PROCESS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 18(5) 777786 (2010)

A Novel Scheduling Strategy for Crude Oil Blending*

BAI Liang ()1, JIANG Yongheng ()1, HUANG Dexian ()1,** and LIU Xianguang ()2
1 2

Institute of Process Control Engineering, Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China TECHFLY Company, Beijing 100083, China

Abstract For those refineries which have to deal with different types of crude oil, blending is an attractive solution to obtain a quality feedstock. In this paper, a novel scheduling strategy is proposed for a practical crude oil blending process. The objective is to keep the property of feedstock, mainly described by the true boiling point (TBP) data, consistent and suitable. Firstly, the mathematical model is established. Then, a heuristically initialized hybrid iterative (HIHI) algorithm based on a two-level optimization structure, in which tabu search (TS) and differential evolution (DE) are used for upper-level and lower-level optimization, respectively, is proposed to get the model solution. Finally, the effectiveness and efficiency of the scheduling strategy is validated via real data from a certain refinery. Keywords crude oil blending, scheduling, multilevel iterative algorithm, intelligent optimization, constrained optimization

INTRODUCTION

In the past few decades, advanced process control and process optimization technology have been widely implemented in chemical industry and achieved enormous profits [1-3], but the successful implementation of these technology require a premise that properties of the feedstock are relatively stable. However, nowadays along with the increase in crude oil processing capacity, refineries, especially the ones located in the area near seas or rivers, often refine different types of imported crude oil from around the world to satisfy production requirements. This fact brings about large fluctuation of feedstock property, which directly affects the production stability. In addition, with the constant improvements of modeling and optimization technology, plant-level optimization has moved to refinery-wide scheduling optimization. However, successful implementation of refinery-wide scheduling optimization needs a suitable feed crude oil with desired property as the prerequisite. In order to optimize feedstock property, scheduling of crude oil blending provides an attractive solution [4]. However, much related research concentrates on scheduling of crude oil unloading with inventory management [5-9]. There is little concept of propertyoptimized crude oil blending involved. Even in the gasoline blending research area which has become a hot field in recent years, there are only a few literatures referring scheduling and blending both at the same time [10-12]. Scheduling of blending problems are often formulated as mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model [10, 13], which is difficult to solve. Although there are some rigorous algorithms [14], such as branch and bound, outer approximation, etc., usu-

ally small-scale and convex MINLP problems can be handled efficiently. In recent decades, intelligent optimization algorithms [15] provide a way to solve complex optimization problems, especially the ones with little structural information. Tabu search (TS) [16] and differential evolution (DE) [17], due to their simple concept and easy scheme, have attracted much attention and interests. TS makes use of adaptive memory to guide a local heuristic search procedure to explore the solution space beyond local optimality and is often used to solve combinatorial optimization problems. DE makes effective use of mechanisms such as mutation, crossover, and selection to solve optimization problems through collaboration and competition with individuals in population and is widely used to tackle continuous optimization problems. Up to now, TS and DE have been successfully applied in various engineering fields [18-20]. In this paper, for the purpose of obtaining a consistent and suitable crude oil feedstock through a blending process, a novel scheduling model is established and a corresponding optimization algorithm is proposed. 2 PROBLEM DEFINITION

The flow-sheet of the practical crude oil blending process is shown in Fig. 1. There are two groups of oil tanks in the refinery. One is used for storing only one type of native crude, which is transported from an oil field nearby and has a continuous supply. The other one is used for storing several different types of imported crude. They are imported from around the world and stored with limited amount. Native and imported crudes are transported respectively through Pipenat and Pipeimp, and then mixed in Pipemix, through which the

Received 2010-01-12, accepted 2010-05-19. * Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2007AA04Z193) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (60974008, 60704032). ** To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: huangdx@tsinghua.edu.cn

