Roger Nounou, Global Sales Director, mPACT2WO (Molex)

We are looking forward to seeing the Molex-led Roundtable on Day 1 of NARTC titled “The Myth of Right Time to find Right Leak” can you talk us through this “Myth” and how it impacts site security?

Existing time-based monitoring relies on the “time of inspection” than “time of emission event”. Even though the time-based monitoring is the established method, it is a ‘myth’ to assume the approach will lead to detection of a leak soon after it happens. The delays due to time-based monitoring can delay emission detection leading to longer times between the leak origination and an effective repair.

Emissions management, compliance and reduction has become vital in all parts of the Energy Value Chain, but in particular what do Molex offer the downstream sector in this space?

Molex solutions offer a unified approach to emissions management with compliance solutions and early warning solutions. The solutions enable a shift to event-based monitoring using fixed, continuous sensors for real-time emission alerts and timely corrections. For LDAR Method 21 compliance, Molex solution enables a systemized shift to recent US EPA approved alternative means of emission limitation (AMEL). For early warning, Molex solution enables early detection, isolation and repair of emissions. Earlier action reduces emissions and can positively affect in-refinery and outside the fenceline impacts.

When we spoke last year, many refiners still believed investing in Digital technology was a “Nice to Have”, do you think the mood-music has changed in North American Downstream in the last 12 months? What have you seen?

Refineries are under growing scrutiny from regulations & audits (Fenceline, GMAP drive-thru) and citizen groups who can get real-time 3rd party data on site emissions. Existing manual, time-based events leave the refiners exposed to regulatory and citizen challenges. The growing scrutiny has been a motivator for many refiners to embrace Molex early warning solutions and recent EPA approved AMEL for LDAR is also motivating refiners to explore Molex compliance solutions. Molex digital solutions are designed to be operator-centric and hence are easy to adopt compared to legacy digital solutions.

What can our network expect from Molex at NARTC 2023, sponsoring for the second year, with a technical presentation, a roundtable and a booth in the exhibition, what should the NARTC attendees be looking out for?

Over the last year Molex solutions have demonstrated value at scale for LDAR compliance and for early warning for Fenceline, Tank Farms, process safety and other emission use-cases. We will be sharing many of these case studies and best practices. NARTC attendees can leverage Molex value proof-points to plan their own shift from time-based monitoring to event-based monitoring to reduce emissions, enhance compliance and process safety.

Can you expand on recent US EPA approval of alternative means of emission limitation (AMEL) for LDAR?

On January 25, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved an alternative means of emission limitation (AMEL) request from Flint Hills Resources (FHR) LLC. The alternative replaces the manual component-by-component periodic EPA Method 21 monitoring requirements with a monitoring and documentation system comprised of continuously operating leak detection sensor networks (LDSN) and work practices that are detailed as a detection response framework (DRF). This is a result of a multi-year, collaboration between Molex, EPA and Flint Hills Resources (FHR) to innovate a fixed, continuous detection mechanism as an alternative to existing manual component-by-component periodic EPA Method 21 monitoring requirements. Molex solution systemizes the EPA approved AMEL method in AirCompliance solution. Molex AirCompliance codifies AMEL method and guides users on meeting the new sensor coverage, accuracy, uptime, equivalence and the DRF workflow requirements.

There have been attempts to develop innovative solutions for emissions management that failed to gain wide-spread acceptance. How is Molex solution different?

Past solutions took a technology-first approach in isolation of regulatory and industrial guidance. These solutions excelled at technology but didn’t enable a reliable paradigm shift from time-based to event-based emissions monitoring. Hence, they failed to gain wide-spread acceptance. Molex solution started with a three-way collaboration including regulatory (EPA) and industry (Flint Hills Resources) representation. The collaboration ensured a pragmatic solution that meets completeness concerns by regulatory agency and adoption concerns by industrial sites.

February 6 - 7 2023, Houston, Texas

Connecting US refineries with the cutting-edge technologies that will determine the role of refining in the Energy Transition.