Black & Veatch presented BVInfraIQ, a new digital platform that combines artificial intelligence with engineering models to transform large volumes of operational data into useful information for the management of critical infrastructures.
The solution is designed to provide prioritized, real-time recommendations and help improve asset performance, reliability, availability, and cost efficiency. Its initial application will focus on remote liquefied natural gas (LNG) installations.
BVInfraIQ combines artificial intelligence with engineering models
Unlike solutions that are mainly limited to monitoring equipment or facilities individually, BVInfraIQ analyzes how different assets interact within the same infrastructure system.
This approach allows operators and managers to gain a more complete view of the behavior of their facilities and to make decisions based on operational data analyzed together.
To achieve this, Black & Veatch integrates artificial intelligence with engineering principles, economic models, and systems-scale analysis. The platform also incorporates knowledge derived from the company’s experience in process design, facility operation, and technical consulting.
From this combination, the collected data is converted into recommendations aimed at improving variables such as performance, reliability, uptime, and operating costs.
The platform also features information dashboards tailored to different profiles within an organization. Operators, managers, and business leaders can access real-time operational information and view projections on asset performance.
The platform also uses feedback loops powered by artificial intelligence, allowing it to progressively adjust its analyses as it incorporates new information from operations.
Remote LNG assets will be its first application
Black & Veatch will begin using BVInfraIQ on remote LNG assets, leveraging the firm’s more than six decades of experience in the liquefied natural gas sector.
According to the company, its proprietary technologies are present in more than half of the floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facilities that are currently operating or under construction worldwide.
This type of facility represents an environment particularly suitable for the use of operational intelligence tools due to the large number of parameters that must be continuously monitored.
In remote assets, small variations in equipment operation can impact production, facility availability, or resource consumption. Therefore, having integrated information can facilitate a faster response to operational changes.
With this platform, Black & Veatch seeks to centralize this data and turn it into recommendations backed by engineering criteria.
AI seeks to turn operational data into decisions
The platform addresses one of the main challenges of current industrial infrastructures: having huge volumes of information does not necessarily mean that it can be used quickly and effectively to make decisions.
Mario Azar, president and CEO of Black & Veatch, noted that the company’s clients face increasingly complex operational challenges and need reliable solutions that allow them to gain strategic advantages from their data.
In this context, BVInfraIQ combines Black & Veatch’s engineering and consulting expertise with advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to support the management of energy, water, and other critical resources.
The platform also generates recommendations based on physical principles, allowing digital analyses to be linked to models that represent the actual functioning of assets and industrial processes.
Black & Veatch plans to expand BVInfraIQ to other sectors
Although LNG facilities will be the first field of application, Black & Veatch plans to extend BVInfraIQ into other areas linked to critical infrastructure.
The sectors included are power generation plants, data centers and various industrial facilities, in these environments, the platform will seek to improve operational performance, increase asset reliability, and support their long-term sustainability.
With the launch of BVInfraIQ, Black & Veatch joins the growing adoption of artificial intelligence within industrial infrastructure, where advanced data analytics and predictive models are acquiring an increasingly important role in technical and operational decision-making.
Source: Gas Processing & LNG
Photo: Shutterstock