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Figure 1

The flow-sheet of the practical crude oil blending process

mixed oil is fed to crude distillation unit (CDU). The following work in this paper is to research deterministic scheduling on how to blend the imported crudes into native crude in proper sequence and flow rate (ratio), so as to provide a quality feed to CDU. When sudden uncertainty happens in existing production conditions, such as storage change due to new coming oils or feed flow rate change due to processing schemes, rolling optimization will be implemented. As to the random slight fluctuation of mixed flow in Pipemix, the ratio control system in Fig. 1 will ensure the original optimal results keeping the feedstock property stable. During the process of blending, some operating rules have to be followed: (1) The native crude should be blended all the time with imported crudes; (2) The imported crude tanks should deliver oil one by one; (3) The next imported crude tank should not deliver oil until the preceding one is emptied out. The objective is to determine the following variables: (1) Blending sequence of imported crude tanks; (2) Flow rate of imported crudes under the sequence. 3 MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION

elements, such as sulfur, heavy metals [5-9], these trace elements have no direct reflection on product yield and little to do with operational stability. In this paper, true boiling point (TBP) data (yield of narrow fractions for full range distillation) are used as the main quality indexes for crude oil evaluation. Based on it, scheduling model is established. There are some assumptions regarding the refinery operations: (1) The property of crude oil is mainly measured by TBP data; (2) The changeover time required for tank switch is neglected; (3) A perfect mixing is assumed; Detailed modeling process is as follows. 3.1 Objective function

The current researches on crude oil scheduling mainly focus on how to reduce operating costs, which rarely involves feedstock property optimization. Although many studies refer to the issue of crude oil blending according to concentration of some trace

TBP data reflects the content of light and heavy components in crude oil, which directly influence the yield of different side-draw products and CDUs operational stability. Therefore, TBP data are used as the main quality indexes for evaluating crude oil property in the scheduling model. Then the objective function is formulated as Eq. (1). In the right hand side of Eq. (1), the first term is used to limit the change of mixed feed oil property between former and later scheduling periods, and the second term is used to keep mixed feed oil property to be remained around the specified property. The total property deviation is weighted by w(m).

M T 1 ( t +1) (t ) min P = w(m) Pmix O Gimp , m Pmix O Gimp ,m m =1 t = 0

( ( (

) )

( (

) )) + ( P (O (G ) , m ) P
2 T t =1 mix (t ) imp

m des

(0) m (t ) (t ) A B {G 01, G 02, } , O Gimp Oimp Pmix O Gimp , m Pdes , Gimp , Oimp , , t = 1, 2, , T (t ) ( t ) Gimp Gimp , t t , t , t T

( (

) )

) {

)
2

(1)

Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 18, No. 5, October 2010

(t ) ),O Fimp ( Gimp ) Fnat (t )
nat

779

Pmix O

( (

(t ) Gimp

) , m) =

Pimp

(t ) O Gimp ,m

) F G (t ) + P m F (t ) imp ( imp ) nat nat

(t ) Fimp Gimp

(t ) (t ) {G 01, G 02, } , O Gimp Gimp

)+ F ) {O

nat (t )

m CO G(t )

imp

A B imp , Oimp ,

(t ) where, Pmix O Gimp , m presents the yield of mth

( (

) )

} , t = 1, 2, , T , m = 1, 2, , M F ( G ) + F (t ) = F
imp (t ) imp nat

( F (G ) + F
imp (t ) imp

nat (t )

(2)

mix ,

narrow fraction of mixed feed oil. It is calculated from Eq. (2), which is a nonlinear blending equation. (t ) O Gimp represents the type of imported crude stored

(t ) {G 01, G 02, } , t = 1, 2, , T Gimp

min (t ) max Fimp < Fimp Gimp < Fimp , (t ) {G 01, G 02, } , Gimp

(5)

(t ) in tank Gimp .

t = 1, 2, , T

(6)

3.2

Constraint condition

min max Fnat < Fnat (t ) < Fnat , t = 1, 2, , T (7) where Fmix is specified flow rate of mixed feed oil.

