Superstructure Optimization for Oil Refinery Design

• Published in: Petroleum science and technology Vol. 28; no. 14; pp. 1457 - 1465
• Main Authors: Khor, C. S., Elkamel, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colchester Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2010; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Crude oil; Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products; Energy; Environmental impact; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Life cycle assessment; Life cycle engineering; mixed-integer linear programming (MIP); Optimization; Petroleum products, gas and fuels. Motor fuels, lubricants and asphalts; process synthesis; Processing of crude oil and oils from shales and tar sands. Processes. Equipment. Refinery and treatment units; Refineries; refinery design; refinery topology; superstructure optimization; Superstructures; Topology; Service life; mixed-integer linear programming (MIP); refinery design; superstructure optimization; Crude oil; refinery topology; Linear programming; Refinery; Modeling; Optimization; process synthesis
• ISSN: 1091-6466; 1532-2459
• DOI: 10.1080/10916460903096806

In this work, the optimal petroleum refinery topology is formulated as a conceptual process synthesis problem using the superstructure optimization approach. We begin with the development of a state-task network (STN)-based superstructure representation that is sufficiently rich to encompass all possible topology alternatives of a conventional oil refinery. Subsequently, a biobjective mixed-integer linear program (MILP) of maximization of profit and minimization of environmental impacts is formulated according to the constructed superstructure. Then, based on a given set of fixed amounts of desired products with available crude oil, the model is solved to generate an optimal topology. The proposed optimization framework also incorporates principles from life cycle analysis (LCA) to account for potential environmental impacts. A numerical example is illustrated to implement the modeling approach.