Inside ExxonMobil’s live rollout of open process automation

From Control: An ExxonMobil systems engineer offered a rare, unfiltered look at what it takes to replace a plant’s control system with an open, vendor-neutral architecture.

Len Vermillion writes:

Distributed control systems (DCS) that run chemical plants or refineries have traditionally been a closed box. They use one vendor’s hardware, one vendor’s software, and one vendor’s roadmap. That’s been going on for decades. At YNOW2026, Yokogawa’s User Conference & Exhibition, ExxonMobil Systems Engineer Toriano “Tito” Jackson stood in front of attendees and described what happens when a company decides to break that box open on a live production unit.

Jackson’s session Open Process Automation (OPA) in Practice: How We Modernized a Live Chemical Plant and What We Learned was less a product pitch than a field report. Jackson has spent 16 years as a control systems engineer at ExxonMobil facilities around Baton Rouge, La., the last four of them implementing and now maintaining an OPA system built in collaboration with Yokogawa. He was candid that the transition was not, in his words, "a cakewalk."

"I can talk about OPA and my experience all day long," Jackson told the audience. "But it wasn’t easy at first."

Read the entire article HERE.

Continuous upstream bioprocessing makes headway in biomanufacturing

From Pharma Manufacturing: Bioreactor automation and control systems grow to 38.6% adoption or planned implementation, finds 2026 annual report and survey by BioPlan Associates.

Greg Slabodkin writes:

Automation technologies for bioprocessing are on the rise as automated batch control systems for bioreactors continue to make headway. That’s among the findings of BioPlan Associates’ 23rd Annual Report and Survey of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production.

Continuous upstream bioprocessing innovations remain a top interest as the industry grapples with operational issues in biomanufacturing and seeks improvements in their operations that lead to cost efficiency wherever possible. At the same time, operator errors are the most persistent cause of batch failures.

“This report clearly indicates that better automation and monitoring are in high demand from end-users. Part of this is due to the expectation that automation can remove human errors in bioprocessing,” states BioPlan. “The data show that equipment suppliers are increasingly focusing on automation and how it can be integrated into standardized design and processes.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Data centers are coming for your power and water — Here's what a century of chemical plant experience says

From Chemical Processing: Hyperscale campuses are drawing grid capacity and water permits in the same communities where chemical plants have operated for generations. A side-by-side look at power demand, cooling water chemistry, noise and emissions shows what's about to compete with you for resources — and what you already know that they don't.

David L. Russell writes:

A data center does not spring up in a vacuum. It draws power, water and community attention in the same neighborhoods that have hosted heavy industry for generations, and the chemical industry is one of the oldest and most instructive points of comparison. Chemical plants have spent over a century learning, sometimes the hard way, how to manage power demand, water chemistry, noise and air emissions while operating next door to homes and schools. This article compares data centers and chemical plants across four areas, in order: power demand and usage, water usage and chemistry problems, noise problems and air pollution problems.

There is a real difference between the two industries that is worth keeping in mind throughout. A chemical plant converts raw materials into a physical product, and much of the energy and water it uses ends up embodied in that product or is recovered as process steam. A data center converts electricity into computation, and essentially all of that electricity ends up as waste heat that must be rejected to the environment. That single difference explains much of why the two industries look similar on paper yet differ in the details.

Read the entire article HERE.

Recapping the week on Processing

Articles

Advancing hygienic product transfer in modern food and beverage processing

Eccentric disc pumps provide the low-shear handling, non-pulsing flow and product recovery needed to protect complex formulations and increase throughput.

Why industrial wastewater infrastructure is becoming a strategic investment

Industrial facilities are shifting their perspective on wastewater management, integrating decentralized treatment solutions to lower costs, enhance operational resilience, and align with sustainability goals amidst evolving regulations.

Reducing total cost of ownership through smarter separation technology

A lifecycle approach to decanter centrifuge design reveals how energy use, process control, cleaning, maintenance and adaptability shape the real cost of separation.

Combustible dust explosion protection: Start with the hazard, not the equipment

Effective explosion protection depends on understanding dust explosibility, vessel strength, and the pressures involved in a deflagration.

Recovering value from hydrogen streams: The role of advanced oxygen removal in chlor-alkali processing

For chlor-alkali operations reassessing how they manage hydrogen streams, the opportunity is straightforward but consequential: cleaner gas, higher recovery, faster project execution, and a stronger return on energy already invested.

Podcast

Moving beyond AI pilots in chemical manufacturing

Sundeep Ravande, CEO and co-founder of Innovapptive, explains how leading chemical manufacturers are moving beyond AI experimentation and pilot programs toward enterprise-wide implementation. Listen below!