Integration of chemical process operation with energy, global market, and plant systems infrastructure.

Increased globalization, deregulation of energy markets, and environmental constraints, together with associated uncertainty, have created a highly dynamic and uncertain process manufacturing environment. Responding effectively to this increased variation and uncertainty is critical for a company to remain competitive. In this paper, we consider the plant infrastructure in relation to the energy and global market infrastructures. We describe changes to the plant infrastructure system in order to function more effectively in the current manufacturing environment, as well as key research advances that are aligned to addressing challenges faced by present day plant operation. • Discusses relationship between plant, energy, and global market infrastructures. • Identifies challenges associated with the current plant operating environment. • Discusses industry response to identified challenges. • Overview of PSE tools and paradigms aligned with addressing these challenges. • PSE approaches illustrated in the context of industrial air separation plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]