Inprocess will develop and implement an emulated Operator Training Simulator (OTS) for Profertil’s Ammonia and Urea plants (plus auxiliary utilities plants) located in Bahia Blanca, province of Buenos Aires.

Inprocess, a process simulation and consulting services company for the petrochemical industry, has been selected to implement a Training Project with the aim of driving Operational Excellence, which includes the development of an Operator Training Simulator for Profertil’s Ammonia and Urea plants in Bahia Blanca.

Profertil is an Argentinian company owned at 50% by the oil company YPF S.A. and Nutrien Inc.

YPF is the country’s main energy company, leader in the exploration and distribution of oil and gas products, both conventional and non-conventional. Nutrien is a Canadian company, leader in the production and sale of agricultural products and services worldwide.

The plant, located in Bahía Blanca, generates 1,320,000 tons of urea and 790,000 tons of ammonia per year. The company’s commitment to sustainability is reflected in its adherence to the United Nations Global Compact and in the fact that 60% of production is carried out with renewable energies.

The project scope includes the complete delivery, commissioning, and training of Profertil’s instructors, comprising:

• The development of an operator training system (OTS) through rigorous process simulation based on first principles and the emulation of the control, safety and its screens.
• The licensing and implementation of the ITOP (Inprocess Training for Operators) generic unit operations simulator
• The licensing of the platform to manage training paths and contents, ICOM (Inprocess Competence Management Platform)
• The development of Advanced Training Content for instructors. Extended Instructor’s Book
• Training of Profertil’s engineers in the use and further expansion of the Dynamic Simulation models developed in the OTS

The objective of this Project is to increase process safety and enhance productivity by allowing the operational staff (CROs, operating Supervisors, Process Engineers…) to gain practical experience on how to operate the facilities in various situations and different scenarios, like normal and abnormal conditions, planned and emergency shutdown, start-up after shutdown, among others. Once completed, this emulated OTS will provide plant personnel with:

• Better awareness of the process behaviour during plant start-up in order to facilitate an early and flawless start-up and reduced start-up time.
• Increased experience of the units’ processes and development of diagnostic skills to recognize and respond to emergency and upset situations, resulting in increased plant safety and on-stream time.
• Training on long-term system responses and complex sequences of events.

Project has already started and will have a duration of 15 months.