3.2.1 Yield of light components constraints If mixed crude oil is too light, when it is processed by domestic CDU, accident may happen, so constraint (3) is set to limit the yield of light distillate of mixed feed oil.
(t ) light,max , ) , m ) < Pmix Pmix ( O ( Gimp M

m =1 (t ) Gimp

(t ) A B {G 01, G 02, } , O Gimp Oimp , Oimp , ,

) {

3.2.4 Due date constraints Equations (8)-(10) are used to calculate the time when each imported crude tank finishes delivering oil. Constraints (11) express that each imported crude tank should be emptied out before a due date so as to receive coming new crudes. Constraint (12) indicates the whole scheduling should end before the scheduling horizon. Et (0) = 0 (8)
(t ) (t ) imp ( Gimp ) Fimp (Gimp ) = Vimp ,
(t ) Gimp

t = 1, 2, , T

(3)

light,max where Pmix presents the upper-bound yield of light components, M is maximum number of light narrow fractions and M < M .

(t ) {G 01, G 02, } , Gimp

t = 1, 2, , T

(9)

(t ) Et (t ) = Et (t 1) + imp Gimp , (t ) {G 01, G 02, } , Gimp

imp Et (t ) H imp ,

3.2.2 Trace elements concentration constraints High concentration of some trace elements, such as sulfur, nitrogen, nickel, etc., will cause equipment corrosion and catalyst poisoning. Constraint (4) indicates the concentration limitations of some specified trace elements in mixed feed oil.
O G( t ) ,k Bimp imp

t = 1, 2, , T

(10)

G(t )

(t ) Gimp {G 01, G 02, } ,

t = 1, 2, , T

(11)

) F G (t ) + B k F (t ) imp ( imp ) nat nat

k CO G( t )

imp

( F (G ) + F
imp (t ) imp

(t ) ),O Fimp ( Gimp ) Fnat (t )

nat

( F (G ) + F
imp (t ) imp

nat (t )

where

(t ) imp Gimp

) represents the duration when tank

Et (T ) H

(12)

(t ) Gimp delivering oil. Et(t) represents the time when (t ) tank Gimp finishes delivering oil and it also represents

nat (t )

(t ) (t ) A B Gimp {G 01, G 02, } , O Gimp Oimp , Oimp , ,

<

k ,max Bmix ,

) {

t = 1, 2, , T ,
k ,max Bmix

k = 1, 2, , K

(4)

the ending time of t scheduling period. The above model (M1) is a complex MINLP model, which can not be efficiently solved with classical rigorous algorithms, such as branch and bound algorithm, etc.
4 OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

where is the upper-bound concentration of trace element k for mixed feed oil.
3.2.3 Flow rate constraints Equation (5) represents that the flow rate of mixed feed oil is specified by throughput of CDU. Constraints (6), (7) express that the flow rates of imported and native crudes are subject to pump transmission capacity and pipe resistance.

It can be noted that there are two groups of decision variables in M1. They are blending sequence of (1) (t ) (T ) , , Gimp , , Gimp and imported crude tanks Gimp

(t ) corresponding flow rates Fimp Gimp , t = 1, 2, , T .

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Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 18, No. 5, October 2010

When blending sequence is determined, M1 becomes a nonlinear programming (NLP) model, which is a continuous optimization problem. Similarly, when flow rate is determined, M1 becomes an approximate traveling salesman problem (ATSP) model, which is a combinatorial optimization problem. Therefore, a two-level optimization structure is proposed, in which upper level is designed for blending sequence optimization and lower level for flow rate optimization. The solution of two-group decision variables are updated through iterations between two levels.
4.1 Heuristically initialized hybrid interative (HIHI) algorithm

Step 1 Initialize the algorithm parameters, set iteration number it = 0 and optimal objective function value git = big Value . Step 2.1 If it = 0, go to Step 2.2, otherwise go to Step 2.2. Step 2.2 Initialize blending sequence by two heuristics. (1) (t ) Step 2.2 Use TS to update Gimp , , Gimp , ,

(T ) it Gimp

and git.

