In the height of summer, within the factory grounds of PetroChina's Liaoyang Petrochemical Company, rows of refining towers and tanks create a pleasing contrast with the surrounding greenery. Here, the old production model of manual inspections and experience-based operations has been completely abandoned, replaced by digital technology that empowers the entire production chain. This veteran state-owned enterprise, with a 54-year history and the birthplace of China's first "Dacron" raw material, is experiencing a new vitality through a deep digital and intelligent transformation.
The crisp beeps of smart devices inject a technological atmosphere into the quiet production unit area. In the Catalytic Combination Unit of the Oil and Chemical Department, shift leader Liu Yi uses a smart inspection terminal, following the system's intelligently planned route to precisely reach various monitoring points for inspection. Without paper records or manual coordination, smart equipment, with its precise guidance and real-time alerts, acts as a "personal guardian" for frontline production safety.
The Oil and Chemical Department is the core production base of Liaoyang Petrochemical, with 10 core units solidifying the company's production foundation. Chief Engineer Wang Tiansheng explains that in the Catalytic Combination Unit, a series of digital scenarios have installed a powerful digital engine for the units, providing robust support for safe production, quality improvement, and efficiency gains. The electronic work permit system has simplified, optimized, and closed the loop on cumbersome approval processes, increasing approval efficiency by nearly three times.
Digital empowerment not only optimizes management processes but also brings multiple leaps in capacity, efficiency, and environmental protection. Liaoyang Petrochemical independently developed China's first molecular-level, full-process closed-loop simulation and optimization system for a catalytic cracking unit. It now takes only 5 minutes to complete raw material analysis and testing, achieving a qualitative leap in detection efficiency.
By building an intelligent control system, 25 core variables precisely regulate the production conditions, reducing the workload for frontline operators by over 48%. Supported by this technological empowerment, the yield of high-value-added products has steadily increased, generating new annual benefits of over one million yuan, while carbon emissions from the units have consistently decreased. This truly achieves the multiple benefits of quality improvement, efficiency gains, consumption reduction, and pollution reduction simultaneously.
At the same time, the company has leveraged its full-area 5G network to build a full lifecycle management system for equipment. Intelligent systems like the 3D digital factory and a water cooler leak prevention early warning system are fully operational, allowing for the early prediction of equipment hazards and precise fault handling, effectively avoiding losses from equipment downtime. Not long ago, Liaoyang Petrochemical was successfully rated as a "Provincial Smart Factory" in Liaoning, becoming a benchmark for the transformation of traditional industrial enterprises in the province.
If the intelligent frontline units are the "digital engine" for production, then the Production Control Integrated Platform in the Dispatch Command Center is the "smart brain" governing the entire company's operations.
Entering the Dispatch Command Center, data on the large, ultra-high-definition screen jumps in real-time, and operational diagrams update dynamically. Over 300 core production indicators cover the entire supply, production, storage, and sales chain. The operational status of every unit and every piece of equipment in the plant is clearly visible and fully controllable. This domestically developed intelligent platform integrates data from 16 specialized systems, completely breaking down data silos and information islands, enabling interconnected production data, intelligent risk assessment, and closed-loop problem resolution.
"In the past, handling equipment anomalies meant making phone calls one by one and coordinating at multiple levels, which was time-consuming and laborious, often delaying the response time," says Wang Hailong, the duty officer at the General Dispatch Room, who has witnessed the company's digital transformation. Now, the system can automatically capture abnormal conditions, instantly push alarm information and response plans, and automatically issue a voice reminder if no response is received within two minutes. From detecting an anomaly to issuing a handling command, it takes as little as 180 seconds, increasing emergency response efficiency tenfold.
Li Zhenzhong, Deputy Chief Engineer and Director of the Planning and Technology Information Department at Liaoyang Petrochemical, states that over the past five years, the company has tackled the "bottleneck" technical problem of PETG co-polyester raw materials, pushing the industry from traditional oil refining towards high-end new materials. This has successfully earned the company a place among the A-level enterprises in the performance assessment of the China National Petroleum Corporation.
From manual monitoring to intelligent control, from experience-based production to data-driven operations, and from traditional heavy industry to green, intelligent manufacturing, Liaoyang Petrochemical is proactively transforming. It is reshaping its production, management, and development models through digitalization and intelligent upgrades. In the future, Liaoyang Petrochemical will continue to deepen its digital transformation, striving to build giant, distinctive products and characteristics, and serve as a "seed team" for the high-quality development of state-owned enterprises.