It’s funny, as soon as you say chemical, people think you're wearing a lab coat and mixing chemicals, but that is chemistry. Chemical engineering is probably better described as process engineering, which means you learn how different industrial processes work. Whether it’s a steelmaking plant or an oil and gas refinery, the fundamentals that drive these processes can be applied across industries.
I also did a postgraduate in mathematical modeling, to optimize those processes. My career at ABB started with applying mathematical modeling to improve productivity in industries such as pulp and paper, cement and mining.
Since about 2010, I was driven towards metals, because I felt that the sector had so much potential. It was a little bit laggard in terms of technology adoption compared to, say, oil and gas, in which I’d also had extensive experience. I realized there were opportunities for cross pollination of ideas and digital applications that boost operational excellence.
I had a particular advanced process control (APC) solution from oil and gas in hand and started looking at where it could be beneficially applied in the metals industry. Raw material handling and ironmaking areas such as grinding mills, pellet and sinter plants are the most suitable, in terms of process dynamics that benefit from implementing advanced process control.
When I first saw the process in action, I was completely amazed at how outcomes relied so much on the experience of the people, especially because measurements such as pellet size and quality are not measured online during the process. I considered how in such scenarios an APC solution could produce high-quality output much more consistently in combination with image analytics acting as sensors to measure parameters online. That’s where my fascination with digital applications for the metals industry began, with the development of ABB Ability™ Expert Optimizer, ABB's Advance Process Control (APC) solution for metals.
This solution applies Model Predictive Control (MPC) to create digital twins of many key steel production processes, and uses process data to predict behavior over time. Manual manipulation of multiple variables is replaced with accurate, automatic set point adjustments that allow metals manufacturers to continuously control, stabilize and optimize operations for maximum profitability.
Sustainability of the industry offers a lot of potential for innovation both on the side of equipment manufacturers and automation players like ABB. It's a growing area because people are thinking about how they can produce metals using green energy. Many producers have declared sustainability targets which means they have made funding available to achieve those goals.
In Europe especially, you see a lot of pilot plants: take the HYBRIT initiative in which ABB has been involved, which has produced “green steel” by deploying hydrogen instead of carbon in the iron reduction process, thereby eliminating coal not just from the energy requirements of metals manufacture, but from fundamental iron production.
Electrolysis — producing hydrogen by splitting water molecules using renewable energy — is another technology being advanced all over the world. Developing hydrogen production methods to commercial scale will contribute to accelerating emissions reduction in the metals industry.
My role is now about working with the wider ABB team to apply digital technologies across metals processes with a focus on achieving the sustainability targets of our customers. It can be as simple as providing accurate and credible reporting, because that itself is not very standardized at the moment. Providing the data a company needs, in consistent, relatable format is part of the value add that ABB brings.
We also work closely with ABB’s R&D teams to formulate market requirements and drive our innovation efforts in the right direction. Business development and designing a roadmap for our digital solution portfolio is part of our remit.
Change is actually one of the biggest obstacles for our customers. It often happens that the introduction of a product that optimizes process efficiency encounters resistance from the operators. Successful change management is about getting people involved early in the process. We try to form a team with operators. After all, process managers hold a lot of invaluable plant knowledge, and we need to understand their pain points. Combined with ABB in metals’ electrification, automation and process expertise, and our focus on sustainability, in-house knowledge is the secret ingredient for successful application of the right solution.
We remain flexible according to customer needs — some companies are looking for strategic guidance, some are seeking collaboration, others want us to take a lead role with their teams. You can’t be rigid in the way you deliver digital solutions.
We have to reset the world’s course for a better future. I see children in India, for example, living in cities that are highly polluted and where global warming is already having a devastating effect. The steel industry is responsible for 7-9% of global CO2 emissions, and it’s a hard to abate sector because coal is central to the process — not just used as fuel to power production. We won’t change from coal to hydrogen overnight, but digital solutions can make a substantial difference in the interim.
Our ABB AbilityTM Smart Melt Shop solution, for example, has a very strong relation to sustainability. It not only optimizes productivity in the melt shop — at JSW Steel’s Dolvi Works in the state of Maharashtra in India, it is expected to increase steel output by 24,000 tons per annum. It also optimizes the temperatures across processes, which is directly related to energy use. In one of the JSW processes it saves around five degrees of arcing, which equates to savings of 150 or 200 kilowatt hours per 100 ton of steel.
We’re doing so much across ABB’s digital portfolio for metals. In addition to solutions that deliver operational excellence, ABB also has an energy management solution that provides accurate demand forecasting for metals manufacturers.
It correlates plant data aggregated over time with daily production schedules to predict how much energy will be required over coming 15 minute intervals. An optimization feature can then automate the choice of available power sources to fulfill those needs. Selections can be based on price and/or sustainable options such as renewable energy. That solution is already making a difference to sustainability for our customers in Europe.
I’ve also noticed on the customer side that a new generation of digital natives is entering the industry, especially in Asia. They expect to be able to view metrics and make decisions via a tablet; they’re also open to digital forms of training or assistance. It’s important to them, as it is vital to the digital team at ABB in Metals, that solutions deliver real value to their businesses, but they are open to trialing and experimentation. This will help us accelerate on the road to net zero.