PETROBRAS, the largest oil company in Brazil, has made the decision to commission Sigmafine at all 11 refineries. Work began at REFAP Refinery, in Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, the Southest State of Brazil. Sigmafine has been regularly used since June 2002. Results of data reconciliation of Sigmafine have significantly improved the daily material balance of the refinery. Some details, not considered in Petrobras corporate data base system, were made available by the new system, such as coke generated in the FCC Unit and drained water from crude tanks. Sigmafine also made clear that densities of inventory tanks were crucial to achieve better results when calculating the material balance. Overall, the error of the monthly material balance of the refinery is almost down to benchmark values (0.2%) and always positive.
Speaker
Oscar Rotava
Oscar Rotava graduated at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1977. Joined Petrobras the same year and worked at the Training Department of the Company, lecturing Fluid Mechanics (Pipe and Pumps design), Thermodynamics and Process Control. Since 1997 has been commissioning Advanced Process Control on Distillation and FCC Units in several of the Companies’ Refineries. Presently is the person in charge of the Corporate Sigmafine Implementation Program. He got an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a PhD in Process Control from the Imperial College, London. Marcela Brina, Chemical Engineer, University of Buenos Aires. Since 1994, Director of Projects at SOTEICA Ideas & Tech. She has led SOTEICA's implementation teams to successful commissioning of Sigmafine projects at PETROBRAS, ANCAP, Petroperu, Petroindustrial and others. In addition Marcela has directed Energy Optimization projects that SOTEICA has delivered at Repsol-YPF. Previous to working at SOTEICA, Marcela was a Project Engineer at TECNA where she delivered basic process engineering design packages of several gas processing facilities. She also participated in debottlenecking and hazop analysis studies.