Aspen Technology, Inc. has announced that Zeeland Refinery, a joint venture between Total and Lukoil located in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, will implement the Aspen GDOT™ dynamic optimization software to drive operational excellence across its facility. This strategic deployment marks a significant step in Zeeland Refinery’s ongoing commitment to innovation, efficiency, and sustainability in refining operations.

A Strategic Digital Transformation

Initially, Aspen GDOT will be deployed across the refinery’s middle distillate production units, a critical area that includes the production of diesel and jet fuels. By enabling dynamic optimization of operations, the software is expected to:

• Improve product quality consistency

• Increase middle distillate yield

• Enhance energy efficiency across units

This aligns with the refinery’s broader goals of reducing operational costs while meeting increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

 

Coordination Across Units with Advanced Process Control

At the core of Aspen GDOT’s value is its ability to dynamically coordinate Advanced Process Control (APC) across multiple process units. This intelligent synchronization allows the refinery to:

• Align real-time operations with planned performance
• Optimize planning and scheduling opportunities
• Capture incremental profitability opportunities that may have previously been unattainable

By connecting isolated control strategies into a coordinated, refinery-wide optimization layer, Zeeland Refinery can achieve a more agile, resilient, and high-performing operation.

Leadership Perspective: Unlocking New Optimization Potential

Nathalie de Muynck, General Manager at Zeeland Refinery, emphasized the potential impact of the technology:

“By implementing Aspen GDOT with our existing AspenTech APC platform, we can realize additional optimization capabilities that will further improve profit generation, therefore delivering significant value to our shareholders.”

The integration of Aspen GDOT with the refinery’s existing digital infrastructure underscores the value of leveraging complementary technologies to extract greater performance from existing assets.

Addressing Market and Regulatory Demands

With the refining industry facing ongoing shifts—particularly with environmental mandates like the IMO 2020 Marine Fuel Specifications, which call for significantly reduced sulfur content in marine fuels—the need for digital agility has never been more critical.

John Koumoutsakis, Senior Vice President of Sales at Aspen Technology, commented on the broader implications of the deployment:

“We look forward to helping Zeeland Refinery further improve its operational efficiency by deploying Aspen GDOT. With changes to regulations such as the IMO 2020 Marine Fuel Specifications that demand lower sulfur emissions from marine fuel, the need to align planned performance with actual performance is key to improving productivity levels.”

Moving Forward

This deployment of Aspen GDOT at Zeeland Refinery is part of a growing trend across the refining sector: embracing dynamic optimization and digital transformation to not only meet regulatory and environmental expectations, but also to deliver enhanced profitability, resilience, and sustainability.

As Aspen Technology continues to innovate, its collaboration with Zeeland Refinery demonstrates how leading-edge software can unlock new levels of value for complex, asset-intensive industries.