Customer Profile

Company NameCrude Oil Production

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Valero Energy CorporationPetroleum Refining

Challenge:

Improve the efficiency andconsistency of stock switches onthe furfural unit

Solution:

Aspen DMCplus for improvedmanagement of stock switches

Benefits:

• Improve productivity by 75percent, switching all stockswithin a two-hour window

• Reduce product downgrades bymore than $400M/year

• Increase unit charge rate by 10percent

• Eliminate under-carry or carry-over during stock switches

• Maintain unit operations withinenvironmental limits

Valero Implements APC Solutionto Manage Stock Switches,Reducing Product Downgradesby $400M per Year

Leading refiner deploys Aspen DMCplus® and realizes aseventy-five percent improvement in time to complete stockswitches, increasing the unit’s charge rate by ten percent.

North America’s largest independent petroleum refiner and marketer

based in San Antonio, Texas, Valero Energy Corporation supplies fuel

and products via 15 refineries and ten ethanol plants stretching from

California to Canada to the Caribbean.

Valero observed a number of problems with the way stock switches

were managed in the Paulsboro refinery complex furfural unit. This

particular unit manages six different stock numbers, 30 different switch

combinations per crude type, and more than four different crude types

with stock switches occurring one to two times per week per unit.

To improve the efficiency and consistency of stock switches at the

furfural unit, Valero turned to Aspen DMCplus. In addition to gaining

greater control of stock switches, the company wanted to improve the

unit’s overall profitability and stability. Aspen DMCplus met their

objectives, reducing product downgrades by more than $400M per year

and delivering more stable operations overall.

Worldwide Headquarters

Aspen Technology, Inc.200Wheeler RoadBurlington, MA 01803

phone: +1-781-221-6400fax: +1-781-221-6410info@aspentech.com

EMEA Headquarters

AspenTech Ltd.C1, Reading Int’l Business ParkBasingstoke RoadReading, BerkshireRG2 6DT United Kingdom

phone: +44-(0)-1189-226400fax: +44-(0)-1189-226401ATE_info@aspentech.com

APAC Headquarters

AspenTech (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.3rd Floor, North WingZhe DaWang Xin Building2966 Jin Ke RoadZhangjiang High-Tech ZonePudong, Shanghai201203, China

phone: +86-21-5137-5000fax: +86-21-5137-5100apac_marketing@aspentech.com

© 2010 Aspen Technology, Inc. AspenTech®, aspenONE®, the Aspen leaf logo, and the 7 Best Practices ofEngineering Excellence are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. 2266-35-0211

About AspenTech

AspenTech is a leading supplier of

software that optimizes process

manufacturing — including oil and

gas, petroleum, chemicals, pharma-

ceuticals and other industries that

manufacture and produce products

from a chemical process. With inte-

grated aspenONE solutions, process

manufacturers can implement best

practices for optimizing their engin-

eering, manufacturing and supply

chain operations. As a result,

AspenTech customers are better able

to increase capacity, improve mar-

gins, reduce costs and become more

energy efficient. To see how the

world’s leading process manufactur-

ers rely on AspenTech to achieve

their operational excellence goals,

visit www.aspentech.com.

Inconsistency Deters Overall Profitability and Stability

Valero lacked a consistent method for switching stocks. The time required to

complete a switch varied considerably from stock to stock and operator to

operator. Slow stock switches led to degraded product quality due to unstable

operations, which in turn reduced profitability. The complexity of managing

the switches also created an issue for new board operators.

Saving Time and Improving Profitability with Aspen DMCplus

Valero selected Aspen DMCplus to address these challenges. In addition to

improving switch management, Aspen DMCplus enables Valero to improve

the unit’s overall profitability, as well as to increase the unit’s charge rate by

10 percent, provide greater O2 control of raffinate and extract heaters, and

reduce transition and stop time during switches. In addition, Valero was able

to reduce product downgrades by more $400M per year.

The solution also enables Valero to improve the unit’s stability by improving

control of the RDC interface level, predicting and reacting to level changes,

and correcting changes due to disturbances.

Aspen DMCplus facilitated significant productivity improvement in the time

required to complete stock switches. In fact, all stock switches under Aspen

DMCplus control are now completed within two hours rather than the average

of eight hours. And easier switching by operators leads to consistent results

with no under-carry or carry-over during stock switches.

Additional Benefits Deliver Further Value

In addition to shortening the switch time, Valero also improved control of the

heater firing duty, enabling them to maintain unit operations within environ-

mental limits. Aspen DMCplus allows Valero to push charge rates closer to

limits without violating constraints, significantly reducing the standard

deviation of fired heater operation.

About AspenTech

AspenTech is a leading supplier of

software that optimizes process

manufacturing — including oil and

gas, petroleum, chemicals, pharma-

ceuticals and other industries that

manufacture and produce products

from a chemical process. With inte-

grated aspenONE solutions, process

manufacturers can implement best

practices for optimizing their engin-

eering, manufacturing and supply

chain operations. As a result,

AspenTech customers are better able

to increase capacity, improve mar-

gins, reduce costs and become more

energy efficient. To see how the

world’s leading process manufactur-

ers rely on AspenTech to achieve

their operational excellence goals,

visit www.aspentech.com.

Before and after charts show the difference when implementingAspen DMCplus during stock switches.