Abstract
A general mathematical framework for the optimization of compressors operations in air separation plants that considers operating constraints for compressors, several types of maintenance policies and managerial aspects is presented. The proposed approach can be used in a rolling horizon scheme. The operating status, the power consumption, the startup and the shutdown costs for compressors, the compressor-to-header assignments as well as the outlet mass flow rates for compressed air and distillation products are optimized under full demand satisfaction. The power consumption in the compressors is expressed by regression functions that have been derived using technical and historical data. Several case studies of an industrial air separation plant are solved. The results demonstrate that the simultaneous optimization of maintenance and operational tasks of the compressors favor the generation of better solutions in terms of total costs.
Highlights
In most process industries, compressed air, which is provided by compressors, is an indispensable utility for the main production processes
The above articles focused on the planning of the operational modes of the overall air separation plant, but they did not address the detailed scheduling of the main components of the air separation plant that are the compressors and the distillation columns
We mainly focus on the optimization of the operations of the network of compressors, which is the major energy-consuming part of the air separation plant
Summary
In most process industries, compressed air, which is provided by compressors, is an indispensable utility for the main production processes. Kopanos et al [14] presented an optimization framework for the energy production planning of a network of combined heat and power generators. These articles offer a starting point for the work presented here These papers do not address the simultaneous optimization of maintenance and operational tasks of the compressors, showing that there are open questions. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous research in the open literature that considers the simultaneous optimization of operational and maintenance activities in network of compressors. This topic is addressed in the current paper.
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