Case Study: Latin American Petrochemical Company achieves major reduction in light-component losses and >$1M recovered with Aspen Technology's Aspen ProMV

Multivariate Statistical Analysis Finds the Bad Actors in Light Component Losses

Petrochemical Company, a large Latin American producer of ethylene and propene, faced significant light component (C3) losses at the bottom of a fractionation column that pressurized a downstream column and sent valuable product to the flare—losses that exceeded $1M USD. To diagnose the issue the company ran a pilot with Aspen Technology using Aspen ProMV to analyze historical process data and find the root causes of the losses.

Aspen Technology used Aspen ProMV to import 18 months of hourly data, build a multivariate model, and pinpoint a few “bad actor” variables (notably a specific tray temperature and reboiler configuration). Using Contribution Plots and the ProMV Optimizer, Aspen Technology recommended increasing that tray temperature by about 3.5°F so the plant could keep operating with one reboiler. After manual implementation the plant saw a clear reduction in light product losses and in downstream pressure variability within two days, avoiding a costly reboiler-capex solution.