Insights from Industry Leaders on AI-driven Improvements in Emissions Monitoring and Leak Detection

 In a recent episode of our podcast, Peter Manos, Director of Research at ARC Advisory Group, discussed emissions monitoring and leak detection solutions with industry experts Krishna Uppuluri (VP/GM at mPACT2WO) and Chip Hilarides VP of Quality and Stewardship from Flint Hills Resources. 

 The discussion offers a deep dive into the transformative power of AI-driven technologies for refineries and the petrochemical industry, showcasing successful case studies and offering insights for companies aiming to enhance their operational efficiency and environmental stewardship.

 Krishna Uppuluri emphasized the significance of operator adoption and transformation in achieving tangible results in emissions monitoring. Continuing he stated, Molex's success was rooted in a holistic approach that fostered strong partnerships across customers, regulatory bodies, and communities, ensuring the solutions were not just technologically advanced but also widely accepted and effectively implemented.

 Chip Hilarides shared Flint Hills Resources' journey towards innovating leak detection, spotlighting the pivotal role of partnerships with Molex and the US EPA. By focusing on delivering actionable information to operators, Flint Hills managed to enhance process safety and reduce fugitive emissions, demonstrating the replicability of their success for others in the industry.

 The conversation underscored the necessity of a long-term, stewardship-focused perspective over short-term, reactive measures, including a long-term approach based on holistic designs and expert-driven capabilities that extend compliance and encourage industries to adopt solutions that prioritize what truly matters for operational and environmental excellence and better stewardship.

 The episode concluded with a discussion on improving transparency and fostering open dialogue about emissions and leaks. Both Krishna Uppuluri  and Chip Hilarides  stressed the importance of being proactive and community-oriented, highlighting how early leak detection and advanced continuous monitoring not only ensure safety but also strengthen the bond with the communities they serve.

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Transcript

Welcome to our podcast today. I'm your host, Peter Matos, director of research at ARC Advisory Group. We're here to discuss the latest key trends in emissions monitoring and leak detection solutions. 

I have with me two people many of our listeners involved in AI driven improvements in the oil and gas or chemicals industry will know: Krishna Uppuluri from Molex and Chip Hillarides from Flint Hills Resources. Welcome. Welcome Krishna and Chip. 

Let me start with a quick introduction for each of you. Krishna Uppuluri is Vice President and General Manager of mPACT2wo, an IoT business at Molex, which includes solutions for emissions monitoring and leak detection that we're discussing today. 

Chip Hillarides serves as Vice President of Quality and Stewardship of Flint Hills Resources, Flint Hills Resources operates oil refineries and pipelines in the Midwest and Texas. Their scope and compasses production of a wide spectrum of products from asphalt that's used to make our roads to transportation fuels and chemicals utilized in both industrial and household applications that are a part of our everyday lives. Krishna, my first question concerns what operators most need to know about success in this area of leak detection and emissions monitoring? You know, it seems to be that there can be a thin line between true transformational success versus merely engaging in transitional efforts that don't yield the results that leaders are looking for. So what do you think has led to the successes that Molex is seeing with its solution for leak detection and emissions monitoring?

Krishna Uppuluri 

Well, it's great to be here with you and Chip Peter. MPACT2wo a Molex business succeeded, not just because of our innovative technologies, but also more importantly, how it enabled boots on the ground operator adoption and transformation across key operational processes. And we did so because of strong partnership between us at Molex the trailblazers across customers, and the regulatory bodies and even communities. So we made sure we took a holistic approach, but with a singular focus on adoption and transformation.

Peter Manos  

Excellent, that makes sense. And, you know, it's obviously of benefit both to the operators of the facilities and to the surrounding communities to excel at this, but a skeptic. They want to hear what the end user would think is thinking of the solution. So, Chip, what has been your experience at Flint Hilson in this regard?

Chip Hillarides 

Yeah, happy to answer that, Peter. And thanks for having me on the podcast today. So yeah, Flint Hills, we embarked on finding a way to innovate leak detection in our facilities. And this actually started many years ago, but we forged a relationship with Molex in the US EPA to really pursue that. And it allowed us to make progress faster, and move towards our goals for stewardship and transforming how we do work. The mPACT2wo team has been a true partner on the whole way. And we're really focused on meeting our needs for improving process safety and reducing fugitive emissions by really delivering a solution that gives the right information to our operators at the right time so we can achieve our goals.

Peter Manos  

Interesting. So how repeatable Do you think the experiences you had a Flint Hills with the successful processes and improvements with Molex will be for others run on that path? Or we're considering it?

Chip Hillarides 

Well, I mean, just why it's been successful at Flint Hills is I mean, our leadership recognized the tremendous potential for safety improvement and emissions reduction. And, and the real impact of this, though, became evident once our operators gain real time visibility into leaks that are occurring in our facilities and realizing the value of this new information. The solution delivered by the molex team, you know, it's met our reliability expectations in terms of its availability, and delivered the expected value through this use of sensors and analytics and the results that we are now able to ensure the reliability of our processes, while having in place the best possible solutions to reduce emissions, enhance safety and drive operational efficiency and it's those outcomes that are why I believe anyone can see value from the solution.

