Multiproduct Pipeline System Research Articles

The pipeline system with which this paper is concerned transports a act of various oil products produced by a number of gas plants located along the main pipeline. Each gas plant has a storage tank for each product it produces. The problem is to determine a feasible sequence in which the various products are pumped within each schedule period such that the interface loss is minimized. This paper proposes an algorithmic approach in which suitable dispatching rules are developed. The functions of this algorithm are to : (1) determine the sequence and batch size of products flowing in the pipeline ; (2) update the storage tanks and pipeline status after each pumping ; and (3) identify the type, identify the number, and compute the volume of interfaces created during the schedule period. A comparative evaluation of both existing and proposed procedures are conducted for seven consecutive production periods (600 hours). The criterion considered is the ratio of interface volume created to the total volume of products pumped. The average improvement is 44–5% over the results obtained by the existing procedure.