Chevron Chemical Opts for Simulated Emissions Monitoring at Cedar Bayou

N/Aion Technologies (Austin, Texas) will provide a turnkey project installation of its Software CEM predictive continuous emissions-monitoring system to Chevron Chemical Co.'s Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. The $2.17-million, three-year contract includes software licenses, engineering services, compliance certification and ongoing support. Pavilion's patented technology, which has been approved by federal EPA and Texas environmental authorities, will be used by Chevron to predict and monitor emissions of NOx, CO and O₂ from ethylene furnaces and boilers in the Cedar Bayou complex.

"We've been working closely with Pavilion for the past year," said Mike Maggio, senior project engineer for <%=company%>. "Based on the performance of Pavilion's Process Perfecter dynamic multivariable controller and neural-net based virtual On Line Analyzers at our Cedar Bayou facility, we have every reason to believe that Pavilion's Software CEM can accurately predict our NOx emissions and provide valuable virtual analysis of CO and O₂ for combustion optimization."

A product like Software CEM allows plant managers to replace (or avoid the use of) monitoring instruments on fluestacks or other emissions sources. The software takes fuel, process-condition and stack data from sensors, and mathematically combines them to give a validated, reliable measure of emissions. Software CEM uses Pavilion's Process Insights technology to build models of the emissions. Using historical plant data and stack sampling for emissions data, Process Insights builds a model of plant behavior based on process parameters, which can then be used to predict process behavior, such as emissions from a point source (a boiler, furnace or gas turbine). In addition, sensor validation models are built to ensure the accuracy of the predictive models even if a field instrument fails. The data validation feature prevents environmental non-compliance even when sensors fail.

"The Software CEM provides a low-cost, accurate, reliable alternative to conventional emissions monitoring systems using process analyzers," said Pavilion's chief technical officer, Jim Keeler. "The first Software CEM was installed and approved by the U.S. EPA in 1993. Since that time, about 100 systems have been installed and certified by federal, state and local agencies with better than 99 percent average uptime and extremely low maintenance. Furthermore, the Software CEM can do more than just monitor emissions-the underlying model can be used to control and reduce emissions."

For more information: Pavilion Technologies, Inc., 12112 Technology Blvd., Austin, TX 78727. Tel: 512-250-3172.

Edited by Nick Basta