Panama Canal Authority
An LNG tanker passes through the Agua Clara Locks at the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal.
Earlier this month Black & Veatch launched BVInfraIQ, a platform of digital tools that combines artificial intelligence with the firm’s own engineering expertise and voluminous library of project and infrastructure asset data.
Created as a platform for infrastructure owners—who don’t necessarily need to be a client of the engineering firm—BVInfraIQ uses 100-plus years of Black & Veatch project information to try to help owners and operators improve performance of their assets, strengthen resilience, speed up decision making and contribute to long-term sustainability. The platform’s first targeted application is management of liquefied natural gas infrastructure.
Moving beyond monitoring and management of a single facility, BVInfraIQ converts operational data into intelligence on how entire systems work together, offering recommendations to improve performance, reliability, uptime and cost efficiency across integrated assets such as combined-cycle generation plants, pipelines and liquefaction stations.
“Ultimately, we’ll wrap in some of our other solutions such as water and grid, but our first deployment is in the LNG space,” says Justin Ellrich, associate vice president and liquid natural gas technology manager at the firm’s Overland Park, Kan., heaquarters.
“[The system is] AI augmented or enabled,” Ellrich adds, “so we’re going to have some data processing capability, but what the initial build is going to be is some models that are physics-based that come from our deep experience in LNG and using our PRICO [technology].”
Ellrich stresses the platform is not just a data dump for artificial intelligence algorithms to process and give recommendations. “What we’re really embedding is the Black & Veatch engineering experience and technology experience to be a little more predictive,” he says.
Ellrich adds that the intelligence and insights from the platform can be presented to operators in real time so they can see operations data on an hourly basis or several times during a shift.
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Black & Veatch sees this platform of digital tools as a natural extension of its consulting and advisory services that it and other large engineering firms have come to offer operators and owners in recent decades. Ellrich stresses that while the insights are based on the engineering firm’s institutional learnings, no actual project data owned by previous clients is visible in BVInfraIQ.
The advances in LNQ liquefaction in BVINfraIQ, such as its patented PRICO liquefaction technology, form the basis of the firm’s Advanced Liquefaction Architecture, announced Sept. 14 at the GasTech Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Ellrich says pricing for BVInfraIQ will be based on various services clients can choose from the platform.
ENR Senior Technology, Equipment and Products Editor Jeff Yoders has been writing about design and construction innovations for 20 years. He is a five-time Jesse H. Neal award winner and multiple ASBPE winner for his tech coverage. Jeff previously wrote about construction technology for Structural Engineer, CE News and Building Design + Construction. He also wrote about materials prices, construction procurement and estimation for AGMetalMiner.com. He lives in Ohio.
