Incorporating digital technologies into refining and petrochemical operations is not new to the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI).
Incorporating digital technologies into refining and petrochemical operations is not new to the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI). Refiners and petrochemical product producers have been optimizing their digital operations since the late 1950s when the first direct digital control computer was installed at Texaco’s 1,600-bpd polymerization unit at the Port Arthur refinery (Texas, U.S.). This event “closed the loop” in the first fully automatic, computer-controlled industrial process.
For the next several decades, the HPI would adopt new digital technologies, such as the programmable logic controller, distributed control systems and fieldbus, among others. The advances in computing techno
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