Peter Manos  

But what would you want people to Know about things that organizations should watch out for in terms of potential pitfalls or mistakes that could be made, you know, in trying to do this artificial intelligence, machine learning, improvement in in leak detection and emissions monitoring, you know, oil and gas, petrochemical chemical plants. How do you how do you avoid pitfalls that might be on the way?

Chip Hillarides 

I think for any company that wants to undertake this, it's really critical that you have a management commitment, and then early engagement with operations and operators, to connect them to the value of what it is you're trying to do. Because the solution that we were seeking, in this case is a blend of new data and advanced sensors, combined with analytic solutions, to help us detect leaks as fast as possible. And so making sure everyone's aligned on what you're trying to do, and but it is solving a real world problem using integrated data solution all provided by mPACT2wo. And so, because we partnered with, with Molex, all along the way, we had confidence that they were building something that was going to work. But the immediate value to our operations became evident, as soon as we turn their systems on. I mean, it did rapidly identify leaks, leaks that we knew are mitigating safety risks, and and reducing emissions. The other thing I would say it's it's critical to celebrate early wins of finding leaks sooner. And, you know, a lot of organizations you you can have reluctance to want to report when when things aren't going well. But in this case, we really tried to celebrate all those early wins, because we knew we're making our facility safer and cleaner. And so it's critical that all levels of the organization see those successes.

Peter Manos  

Make sense? Krishna, could you weigh in in terms of that, that rollout and the collaboration between Molex and Flint Hills?

Krishna Uppuluri 

Sure, yeah, I think one of the key things to recognize in this is the value of a long-term approach. And as a privately held company, our long-term approach emphasizes stewardship for sustained and mutually beneficial outcomes. This is, you know, different, you know, this is distinct from public companies, we're not subject to the quarterly market pressures that, you know, often quite often prompt, very reactive short-term decisions, not very well aligned with the best long-term outcomes. I think that's the key here, you know, this kind of a longer term approach and Outlook stewardship outlook allows us to ascertain the genuine value of long-term returns on investment, pretty much focused on continuous transformation and adoption. So are our endeavors to minimize the emissions, it really embodies a real commitment to the larger community and stakeholders, not about the technology. But by investing in technology that enhances our understanding of the fugitive emissions, and leaks through advanced monitoring, we really empower our customers to make more timely, informed decisions, which are really not possible before. So this approach really improves the business and operational efficiency. But also, it serves the best interests of employees and the broader communities beyond the fence line of the industrial facilities. So it's important to really recognize the value of a longer term approach, as opposed to short term, reactive bandaids.

Peter Manos  

Makes sense, and it's a really great fit. You know, one of the things in AR C advisory group that we look at a lot is people and process as being co equal with technology, those three things and, you know, the interface that I saw in some of the press releases and reporting that was done earlier about this project. It really resonated for me that there was the regulatory component was part of the process, you know, in terms of getting the approvals to, you know, to do this with the air compliance method that Molex provided from a regulatory perspective. So it seemed like it was clearly an innovative concept of compliance in terms of the partnering related to the solutions and their success. So, you know, what would you want listeners to know who maybe are in the oil and gas or chemical industries or in other industries that also have a need to look at alternatives to their existing ways of complying to get to something more optimal, if you will?

Krishna Uppuluri 

Yeah, you know, it's really about taking a holistic design solution approach. It's not just compliance customers often ask us, you know, Legacy questions. They're so used to these questions on whether we offer sensors, software or services. Actually, we offer seamless transformation from monitoring everything, to monitoring what matters. So this goes really beyond compliance. How do you make sure you first optimize the way you do things? Instead of doing everything, the old fashioned way of walking around and monitoring? Why didn't you focus on what matters? We have been seeing a lot of areas where this approach is working absolutely perfect. So it's really about expansion beyond the old methods, old applications into a more holistic emissions monitoring, for example, for use cases, such as process units, fence line, tank farms, remote terminals, process safety, etc. So a lot of our success has come because people have looked at it as not just from our existing compliance to an alternative compliance, but also to a more holistic approach about enhancing and optimizing the way they monitor emissions and fix them in a timely manner.

Peter Manos  

What can you share about improving transparency and fostering candid discussions about emissions and leaks, especially for the larger players in the industries involved in to encourage more collaboration about addressing these challenges, if you will?

Chip Hillarides 

Yeah. Thanks, Peter. Yeah, I believe just about every company in our industry wants to improve their operations. And we all value clean water and clean air and we want safe operations, Flint, Flint Hills, we work hard to create value for our customers and meet the expectations of our communities. By being a good operator, you know, good neighbor, good corporate citizen. That's what our stewardship commitment is about. An early leak detection is an important element of safe and clean operations, and the communities where we operate value that that's why we try to lead by example. And as we've shared this solution, this Molex solution with our community partners, we've received very positive feedback. They really value knowing that we're continuously monitoring operations and ensuring that that we're keeping ourselves safe and we're keeping them safe. And so I think that's critically important and we continue to get very good feedback.

Peter Manos  

Excellent. I'd like to thank both of you for an interesting session.