Process Integration Limited (PIL) is pleased to announce that a paper entitled ‘Industrial Application of Surrogate Models for Offline Operational Optimization of Heat-Integrated Crude Oil Distillation Systems’ has been accepted for publication in the Chemical Engineering Transactions (CET) vol. 69. The contributing authors of this paper are Lluvia M. Ochoa-Estopier (PIL), Víctor M. Enríquez-Gutierrez (PIL), Lu Chen (PIL), José M. Fernández-Ortiz (CEPSA), Lorenzo Herrero-Soriano(CEPSA) and Megan Jobson (University of Manchester).
The paper presents a new approach to optimize existing crude oil distillation systems. The approach provides key insights of the main factors affecting product yields and energy consumption; and considers important system limitations, such as crude oil changes, column flooding, heat transfer bottlenecks and product quality specifications. The approach has been applied successfully in a debottlenecking study for yield optimization of a medium-scale refinery. The implementation of the optimization results was carried out successfully in the refinery; initial projections confirm predicted benefits of $7.2 million per year.
The paper will be presented at the 11th International Conference on Distillation & Absorption, scheduled to be held in Florence on 16th-19th September 2018. For more details on the conference please click here.
Process Integration Limited (PIL) provides software, consulting services and training to help clients identify cost and efficiency improvements in existing and new processes. Here at PIL, we develop and implement emerging and innovative technology for optimization, retrofit engineering in the refining, petrochemicals, chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. For more information on PIL’s services and how we can help you excel business excellence, please click on the Contact Us Page.