The 2025 National Conference on Automation, Intelligence and Equipment Transformation in the Petrochemical Industry was held
On April 16th, the 2025 National Conference on Automation, Intelligence and Equipment Transformation in the Petrochemical Industry was held in Wuhan. This conference, with the theme of "Promoting the Intelligent Upgrade of the Petrochemical Industry and Leading the New Transformation of Equipment and Technology", focused on hot topics such as the digital transformation of equipment, intelligent operation and maintenance as well as inspection and repair, and the application of artificial intelligence technology in equipment management, injecting new impetus into the digital transformation and high-quality development of the industry.
At the opening ceremony of the conference, Zhang Jianli, the secretary-general of the Petrochemical Application Professional Committee of the Chinese Association of Automation, stated that the current global energy transition is accelerating, and the requirements for safety and environmental protection are becoming increasingly strict. The petrochemical industry urgently needs to break through the development bottleneck through automation and intelligence upgrades. The holding of this conference is timely and has profound guiding significance for the industry. We hope that all the participants can join hands to promote the continuous progress of the petrochemical industry on the path of automation, intelligence and equipment transformation.
Ren Tao, the deputy general manager of the Measurement and Control Technology Branch of Chongqing Chuanyi Automation Co., LTD., emphasized that instrumentation equipment is the "nerve endings" for the safe operation of the petrochemical industry, and its localization and independent control are of vital importance to national strategic security. As a leading domestic instrument enterprise, Chongqing Chuanyi has broken the foreign technological monopoly with many products it has developed in recent years and built several world-leading digital production lines. He called on the industry to offer more application opportunities to domestic equipment and jointly consolidate the foundation of industrial security.
Li Aojie, the vice president of marketing at Zhejiang Linuo Fluid Control Technology Co., LTD., said that control valves, as key equipment in process industries, need to keep up with the trend of intelligence. The "Implementation Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal in the Industrial Field" issued by the state has pointed out the direction for the industry. Linuo will continue to assist customers in achieving safe, efficient and green transformation through digital services.
CAI Gefan, the secretary-general of the Hubei Province Work Safety Technology Association, pointed out that as an important chemical industry base, Hubei Province has significantly improved the safety management level of equipment through intelligent transformation in recent years. However, the industry still faces complex challenges. He hopes that this conference will serve as an opportunity to enhance experience sharing and technical collaboration, and inject new impetus into the intrinsic safety of the industry.
"As an enterprise deeply engaged in the industrial Internet for over 20 years, Anyuan Technology's independently developed national-level industrial Internet platform has served more than 10,000 chemical enterprises across the country." " Zhu Zhiyong, assistant to the chairman and director of marketing and business of Anyuan Technology Co., LTD., believes that in the future, the industry should join hands to build "three new" : new institutions, that is, an independent and controllable industrial Internet platform system; new scenarios, that is, the application of digitalization in scenarios such as process optimization and safety control; and new ecosystems, that is, the collaborative innovation ecosystem of industry, academia and research. He stated that in the future, Anyuan Technology will continue to join hands with partners in the industrial chain to empower the transformation and upgrading of the industry through technological innovation.
Yang Fei, the product director of Primer Intelligent Technology (Shanghai) Co., LTD., emphasized that only by pooling wisdom, understanding demands, and collaborating on innovation can common challenges such as equipment safety transformation, energy consumption optimization, and intelligent upgrading be addressed. Primer will join hands with industry partners to promote the practical implementation of intelligent solutions.
How to safely and smoothly achieve the elimination and renewal of equipment is one of the hot topics of discussion at this conference. Lao Ruiqing, an equipment expert from Sinopec Jinling Petrochemical, systematically interpreted the policy on the exit of old facilities, emphasizing the need to combine risk assessment with intelligent means to implement phased out and transformation in a classified manner. In this regard, Sinopec has provided valuable experience worth learning from. It has established an assessment system covering the entire life cycle of equipment and implemented it in a classified manner through the "establish first, then dismantle" principle, promoting the orderly exit of high-risk facilities and ensuring production safety.
The monitoring and control of equipment is the foundation of its operation and maintenance. In this regard, digital technology plays a significant role. Director Wei Qiang of Lanzhou Petrochemical Company of China National Petroleum Corporation introduced that Lanzhou Petrochemical has established a "two-level precise inspection" system for equipment that has exceeded its service life. Through equipment classification management and the IBM equipment management system, the monitoring data has been digitized. The system can automatically screen for abnormal vibration and temperature of the equipment and issue early warnings, promoting the accuracy rate of fault diagnosis from 10% to 75%. Wei Qiang stated that in the future, this model will be extended to units such as Guangdong Petrochemical to facilitate the transformation of industry equipment management towards predictive maintenance.
