March 20, 2025
Denmark’s Largest Refinery Focuses on Digitalization
With its digital infrastructure in the public sector, healthcare, education and industry, Denmark is one of the world’s pioneers when it comes to digitalization. It is therefore obvious that Denmark’s largest refinery in Kalundborg is also relying on innovative technologies and digital transformation to optimize its processes.
Digitalization and Decarbonization: A Refinery in Transition
The tranquil Danish port town of Kalundborg with its medieval town center and the world’s only five-towered brick church is located around 100 kilometers west of Copenhagen on the Zealand peninsula. The bay of Kalundborg forms a contrast to the historic old town. Characterized by refineries and power plants, it is home to the country’s largest energy park.
The Kalundborg refinery, which belongs to the Klesch Group, processes around 5.5 million tons of crude oil, condensate, and raw materials every year. Denmark’s largest refinery is considered one of the most energy-efficient in Europe. For years, the energy park has ensured a stable supply of energy and fuel for Denmark and other Scandinavian and north-western European countries.
The switch to digitalized processes and workflows began several years ago. However, the refinery is not only undergoing a process of digitalization, but is also on the path to a climate-neutral energy supply. In the future, the company plans to gradually switch to a more environmentally friendly product mix—away from petrol, diesel, and heavy fuel oil and towards modern power-to-X processes, in line with Denmark’s decarbonization strategy. The Kalundborg refinery is already part of a local industrial symbiosis project in which neighboring companies each use residual products from production as valuable resources. Together, digitalization, decarbonization, and the sustainable use of resources create innovative, efficient, and sustainable growth for the refinery.
The Next Level: The Latest 5G-Capable Smartphone Generation
The Kalundborg refinery has been relying on intrinsically safe mobile devices from Pepperl+Fuchs for the digitalization of its communication and processes for several years now. This is because the industry environment poses special challenges for digital communication: some plant areas are classified as explosion-hazardous and therefore require appropriate explosion protection precautions.
“In the past, processes were paper-based and therefore prone to errors. Things are different today,” says Søren Gothil Hansen, Manager of Mechanical, Civil & Inspection (MCI) at the Kalundborg refinery. The mobile devices, which are certified for use in explosion-hazardous areas, quickly caught on among the refinery’s mobile workers. Daily tasks such as maintenance and inspection work, data collection in the plant, and compliance with safety regulations have been considerably simplified as a result.
“In order to meet the requirements of the next stage of digitalization, the hardware should be brought up to the latest technical standards. It should have future-oriented 5G technology and have as little dependency as possible on other internal company databases and ERP systems,” says Søren Gothil Hansen, explaining the most important criteria. “It also needed to meet the needs of our employees, such as good usability of the mobile devices and a powerful camera.” The company therefore decided to rely on the latest 5G-capable smartphone generation Smart-Ex® 03 from Pepperl+Fuchs. The automation specialist’s enterprise mobility solutions combine state-of-the-art smartphone technology and intrinsic safety in a single device.
Thanks to the latest 5G technology and Wi-Fi® 6, the intrinsically safe Smart-Ex 03 smartphone enables a wide range of digital application scenarios in harsh environments and potentially explosive atmospheres up to Zone 1 and 2.
The Smart-Ex 03 is particularly robust and can be operated reliably even in rain or snow. It is also the only intrinsically safe smartphone on the market that can be unlocked with a fingerprint. The use of individual apps can be controlled via authentication rights.
Made for the Toughest Demands
After an intensive test phase, the first Smart-Ex 03 demo devices impressed the mobile workers at the energy park. The employees were actively involved in the selection of suitable devices. The top priority was the performance of the camera: with 13 mega pixels and a macro function, documentation and scanning tasks can be carried out easily with the Smart-Ex 03. The smartphones also impressed with their ruggedness—the devices could withstand impacts or being dropped. Due to their handy size with a 6-inch display, they can be stowed away in work clothing without restricting movement. “The glove mode, a pen, and the speech-to-text function are particularly useful for daily work with protective clothing or in rain and snow, making the smartphones easy to operate at all times,” explains Hans Lissau, Enterprise Mobility Sales Manager for Northern and Eastern Europe at Pepperl+Fuchs. The high-contrast screen is easy to read even in sunlight. The devices are therefore ideal for the toughest requirements in outdoor use and in explosion-hazardous areas.
Ideal for inspection work in the plant: the intrinsically safe smartphone impresses with useful software applications, augmented reality applications, and a powerful camera.
The 6-inch Smart-Ex 03 smartphone can also be operated with work gloves.
An Overall Digital Concept
“The switch to Smart-Ex 03 has opened up completely new possibilities for us,” reports Søren Gothil Hansen. “The smartphone is so easy to use and manage that we decided very early on not only to use it as part of our solution, but to build the entire solution around it.” Thanks to the Android operating system and Android Enterprise Recommended certification, setting up and managing the smartphones via a device management system also went smoothly on the IT side. The company looked at various providers for the right software platform and found the right solution in the Danish software company Azenzus. This was quick and easy to implement in the overall digital concept and optimizes the existing data handling and asset management.
Smart-Ex 03: Future-Oriented for Further Digitization Projects
The Smart-Ex 03 is also an icebreaker for other digitalization projects at the Kalundborg refinery. The energy company is considering the use of Augmented Reality applications and AI functions, for example for the automatic identification of tools or components. Another option is the “Change Identification” function, which makes it possible to scan locations or objects with the camera and automatically detect differences to a previous scan. This means that damage to the system can be identified immediately during an inspection and repair measures can be initiated. “The use of the Smart-Ex 03 shows how easy it is to implement digitalization in industry and at the same time offers tangible added value for companies and their employees,” concludes Hans Lissau.
View over Denmark's largest Refinery in Kalundborg.
Watch video
Smart-Ex® 03: High-Performance 5G Smartphone for Hazardous Areas