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DIGITAL TWIN: THE KEY TO AN EFFICIENT, NET-ZERO FUTURE FOR CHEMICALS & PETROCHEMICALS The use of digital transformation technologies can generate greater control, performance, flexibility, integration, and optimization while complying with energy efficiency and sustainability goals
MARINA STOIEV MARKETING ANALYST VIDYA TECHNOLOGY
ANDRE ANDRADE MARKETING ANALYST VIDYA TECHNOLOGY
T
he Chemical and Petrochemical industries are always investing in innovation. Responsible for a wide range of products used in everyday life, they manufacture products for urban, rural, and industrial use. From insecticides to medicines and even personal care, chemical industrial processes are crucial for our everyday lives. In its turn, the petrochemical sector is responsible for the production of industrial raw materials, such as natural gases and oil refinement. As both sectors work with oil as raw material for their operation, they have on their path, difficult challenges regarding the future need for a net-zero operation. Among the main difficulties faced, there is the high dependence on oil as an input for the manufacture of its products and the combustion as an important process in the operation, culmi-
nating in the liberation of Greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. According to the EPA (the United States Environmental Protection Agency), the industrial sector is responsible for at least 23% of the emissions in the whole world. This data, combined with the need to mitigate climate change, culminated in international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement and the UN (United Nations) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The last one is composed of 17 targets related to poverty eradication, global sustainability, improving the quality of life, and the need to zero carbon emissions up to 2050. In spite of those challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, culminated in significant advances in the field of biotechnology. Through research developments in this area, the chemical sector can have the opportunity to take advantage of new techniques that undermine the dependence on oil for manufacturing. Besides this opportunity, the sector can implement technologies from digital transformation, such as Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence, and IoT (Internet of Things) in its operation to optimize the industrial processes and comply with the goals to decarbonize its operations. According to McKinsey & Company, operation optimization is one of the best methods to achieve net-zero emissions. “We observe, on average, that a 10 percent increase in production efficiency
