Emerson helped Rompetrol Rafinare reduce the volume of alarms in its distributed control system (DCS) by over 95% using DeltaV AgileOps operations management software at its Petromidia refinery in Navodari, Romania. The project improved the control system’s alarm performance, increased operator efficiency, and brought the refinery’s alarm rate in line with the recommendations of the Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association (EEMUA) Guide 191 at the largest refinery in Romania.
With an annual processing capacity of approximately five million tons of petroleum products, the Petromidia facility operates a wide range of conversion units and maintains a Nelson Complexity Index of 9.32, generating significant volumes of process data and alarms. Over time, control system alarms exceeded recommended best practice limits, exposing operators to a high volume of alarms, especially during refinery disruptions. Repeated alarms also contributed to unnecessary noise, making it difficult for operators to identify and respond to critical process events. Operators routinely faced an overwhelming influx of alarms, while some alarms remained permanently active even during normal operating conditions.
To address these challenges, Rominserv, Rompetrol’s engineering and maintenance services provider, worked with Emerson to improve alarm quality and reduce false alarms across the refinery. The team implemented Emerson’s DeltaV AgileOps software to provide continuous visibility into alarm performance, including average and peak alarm rates, recurring alarm sequences, and time spent outside recommended operating thresholds.
DeltaV AgileOps software collects alarm and event data directly from the DeltaV Distributed Control System that manages the plant, allowing engineering teams to identify high-frequency alarms, time-out alarms, and “problematic” false alarms responsible for disproportionate alarm activity. Using performance dashboards and historical trend analysis tools, refinery personnel evaluated alarm behavior during steady-state operation, startup conditions, and process disturbances, while validating proposed changes to alarm limits, priorities, and remediation strategies against actual plant data.
As a result of the project, the refinery reduced the number of alarms generated from over two million per month during normal operation to fewer than 50,000 per month. According to EEMUA 191 guidelines, operators should not receive more than one alarm every ten minutes during steady-state operation.
“Alarm management plays a critical role in maintaining safe and efficient refinery operation,” said Nilca George, Process Engineering Director at Rompetrol Rafinare. “The continuous monitoring of alarm performance and analytics provided by DeltaV AgileOps have significantly reduced the alarm burden on operators, while improving overall operational awareness. The resulting system is more stable and better adapted to real-world conditions in the refinery, allowing operators to focus on relevant alarms and respond more effectively to process disturbances.”
The implementation has also improved long-term visibility into control system performance through automated alarm and event reporting. The retention period for alarm and event history has been extended – from approximately four to five days to nearly two months – enabling more efficient analysis of recurring issues and supporting better-informed maintenance and optimization decisions.
“Modern control systems provide enormous amounts of operational information, but operators need the right context and visibility to act effectively,” explained Guido Wink, vice president of Emerson’s Control Systems and Software division in Europe. “DeltaV AgileOps helps organizations monitor and continuously improve alarm system performance so operators can focus on the events that matter most to safe and efficient operation.”