The experts attending the meeting unanimously agreed that technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things will continue to empower the petrochemical industry.
The renovation of old factory areas needs to balance investment and returns. In the future, it will focus on the scenario-based application of technologies such as smart safety helmets and unmanned delivery vehicles, and build a new production model that is "less manned and more efficient". Li Ji, deputy manager of the Shanghai Branch of Offshore Oil Engineering Co., LTD., took oil and gas processing plants as an example and proposed a "cloud-edge collaboration" technical solution, which can increase the recovery rate of propane by 1% to 3% and generate an annual economic benefit of over 5 million yuan.
Jiangsu Huaying Valve Industry Co., Ltd. has built a large number of CNC machining lathes and ERP manufacturing resource integrated management systems by applying the latest computer technology. Moreover, all the data among Huaying's factories are interconnected and shared through optical cables, effectively concentrating manufacturing resources, improving production efficiency, and also enhancing processing quality and process control. Its ball valves, gate valves, globe valves, check valves and butterfly valves and other products are widely used in various harsh working conditions and high-demand industries such as oil, natural gas, oil refining, chemical engineering and long-distance pipelines around the world.
Liu Jiebo, the director of Sinopec Hunan Petrochemical Co., LTD., mentioned that Hunan Petrochemical has achieved precise identification of the oil-water interface through ultrasonic probes, eliminating the safety hazards of traditional manual dehydration. The quantitative loading system integrates a mass flowmeter and an intelligent controller, with a trade measurement error of less than 0.2%. He emphasized that intelligent technology is the core path to enhance the safety and efficiency of storage and transportation. In the future, the application of robot inspection and modular processing technology will be further deepened.
With the sudden popularity of ChatGPT and DeepSeek, the petrochemical industry is also accelerating its entry into the "AI" era. Liu Xuan, a senior expert from Sinopec Yingke Information Technology Co., LTD., pointed out that AI will become the core tool for the petrochemical industry to achieve intelligent upgrading and play a significant role in equipment monitoring, fault prediction, quality control and other aspects. However, at present, the application of AI in the petrochemical industry is still in the exploratory stage. In the future, it is necessary to pay attention to the close integration of artificial intelligence application with industry characteristics, build a closed loop of "perception - decision-making - execution", and promote the synchronous upgrade of industry standards and safety norms.
Identifying core data and key parameters is more valuable than blindly pursuing big data. Wang Shaoyong from the Huizhou Refining Branch of CNOOC Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd. proposed the concept of collecting dual-dimensional data on processes and equipment, advocating the extraction of effective information from the production source and the construction of a streamlined and reliable database. He also emphasized that "safety should be the top priority for intelligence."
Zhao Lujun, the general manager of the Consulting Center of Supcon Technology Co., LTD., shared the company's innovative achievements in the application of AI. Zhongkong has achieved breakthroughs in scenarios such as process optimization and equipment health prediction by building a "large time series model" and incorporating the second operation data of production facilities into training. In addition, Zhongkong will also introduce a new business model of "hardware leasing + software subscription" to lower the cost threshold for enterprise intelligence.
It is reported that This conference is jointly organized by Jingyan Exhibition (Beijing) Co., LTD., Beijing Jingyan Media Co., LTD., Jingyan (Beijing) Chemical Engineering Research Institute, the Petrochemical Application Professional Committee of the Chinese Association of Automation, the Fire and Explosion Prevention Professional Committee of the China Occupational Safety and Health Association, the Hubei Chemical Safety Association, Zhejiang Linuo Fluid Control Technology Co., LTD., and Chongqing Chuanyi Automation Co., LTD The event was organized and held by multiple units including the Limited Company, Primer Intelligent Technology (Shanghai) Co., LTD., and Anyuan Technology Co., LTD. The conference featured one main forum, five specialized forums and project matchmaking sessions, with a total of 34 special reports arranged. It attracted over 260 industry representatives from all over the country. The conference also featured an exhibition area where 26 exhibitors showcased their innovative achievements in areas such as automatic control systems, intelligent detection equipment, and industrial Internet technology platforms, providing referenceable solutions for the industry.