Case Study
Flare Gas Optimization
Dow Chemical - Plaquemine, LA
The Challenge
Chronic flare gas losses with no reliable instrumentation or data visibility to quantify, monitor, or control them. Without a clear picture of what was being flared - or why - there was no basis for operational decisions and no way to measure improvement.
The Approach
Establish the Baseline
Mined a decade of OSI PI historian data to build operational baselines across process conditions. Without this foundation, any improvement would have been unverifiable.
Instrument for Real-Time Visibility
Instrumented an inline gas chromatograph to capture real-time hydrocarbon composition data. This gave the process a live signal to work from rather than periodic spot samples.
Embed Control Logic
Wrote steam-to-hydrocarbon ratio control logic directly into the process control system. The improvement was built into how the plant operated, not layered on top of it.
Connect the Data Layer
Built the full data layer connecting plant instrumentation to operational decision-making - from historian through to the metrics that made the improvement visible and auditable.
Outcome
Delivered a measurable, controllable process improvement. Earned the Six Sigma Green Belt credential for the project. This engagement is a direct example of what this practice delivers when domain expertise and data engineering sit in the same person - the instrumentation, the control logic, and the data layer were designed together by someone who understood the process from the inside.
Technologies
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