Modeling and solution approaches for crude oil scheduling in a refinery

Abstract

One of the most critical activities in a refinery is the scheduling of loading and unloading of crude oil. Better analysis of this activity gives rise to better use of a system’s resources, decrease losses, increase security as well as control of the entire supply chain. It is important that the crude oil is loaded and unloaded contiguously in storage tanks, primarily for security reasons (e.g. possibility of system failures) but also to reduce the setup costs incurred when flow between a dock/ports and a tank and/or between a tank and a crude distillation unit is reinitialized. The aim of this book chapter is to present a review on modeling and solution approaches in refinery industry. Mathematical programming modeling approaches are presented as well as exact, heuristic and hybrid solution approaches, widely applicable to most refineries where several modes of blending and several recipe preparation alternatives are used. © 2018, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature.