Abstract
Abstract Because of its potential benefits, petroleum refineries are increasingly concerned about their planning operations. Although some refinery models for production planning were proposed, they are quite limited in their usefulness. This study describes an integrated approach involving nonlinear optimization and simulation of refinery units in order to obtain a production planning for a given refinery that maximizes profit. The problem is modeled through the LINGO 16.0 software interface and is solved using LINGO’s Global Solver on an Intel i5-2410M processor (8 GB RAM). A case study pertaining to the Refinaria de Paulinia (REPLAN) is proposed, and external loads, product adding, and product pricing is studied, achieving a global optimum solution for the blending in less than a second in every case.The small computational time assures the model usefulness in refinery planning, being important for sensitivity analyses and the determination of break-even points of external loads and of new products. These results indicate that this new approach has a considerable potential for achieving significant gains in terms of planning and profit increase. The model can therefore be used by planners, with significant advantages over other models. The flexibility of the model allied with its quick generation of good solutions is highlighted.
Highlights
A refinery consists of multiple processes that divide, blend and react hundreds of hydrocarbon types, inorganic and metallic compounds, with the purpose of obtaining commercial products
We propose methods combined with refinery optimization, such as sensitivity analysis and the determination of break-even points of external loads and of new products, which aims to enhance the refinery planning and increase its profit
A global optimum in the blending operations was reached in every case studied using LINGO optimization solver, assuring optimal results on refinery planning
Summary
Leonardo de Pádua Agripa Sales, Francisco Murilo Tavares de Luna2,* and Bruno de Athayde Prata. Some refinery models for production planning were proposed, they are quite limited in their usefulness. This study describes an integrated approach involving nonlinear optimization and simulation of refinery units in order to obtain a production planning for a given refinery that maximizes profit. A case study pertaining to the Refinaria de Paulínia (REPLAN) is proposed, and external loads, product adding, and product pricing is studied, achieving a global optimum solution for the blending in less than a second in every case. The small computational time assures the model usefulness in refinery planning, being important for sensitivity analyses and the determination of break-even points of external loads and of new products. The results indicate that this new approach has a considerable potential for achieving significant gains in terms of planning and profit increase.
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