Digital Transformation as the Development Driver of Resource-Saving in the Petrochemicals Industry

Abstract

The transition of the Russian economy to the sustainable development is accompanied by a negative production externalities, which is manifested in high-intensity environment pollution, environmental abuse and damage health and interests of society. Industry 4.0 is of interest in solving this problem, since automation and digitalization tools can rationalize resource consuming, and, consequently, solve the problems of natural resource extraction and environmental violations in cities, regions, and countries. This problem led to the choice of the research subject and contributed to the determination of the goal of our research, which is to identify the links between the petrochemical industry' digital transformation and resource conservation in the industry. The research methods are visualization of processes, methods of primary (diagram construction) and secondary (mathematical modelling in economics in the multiple regression equations' format) data processing. The results of the research are the following points: a schematic diagram of a blockchain platform for interaction between two links in the chemical supply chain is proposed, that visualizes the information exchange process, which is the basis of the SenSef system. As a result, dynamic analysis revealed the positions of petrochemical production is relatively resource-saving development path, and given the activity of digitalization processes, that generally indicates the concentration of managerial decisions, primarily on energy effi ciency and on rationalization of water consumption by industry. Based on mathematical modelling in economics (represented by the equations for the dependence of resource consumption on digital factors), the drivers of energy and water saving in the manufacturing and petrochemical enterprises are determined. Priority tools from the point of view of resource saving are proposed, automation and monitoring of which will ensure the industrial development along the path of sustainable development. The practical signifi cance of the results obtained is to provide opportunities for rational organization of petrochemical production due to resource-saving drivers (including digitalization).