PROCESS AUTOMATION
OPTIMISATION THROUGH APC
If you’re investing billions in a new hydrogen facility, it should work optimally from minute one, creating new opportunities for APC
John Campbell, Global Product Manager for Advanced Process Control at ABB, explains why newer industrial processes like green ammonia, hydrogen and LNG are finally achieving optimisation through APC
P
eople keep telling me Advanced Process Control (APC) has reached market saturation. In refining, they're right. You wouldn’t run a refinery without APC, or at least not your high-value units. It’s expected technology, like having safety systems or control rooms. But, step outside refining and the picture changes completely.
Power generation - particularly industrial co-generation – illustrates this well. There’s still considerable room for broader adoption of APC technologies. Industrial facilities have the same optimisation challenges refineries solved decades ago. But back then, traditional APC vendors struggled to make inroads as the economics didn’t support the cause. They do now.
What’s changed isn’t the technology – it’s why companies optimise. In the 1990s and 2000s, it was
straightforward: produce more with the units you have. Maximising throughput meant maximising profit. APC helped squeeze every cubic meter or barrel out of existing infrastructure. The maths was simple. We've moved beyond that now. Companies don’t just care about how much they’re making and the quality. They care about the energy they're using, the carbon footprint, and how to reduce emissions. Efficiency is no longer just about output, but rather about doing more with less input across every metric that matters. APC adapts beautifully to this shift. We’re not rebuilding the technology. We’re
30 OCTOBER 2025 | PROCESS & CONTROL
changing the objective function - what we’re optimising toward. Instead of maximum throughput, it could be minimum energy per unit produced. Instead of just meeting quality specs, can we also cut steam consumption? This flexibility explains why industrial co- generation is finally taking notice. For years, energy companies faced a simple mission to generate electricity. But now there’s scrutiny on every joule of energy used to produce that power, meaning efficiency matters in ways it never did before.
Optimisation designed-in The most telling shift I see is in new industrial processes like green ammonia, hydrogen production and LNG facilities. When these get built today, optimisation is designed in from the start.
That’s a fundamental change from how we used to operate. The old approach was to build the plant, get it running, then figure out how to run it better. These new processes flip that thinking. Teams are asking from day one - how do we run this optimally? It makes perfect sense. If you’re investing billions in a new hydrogen facility, it should work optimally from minute one. The expectation is that it will run and run well, and that doesn't happen by accident. This shift creates new opportunities for APC. Instead of retrofitting optimisation into existing operations, which delays benefits and profits, we're integrating it into the fundamental design. The return on investment calculations look entirely different when
optimisation is part of the original build rather than an add-on project.
APC follows shifting industry focus, and right now in some markets like the US we are seeing growth in LNG. The underlying APC technology remains the same in that we model the process, optimise it and repeat the process continuously.
Processes have unique characteristics and challenges, but the fundamental value proposition remains unchanged, and that’s to help operations run more efficiently than human operators can manage alone. Ultimately, companies are looking to deliver value through efficiency. Optimisation through APC delivers both emissions reduction and cost reduction. APC’s second wave won’t look like the first.
Refining adoption was driven by obvious economic necessity - you simply couldn't compete without it. This wave is more varied. Industrial co-generation and power generation driven by efficiency scrutiny. New industrial processes building in optimisation from the outset. Existing operations realising their ‘safe distance’ from optimal costs millions annually. The potential is significant. According to ARC Industry Analyst Peter Reynolds, broader performance improvements include three to eight percent increases in throughput and five to ten percent yield improvements - all achievable without additional capital expenditure.
At ABB, our APC solutions handle these varied applications because the core challenges remain consistent. Every operation must answer the same three questions: Where are you operating? Where should you be? How do you get there? The technology that solved those questions for refineries works just as well for power plants and hydrogen facilities.
The difference is that now, entire industries
are finally asking those questions seriously for the first time.
ABB
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