it (t ) Step 2.3 Use DE to update Fimp Gimp

((

it

),

Based on this optimization structure, HIHI algorithm is proposed. The flow chart is given in Fig. 2. The algorithm steps are as follows:

t = 1, 2, , T and git. Step 2.4 Increase the iteration number it = it + 1 . Step 2.5 If it>itmax or git g(it 1) < g , go to

next step, otherwise go to Step 2.1. Step 3 Output the optimization results: the

Figure 2 The flow chart of HIHI algorithm

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781

(1) (t ) (T ) blending sequence Gimp , , Gimp , , Gimp

it (t ) flow rate Fimp Gimp

((

{ )

it

) , t = 1, 2, ,T .

it

and the

There are three major steps in HIHI, which need further explanation. In Step 2.2, since iterative algorithms may suffer from local optimum and massive calculation time caused by bad initialization, a heuristic initialization scheme is introduced. In Step 2.2, it is noted that when flow rates are determined from Level 2, M1 changes into ATSP model in Level 1. Then, due to the combinatorial optimization-suited nature, TS [16] combined with constraint handling scheme is applied. Similarly in Step 2.3, when blending sequence is determined from Level 1, M1 changes into NLP model in Level 2. DE [17], due to its continuous optimization-suited nature, is applied. As far as the heuristic initialization scheme and constraint handling scheme, they will be introduced in the following sections.
4.2 Heuristic initialization

has tighter emptying time constraint, to be placed in the front of blending sequence, aiming at providing the whole algorithm with a better start to avoid infeasible solution. Heuristic 2 Similar Oils Linked Together makes imported crude tanks, which store same or similar crudes, linked together in the blending sequence, aiming at reducing the fluctuation of mixed oil property initially so as to cut down the search time.
4.3 Constraint handling

Since inferior or inefficient solution is most likely resulted from unreasonable blending sequence because of due date constraints in Section 3.2.4, two simple heuristics are used in turn to initialize blending sequence: Heuristic 1 Minimum Due Emptying Time First gives priority to the imported crude tank, which
Table 1
Boiling range/C M = 18 M = 14 (<350 C) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 HK-90 90-110 110-130 130-140 140-150 150-170 170-190 190-210 210-230 230-250 250-275 275-300 300-325 325-350 350-400 400-450 450-500 >500

There exist several different approaches in intelligent optimization algorithms for constraints handling [21]. However, lots of them require the definition of extra parameters, such as penalty function method. In 2000, Indian scholarKalyanmoy Deb proposed a novel constraint-handling approach called feasibility-based rule [22], whose basic ideas are described as follows: (1) Any feasible solution is preferred to any infeasible solution; (2) For two feasible solutions, the one having better objective function value is preferred; (3) For two infeasible solutions, the one having smaller constraint violation is preferred. Based on the rules, the objective function and constraint violation are considered separately and extra parameters are not needed. Besides, Rule 1 and Rule 3 could guide the search quickly approach feasible region,

Information about yield of crude oil narrow fractions and their corresponding weights
Weight coefficients w (m) 10 10 10 10 10 10 6 6 6 4 4 4 4 4 1 1 1 0 Yield of narrow fractions for different crude oil/%
A Oimp B Oimp C Oimp D Oimp E Oimp

Onat
m Pnat

Odes
m Pdes

P
2.34 1.57 2.50 1.51 1.16 2.56 2.45 2.20 2.34 3.28 4.74 4.66 4.34 4.54 6.85 13.99 9.43 28.59 7.40 4.34 3.80 1.93 1.56 3.45 3.82 2.58 4.77 3.35 4.88 4.71 5.05 4.92 4.30 10.65 7.27 20.38

(t ) O Gimp ,m imp

0.89 0.31 1.05 0.92 0.56 1.93 1.88 1.77 2.46 3.24 4.73 4.25 5.22 4.52 4.53 17.00 12.88 31.44

4.06 3.78 3.87 1.86 1.92 3.08 3.19 3.14 3.46 4.06 4.24 3.35 5.32 5.59 8.08 9.93 7.78 23.36

