Multi-period continuous-time formulation for integrated scheduling, blending, and distribution of refinery products

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a slot-based multi-period mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation for an integrated treatment of recipe, specifications, blending, storage, and distribution, and incorporate many real-life features such as multi-purpose product tanks, parallel non-identical blenders, minimum run lengths, changeovers, etc. To enforce constant rates during blending runs, we develop a novel and efficient procedure that solves successive MILPs instead of a non-convex MINLP. We use fourteen examples of varying sizes and features to illustrate the superiority and effectiveness of our formulation and solution approach. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.