Honeywell Technologies has launched Forge Plant Cognition, a new industrial AI platform. The company built it with NVIDIA AI and accelerated computing capabilities. Dell Technologies’ AI infrastructure also supports the platform. Forge Plant Cognition helps refining, petrochemical, and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) operators generate greater value from their existing assets. In addition, it aims to transform how plants operate.
Dangote’s petroleum refinery in Lekki, Nigeria, will host the first deployment. The facility is one of the world’s largest single-train refineries. The project targets higher throughput. At the same time, it strengthens the capabilities of local engineering and operations teams.
Based on preliminary data, Honeywell Technologies estimates meaningful gains from the platform. AI-enabled optimization with Forge Plant Cognition could deliver an operational benefit of more than 29 cents a barrel at the Lekki Refinery. At full-capacity throughput, this would generate more than $60 million in gross benefit per year for this specific facility. However, the company calculates this figure before implementation costs. The estimate is also not guaranteed. Actual results will depend on refinery configuration, operating conditions, crude slate, utilization, baseline performance, data quality, product margins, and customer implementation.
“Industrial plants are among the most complex operating environments in the world, with enormous potential to realize greater performance and value using digital technologies and connected solutions,” said Rajesh Gattupalli, President, Honeywell Technologies UOP. “By collaborating with Dangote to launch Forge Plant Cognition, we are demonstrating how AI can help transform industrial operations, driving new levels of productivity, reliability and profitability at significant scale.”
How Forge Plant Cognition Uses Physical AI and Process Expertise
Honeywell Technologies built the new solution on its recently launched Forge Cognition platform. It combines process technology expertise, industrial automation, and AI capabilities. As a result, operators can identify performance constraints, anticipate problems, and turn insights into actions that improve operational outcomes.
Conventional AI solutions mainly analyze data and generate recommendations. Forge Plant Cognition goes further. It combines real-time operating data, engineering knowledge, and Honeywell Technologies UOP’s deep process expertise. Furthermore, it pairs them with trusted calculations and physics-based models.
The platform delivers value across three critical areas:
- Capture hidden margin: Identify bottlenecks and help optimize throughput, yield, and product value across interconnected processes.
- Protect production: Detect emerging equipment and process issues, recommend corrective actions, and help minimize unplanned downtime.
- Scale industrial expertise: Embed specialized process knowledge into AI-powered workflows, helping operators and engineers make faster, more consistent decisions.
Honeywell Technologies UOP brings more than a century of experience designing and operating refineries. Consequently, the team knows how even the smallest changes in operating conditions affect efficiency and throughput. Specialized AI capabilities use integrated intelligence based on this knowledge. They identify operational constraints and recommend actions to improve plant performance.
Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA powers the platform, and Dell Services provides support. NVIDIA Nemotron open models power agents that understand and interpret operational data. Meanwhile, NVIDIA Omniverse libraries help create a digital twin of the plant and its processes for simulation-based training and planning. Additionally, NVIDIA Cosmos open models and the NVIDIA Metropolis VSS Blueprint enable vision AI agents for real-time alerts and anomaly detection. Finally, the NVIDIA PhysicsNemo framework builds, trains, and fine-tunes efficient physics AI models at scale. These models support innovative digital twin integrated agile plant optimization workflows.
Driving Expanded Value with Dangote
Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lekki, Nigeria, will integrate its operating data with Honeywell Technologies’ process expertise and AI-powered optimization capabilities. This integration will help the team identify operational constraints, accelerate troubleshooting, and make more informed decisions.
“We chose Honeywell Technologies’ Forge Plant Cognition because the platform can deliver unrivaled industrial expertise combined with differentiated AI capabilities to help us optimize performance, unlock greater value from our operations and evolve how we operate our assets,” said David Bird, CEO and Managing Director, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE. “This investment reinforces our commitment to operational excellence, advancing technology and developing Nigerian talent to operate at world-class standards.”
Beyond operational performance, Forge Plant Cognition will support Dangote’s commitment to building a highly skilled local workforce. The platform embeds specialized process knowledge into AI-powered tools. Therefore, engineers and operators can access expert guidance, solve problems faster, and build technical capabilities. As Dangote expands its workforce, these capabilities will support its goal of a workforce that is 70% Nigerian. Over time, this will reduce reliance on external expertise.
The two companies have collaborated for nearly a decade. They recently announced that Honeywell Technologies is helping the refinery raise its capacity from 650,000 to 1.4 million barrels per day within three years. To achieve this, Honeywell Technologies is optimizing existing assets and speeding up market delivery.
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News Source: Businesswire.com
