processes based
on the availability of green energy. Also, MQTT can be used to regularly
review and optimize the movement of manufacturing data based
on changing requirements, technology advancements, and energy-
saving opportunities.

Advanced analytics
With real-time data movement powered by MQTT, predictive
maintenance can be implemented to monitor equipment health. The
result is reduced downtime, improved efficiency, and the prevention
of energy waste associated with faulty machinery. In addition,
advanced data analytics and machine learning (ML) models powered
by Generative AI can be implemented using MQTT data to provide
insights into energy usage patterns, enabling the implementation of
proactive energy-saving measures.
Interoperability
By ensuring that devices, systems, and applications in the smart
manufacturing environment adhere to MQTT messaging standards
for data interoperability, manufacturers can create a more flexible
and scalable ecosystem. Also, by regularly reviewing and modifying
the MQTT implementation based on changing manufacturing
requirements, manufacturers ensure they are optimizing their systems
and future-proofing their investments.
Combining people, process, and technology

By creating data movement strategies powered by MQTT, the right smart
organizational structure to take advantage of it, and the processes to
remove impediments, manufacturers can create a more energy-efficient
and sustainable smart manufacturing ecosystem. The key is to integrate
the data strategy based on MQTT into an overarching manufacturing
strategy that considers the unique requirements of the manufacturing
environment and continually seeks opportunities for improvement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ravi Subramanyan is director of Industry Solutions, Manufacturing at HiveMQ. He
has extensive experience delivering high-quality products and services that have
generated revenues and cost savings of more than $10B for companies such as
Motorola, GE, Bosch, and Weir. Subramanyan has successfully launched products,
established branding, and created product advertisements and marketing
campaigns for global and regional business teams.

Controlling Nonindustrial Processes

to Mitigate Climate Change Effects
By Renee Bassett
Béla Lipták’s new

book “Controlling the
Future” describes how
automation advances can
help tackle the effects of
climate change.
“Artificial intelligence is creating a new culture,
climate change is creating a new physical
environment, and both processes are out of control.”
That is what inspired ISA Fellow, engineering

consultant and author Béla Lipták to write his latest
book, “Controlling the Future.” Subtitled “Controlling
Nonindustrial Processes: Preventing Climate and
Other Disasters,” the book provides a comprehensive

analysis of how processes developed and perfected by the automation

industry can be used to tackle the climate change problem.
“Humankind has reached a fork in the road of its evolution where

it has to select one road that leads from the fossil to the green energy
age or the other that is a dead end,” said Lipták. “I was also inspired
by knowing that in the past, humankind fixed such global threats as
the need to close the ozone hole in the atmosphere. I believe that the
coming generation is also ready to fix things. All it needs is a roadmap
of how to proceed.”
“Humankind has reached a fork in the road of its evolution

where it has to select one road that leads from the fossil to the
green energy age or the other that is a dead end,” said Lipták.
Other books discuss climate change, artificial

intelligence (AI), or process control, but none combines
all three. This book analyzes the probable future effects of
AI and global warming using the tools of process know-
how that have accumulated over the last century. “This
book aims to provide the information needed to guide
the coming generations into a physically safe, culturally
healthy, and peaceful future,” said Lipták.
Reviewers within the International Society of Automation agree.
“In his groundbreaking book, Béla Lipták leverages his world-class

expertise in dynamics and process control to ingeniously recalibrate
our approach to government policies,” said ISA Fellow George Buckbee,
PE, president of Sage Feedback LLC. “With visionary insights, he paves
the way toward a sustainable future, offering actionable solutions to
combat global warming and confront pressing crises. I am thrilled to
order copies of this book for my adult children. With Béla’s unparalleled
knowledge and dedication, he is not only providing solutions for the
world’s problems but also inspiring the next generation to become
informed, think critically, and act responsibly.”

“Readers may find this book beyond their expectations,” said

Prakash Jayprakash Bapat, Director of ISA’s Automatic Controls and
Robotics Division. “ ‘Controlling the Future’ alerts the conscious reader
to the magnitude of global warming (GW); occurrences of disasters due
to climate change (CC); the need for timely action toward deployment
of technologies such as carbon capture, utilization, and storage
(CCUS); prioritizing rapid transition from fossil fuel-based energy to
hydrogen-based green energy; and the requirement to focus on R&D
and subsequent deployment of currently unavailable technologies like
reversible fuel cells (RFCs).”
Jayprakash continued: “The book adds valuable information, a

variety of relevant data sets, and even the cost of remedial measures.
The reader is warned through striking comparisons of GW to, for
example, the heat generation of five Hiroshima atomic bombs per
second and the added weight of five Empire State Buildings per hour.
[That brings] the harsh reality to the table.”
Lipták said his other goal in writing the book was to bolster
recognition for the automation and control profession. “In contrast
About Béla Lipták