2.88 2.83 2.37 1.65 1.28 2.45 2.63 2.67 3.15 3.16 7.57 6.27 4.26 8.52 12.32 12.03 7.65 15.57

0.80 0.43 0.05 0.03 0.07 0.33 0.56 0.75 0.95 1.23 2.12 2.91 3.71 4.46 3.88 9.63 11.65 54.22

1.62 1.61 1.33 0.60 0.58 1.21 1.42 1.76 2.16 2.55 3.62 3.89 3.90 3.71 4.77 7.57 10.96 46.25

782 Table 2
Crude oil
A Oimp B Oimp

Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 18, No. 5, October 2010 Information about sulfur concentration and blending flow rate constraints
Blending flow rate min max ( Fimp , Fimp )/th1

Sulfur concentration O( G ( t ) ),k Bimp imp 106

Crude oil

Sulfur concentration k Bnat 106

Blending flow rate min max ( Fnat , Fnat )/th1

430 1518 794 2833 3960 (0,400)

Onat

O O

C imp

2040

(0, 400)

D imp

E Oimp

and Rule 2 will force the search trend to better solutions. In this paper feasibility-based rule is incorporated into selecting and updating procedure of evolution process in DE and TS, which enables DE and TS to effectively handle constrained optimization problem.
5 CASE STUDY

With regard to the information above, some points have to be illustrated: (1) Weight coefficients of narrow fractions are set from high to low. That is because more attention is paid to light components of crude oil. Furthermore, the coefficients are relative values and should be normalized beforehand. m and (2) Both interaction coefficients CO G ( t ) ,O

In this section, the model and algorithm is validated by real data from refinery.
5.1 Information data

imp

nat

k CO (t ) Gimp ,Onat

are set as zero for simplification.

ered.
5.2

(3) As for trace elements, only sulfur is considResults and analysis

Source information is listed in Table 1 to Table 4.

Table 3
Tank

Information about tank storage, due date for emptying

(t ) O Gimp

Crude oil stored

Amount
imp Vimp /t

Due emptying
imp time H imp /d

G(t )

G( t )

G01 G02 G03 G04 G05 G06 G07 G08 G09 G10 G11 G12 G13

A Oimp A Oimp A Oimp A Oimp B Oimp B Oimp

10000 10000 10000 5000 10000 10000 10000 10000 20000 10000 5000 20000 10000

10 30 30 30 30 30 20 20 20 30 30 10 30

C imp

C Oimp D Oimp

D imp

D Oimp E Oimp E Oimp

Table 4
Crude oil
Omix

Information about specified property and flow rate requirements for mixed feed oil
Sulfur (max) k ,max Bmix 106 2500 Yield of light components light,max (max) Pmix /% 40 Flow rate Fmix/th1 500

With data in Section 5.1, the model and algorithm are validated in a case where 13 oil tanks stored with 5 imported crudes are considered. Scheduling results are illustrated in Figs. 3-6 and the comparison of algorithm efficiency is presented in Table 5. In Fig. 3, the optimized blending sequence of imported crude tanks and corresponding flow rate are showed by Gantt chart. The lines represent the duration of scheduling events. Numbers below them corresponds to flow rates, whereas labels above corresponds to types of crude oil storage. It is illustrated that in the optimized blending schedule, all tanks are emptied out before their due dates and delivering oil within a specified minimum and maximum flow rate limits. Furthermore, it can be seen that under the premise of not violating the due date constraints, tanks filled with same crude are processed together, which will apparently better reduce the fluctuation of property of mixed crude oil. Figure 4 shows the sulfur concentration of crudes in different periods before and after scheduling. Data below the lines corresponds to crude oil types and their sulfur concentration. It is noted that although both D E and Oimp have high sulfur concentration crude Oimp and exceed the upper limit before scheduling, the sulfur concentration of mixed feed oil well meets the specified requirements under the optimized blending schedule. Figure 5 illustrates the TBP curves of native crude and imported crudes before scheduling where big

Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 18, No. 5, October 2010

783

Figure 3

Gantt chart for the case

Figure 4 Sulfur concentration of crudes sulfur upper limit of mixed crude; native crude;

imported crudes; mixed crude

discrepancy can be seen, while Fig. 6 shows TBP curves of mixed feed oil in different scheduling periods (the scheduling periods and source crudes are indicated in labels), which illustrate that after scheduling optimization, the discrepancy of property between different crudes is obviously reduced and the mixed feed oils in different scheduling periods all have a similar property to desired feed oil.

