Strategy of changing cracking furnace feedstock based on improved group search optimization

• Published in: Chinese journal of chemical engineering Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 181 - 191
• Main Authors: Nian, Xiaoyu, Wang, Zhenlei, Qian, Feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 2015
• Subjects: Adaptive penalty function; Algorithms; Chemical engineering; Cracking furnace; Double fitness values; Feedstock; Fracture mechanics; Furnaces; Group search optimizer; Optimization; Scheduling; Scheduling of feedstock; Searching; 优化算法; 加工时间; 原料; 引导搜索; 生产调度; 约束优化问题; 裂解炉; 金属温度; Adaptive penalty function; Scheduling of feedstock; Double fitness values; Group search optimizer; Cracking furnace
• ISSN: 1004-9541; 2210-321X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2014.09.027

The scheduling process of cracking furnace feedstock is important in an ethylene plant. In this paper it is described as a constraint optimization problem. The constraints consist of the cycle of operation, maximum tube metal temperature, process time of each feedstock, and flow rate. A modified group search optimizer is proposed to deal with the optimization problem. Double fitness values are defined for every group. First, the factor of penalty function should be changed adaptively by the ratio of feasible and general solutions. Second, the ＂excellent＂ infeasible solution should be retained to guide the search. Some benchmark functions are used to evaluate the new algorithm. Finally, the proposed algorithm is used to optimize the scheduling process of cracking furnace feedstock. And the optimizing result is obtained.