Béla Lipták was born in 1936 in Hungary. As a Technical University
student, he participated in the revolution against the Soviet occupation.
He escaped and entered the United States as a refugee in 1956. In 1959,
he received an engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology;
he received a master’s degree from the City College of New York in 1962;
and later, he did graduate work at Pratt Institute.
In 1960, he became the chief instrument engineer at Crawford and
Russell, where he led the automation of dozens of industrial plants for
more than a decade.
In 1969, he published the multivolume “Instrument and Automation Engineers’ Handbook,” which
is currently in its fifth edition. Lipták has published more than 300 technical articles on climate change,
global warming, and the automation of the new infrastructure they require, as well as more than 20
books on various aspects of automation, safety, and energy technology.

with all other professions, it can also analyze the largest and most
complex nonindustrial processes. This is not well understood,” he said.
“When I was teaching process control at Yale University, the course was
offered as a chemical engineering course; and when I published my
process control books, the publisher listed them among their electrical
engineering volumes.” Those organizations had nothing against the
automation and control profession; “they did not even realize it existed. I
hope this book shows that it does,” he explained.
Lipták said he has spent the last several years “in an effort to
fully understand the dynamic ‘personality’ of the multivariable and
extremely complex process of climate change and to determine if
my conclusions agree with the presently accepted predictions on
where it leads.” The result is knowledge that “the main process control
rule is that global processes can only be controlled by global action,
which requires establishing global institutions that can overcome the
resistance of political and corporate interests.”
“Controlling the Future” provides an abundance of facts and data

and lists several steps that can be taken to achieve specific goals: “Not
only converting to a carbon-free (hydrogen-based) energy economy
but also being realistic about the steps needed during the transition,
which probably include the temporary use of safe (underwater)
nuclear energy,” Lipták said.
“Controlling the Future” is available to order in print and

digital formats through the International Society of Automation,
https://www.isa.org/.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Renee Bassett is chief editor of Automation.com, a
subsidiary of ISA, International Society of Automation.
She is a technology journalist with 20+ years’ experience
producing and managing content creation related to
industrial automation, manufacturing, engineering and IT
systems.


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MAY | VOLUME 2

A subsidiary of the International

Page 6 Sustainability Beyond Disclosure and

How mandatory ESG reporting, and automation can improve

The AND Equation: ExxonMobil Champions

Alternate sources of energy are playing an increasing role in the

When Automation Means Empowerment

How technology, data, and calibration can help eliminate global

TSN Accelerates Plant Floor Transformative

Time-sensitive networking improves IT-OT convergence, which is

Energy Management Starts with Energy

By reducing energy consumption, organizations can save

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Page 32 Smart Plant Modernization of Core Process

Follow these recommendations to reduce emissions, improve

Leveraging the Power of Modern Simulation

Digital twin technology is critical to navigating the new, more

MQTT: The Path to Smart Manufacturing

MQTT-based strategies consider the manufacturing

Controlling Nonindustrial Processes to

Bela Liptak’s new book, “Controlling the Future,” describes

A subsidiary of the International

With plant-floor-proven operational

One Platform, Unlimited Possibilities

Digital Transformation for Sustainability

Whether you’re helping customers reach their ESG goals

About AUTOMATION 2024

AUTOMATION 20242021 isispublished

International Society of Automation Renee Bassett, Chief Editor

Data—whether financial or operational, is at the heart of environmental, By Jack Smith,

In his session at the IoT Solutions World Congress in Barcelona, ISA

A subsidiary of the International

ESG reporting requires data

“CSRD compliance requires substantial data collection, cross-

A subsidiary of the International

While much of the ESG emphasis is aimed at investing and

For most organizations, financial data governance and

Measurement delivers data

In July 2023, the International Society of Automation (ISA) released

A subsidiary of the International

the paper describes, automation has a significant role to play in achieving

“Measurement is a great example of how automation can offer

identities—especially important as companies have increased their

Digital transformation of industrial systems means more and

New value chains: green hydrogen, CCUS, lithium

Berge said plants deploy multiple automation solutions to enhance

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full article on the topic, Smart Plant Modernization of Core Process

“In addition to that,” Berge continued, “there is all the specialized

▶ Hydrogen value chain plants apply automation to electrolyzers,

▶ The lithium battery value chain encompasses mining,

▶ The carbon capture value chain encompasses membrane/PSA/VSA/

Berge also commented on the most common barriers to

“The technology and innovations to improve sustainability are

▶ Wireless sensor network infrastructure and sensors: WirelessHART

▶ Standards-based architecture for data and industrial software:

▶ Ready-made apps: mechanistic AI.

▶ First principles (1P) apps: mechanistic AI.

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