Table 5 shows the comparison of calculation efficiency between HIHI and a non-hierarchical algorithm. It is published in recent literatures that DE can be modified to solve mixed-integer optimization problems [23, 24]. Compared with traditional DE, the difference is that a hybrid encoding scheme should be adopted [25, 26]. Therefore, besides HIHI, a hybrid DE (HDE) algorithm, where random keys encoding scheme

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Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 18, No. 5, October 2010

Figure 5 TBP curves of imported crudes and native crude imported crudes; native crude; desired mixed feed oil

Figure 6 TBP curves of mixed feed oils in different scheduling periods mixed feed oil in different scheduling periods; desired mixed feed oil

[25, 26] is taken for sequence variables and traditional continuous encoding scheme is taken for flow rate variables, is used to solve the scheduling model M1. Considering calculation accuracy and calculation time together, statistical results in Table 5 indicate that

HIHI is more efficient. It can be explained that twolevel optimization structure deals with combinatorial optimization and continuous optimization separately and makes best use of the respective solving feature of TS and DE. Moreover, heuristic initialization scheme

Chin. J. Chem. Eng., Vol. 18, No. 5, October 2010 Table 5

Solving algorithms HIHI HDE

785

Statistical calculation results between HIHI and HDE

Objective value/% Best 4.048 4.052 Worst 4.104 4.123 Mean 4.054 4.062 Mean time /min 1.32 18.62

H
(t ) Gimp H imp

scheduling horizon
(t ) specified emptying time of tank Gimp

M
(t ) O Gimp
A imp

{O

maximum number of narrow fractions maximum number of narrow fractions of light components in mixed feed oil

B , Oimp ,

(t ) the imported crude stored in oil tank Gimp

Onat

imported crudes available native crude yield of mth narrow fraction of desired mixed feed oil

gives the iterative algorithm a better start to avoid infeasible solution and redundant search. Consequently the accuracy and convergence rate are improved.
6 CONCLUSIONS

m Pdes O G ( t ) ,m Pimp imp

(t ) yield of mth narrow fraction of imported crude O Gimp

Pmix O G

( (

(t ) imp

) , m)

yield of mth narrow fraction of mixed feed oil blended

(t ) from O Gimp

light,max mix

upper-bound yield of light components of mixed feed oil yield of mth narrow fraction of native crude maximum number of scheduling periods within the scheduling horizon

In this paper, a novel scheduling strategy for a practical crude oil blending process is proposed. Firstly, for the purpose of keeping the crude oil property mainly described by the TBP data consistent and stable, a MINLP scheduling model is established. Then a corresponding heuristically initialized hybrid iterative algorithm based on a two-level optimization structure is proposed, in which upper and lower level is designed for combinatorial and continuous optimization, respectively. Finally, optimization results by real data from an actual refinery indicate that the proposed scheduling strategy is effective and efficient. A scheduling software based on this strategy has been developed and applied to the actual refinery successfully.
NOMENCLATURE
O( G ( t ) ),k Bimp imp

m Pnat

T
imp Vimp

G( t )

(t ) amount of oil stored in tank Gimp

(t ) imp ( Gimp )

w(m)

weight coefficient of mth narrow fraction

(t ) duration when tank Gimp delivering oil in t schedul-

Subscripts
des imp k m mix nat t

ing period desired mixed feed oil imported crude trace elements narrow fractions mixed crude native crude scheduling period

concentration of trace element k of imported crude

(t ) O Gimp

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10 11 12

19

20 21

13 14 15 16 17 18

22 23

24 25 26