Elkem in tie-up for ‘real-time control', optimisation of batch industrial processes

Oslo – Elkem SA has joined a €4.7 million project to advance digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) in production processes.

“Advanced Batch Control for Industry” (ABC4I) is led by four key partners: Optimistik, Axel'One, Probayes, and INSA Lyon/IMP Laboratory; and joined by Elkem and Adisseo as industrial partners.*

The project leaders will be pooling their expertise to develop “a complete digital chain”, from online process analysis to process control through leveraging advances in online analysis, digitalization, and AI.

The digital chain will be tested on the processes of the two industrial partners: Adisseo for vitamin A synthesis and Elkem for silicone polymerisation, said Elkem 12 June.

The new approach aims to offer a “ready-to-use” method that is technically and economically relevant for improving the performance of batch processes, including on flexible and multiproduct lines.

The three-year project will also aim to enhance productivity, material yields, energy consumption, emissions & waste reduction, and quality improvement.

For Elkem, the project will be part of an approach to digitise batch processes of vinyl oil synthesis with automation.

This, said the Elkem statement, will be carried out by a learning system that will optimise the duration and quality of production.

The solution, after validation phases, will be implemented in a speciality silicone manufacturing workshop in Saint-Fons, south of Lyon, France.

The ABC4I project is funded by Bpifrance as part of the "i-Démo - support for structuring R&D&I projects".

Supported by chemical-environmental competitive cluster Axelera, digital transformation cluster Minalogic, and textile industry cluster Techtera, the project has already attracted the interests of "a dozen companies in industry sector." 

This, Elkem said, is due to the fact that real-time automated control with optimised batch processes “is a significant challenge”.

* Optimistik, founded in 2015 in Chambéry (France), is a cloud solutions provider dedicated to the digitalisation and management of factories using their data. Axel'One is a collaborative innovation platform dedicated to chemistry and environment. Probayes develops tailor-made solutions in artificial intelligence and data science in order to meet the business needs of its customers. The Polymer Materials Engineering (IMP) laboratory is a joint research unit of the French national scientific research centre, located on the site of INSA Lyon. All four project leaders are based in France.