Forbes: How Digital Solutions Can Help Decarbonize Industry

In early August, results of the latest study by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were published. They are depressing: Climate change is global, rapid and unprecedented over the previous thousands of years. Over the next 20 years, an average warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius will occur.

The main threat today is the carbon footprint that everyone leaves when turning on lights, drinking coffee and consuming virtually any goods and services associated with greenhouse gas emissions. Industrial companies release a large volume of hazardous emissions into the atmosphere, and this is the focal point for governments and the public in the context of increased attention to environmental issues and climate change. Particularly, in order to stimulate industrial enterprises to reduce the carbon footprint of their products, the European Commission plans to introduce a carbon tax on imported goods. This initiative will have an immense financial impact on companies exporting products to Europe. For example, it may cost Russian exporters US$3 billion to US$4.8 billion per year.

As a consequence, achieving or at least approaching carbon neutrality is a priority task for miners and manufacturers wanting to take or maintain a sound position in the global economy. All industries are currently urged to reconsider their development strategy while paying special attention to the three E’s: economics, efficiency and environment. Digital solutions play a significant role in this process.

Technologies For The Environment

While the world is unable to completely substitute carbon with alternative energy, efforts to reduce the consumption of carbon-related energy must be made. The idea is not to shut down plants or reduce their number, but to optimize their operation.

Industry 4.0 technologies play a significant role in achieving emissions reduction targets. These technologies include sustainable power systems, fuel consumption control systems, dispatching systems for industrial transport, autonomous solutions and digital platforms that can significantly reduce energy consumption. For example, Rio Tinto, one of the largest metallurgical and mining companies in the world, utilizes autonomous trains, thereby increasing the efficiency of railway shipping operations. Another successful case in mining is the introduction of an autonomous hauling solution at one of SUEK’s coal mines in Russia: The autonomous dump trucks there typically use 13% less fuel compared to human-operated trucks. (SUEK is one of my company’s clients.)

Today, any digital system for industrial equipment monitoring based on the Internet of Things has an electric power consumption control feature. Smart systems allow identification of how resources are spent and how to reduce their consumption. For example, such a system can keep a record of electricity consumed by machines when processing parts and during downtime. It also can identify production areas where it is possible to use less energy-intensive equipment without compromising the result. This system allows performing comprehensive monitoring and optimization of resource consumption, ensuring benefits throughout the value chain, from the production of these resources to their utilization.

Another example of IIoT use is the prevention of environmental and safety risks. Let’s suppose that a petrochemical plant has several dozen technological units that release harmful gases into the environment. The IIoT platform gathers all emissions data in one place, and you can use it to take comprehensive measures to reduce emissions or mitigate the risks of non-compliance with emissions regulations. Consider one more scenario: remote control of hazardous industrial facilities and proactive risk management. There are dozens of control systems operating at industrial sites: fire safety, explosion protection, personnel location, communications, aerological safety and so on. Thanks to IIoT, it is possible to continuously collect and process data from these systems and subsequently use this data to predict and prevent situations that may lead to accidents at the stages where these risks can be reduced with a minimum of financial and time costs.

Speaking about the benefits of monitoring and reduction of resource consumption, it is worth considering the effect along the entire chain. That is, if a machine consumes less energy in the production of a particular part, then somewhere this energy can be distributed to other tasks, and hence lower levels of harmful emissions are released into the atmosphere.

Technologies: Tools, Not Change-Makers

Monitoring systems, as well as other solutions for production management, do not reduce emissions and do not increase efficiency by themselves — they are only support tools for making management decisions on transforming the enterprise infrastructure and its business processes. In other words, if the management of the enterprise has made a decision on changes in favor of the environment, the system will provide reliable data to implement this decision.

In order to build an effective working production management system, it is necessary to correctly align the processes. You can’t just copy the experience of another company, as each system is unique. The following sequence of actions can be recommended:

• The first step is to formulate a business strategy by answering the question of why an enterprise needs a system.

• Next, form your own center of competency or a group of specialists who thoroughly know the internal business processes and possess the necessary knowledge in their transformation using digital technologies. It is important to remember that every dollar invested in preparing a center of competency can save $10 on a project.

• Then, together with the center of competency, develop a conceptual design of the system, including the real goals and objectives of the project, whether it is reducing environmental impact or improving production performance, a model for achieving them, known limitations, roles and tasks of all participants in the process at all levels and so on. Only after that can you proceed to the selection of a solution and phased implementation.

The global trend of tightening carbon footprint regulations in industries will continue to develop. Sustainability is becoming the key to success in the price war and in the issue of maintaining profitability for all countries. Therefore, companies that want to maintain their positions and have the upper hand will need to actively implement digital technologies in order to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Read at forbes.com