Oct 15 2004
Aspen Technology, Inc. today announced significant growth in its polymer production control business after a period of sustained investment in this emerging market. Following the successful introduction of an innovative range of new products, AspenTech is establishing itself as a leader in the field of polymer advanced control with one of the fastest growing market shares in this sector. In the past 18 months, AspenTech has signed 10 major polymer production control agreements covering 13 lines of polymer with customers including SABIC, Sinopec, PETROKEMYA and Thai Polyethylene.
“Many of AspenTech’s polymer professionals have spent over 25 years working within the polymer industry and have a deep understanding of our customers’ needs and expectations,” said Steve Pringle, Senior Vice President of AspenTech. “Our recent polymer production control projects are delivering significant improvements in plant operating performance, with results in the range of 2–10 percent capacity increase, 25–50 percent reduction in transition off-specification material, and 50–100 percent reduction in steady-state offspecification material. In addition, our customers are also experiencing reduced lab testing costs, reduced maintenance costs, and better start-up reliability.”
The aspenONE for Advanced Process Control module is tailored to the special needs of the polymers industry through the application of the Aspen Apollo™ non-linear controller. Aspen Apollo was invented by a key group of AspenTech developers and polymer experts, and the continuing synergy between the original inventors of the technology and the implementation teams is one of the key factors in the widespread adoption and ongoing success of the solution. The controller is based on technology that combines process operational knowledge with grade transition data in order to produce highly accurate non-linear dynamic models. These models provide the speed and efficiency of an empirical model but with the accuracy and reliability of a rigorous modeling approach.
“The current success of our polymer production control business represents some of the first returns we have seen as a result of our substantial investment in new products over the past two years,” said David McQuillin, President and CEO of AspenTech. “The successful introduction of these products combined with our expansion into emerging markets such as the Middle East and Asia, will be important success factors for our company this year.”
AspenTech’s polymer production control business has gained the most traction in the Asia Pacific region, a fast-expanding market which is seeing ongoing investment in production facilities. Customers in this region have selected AspenTech for its combination of state-ofthe- art technologies, world-class implementation teams, and deep understanding of the polymer business.
For more information on polyethylene, click here.