Refiners around the world are continually seeking ways to maximize margins on gasolineproduction. Optimization of various unit operations and gasoline blending using onlineblending packages are commonly employed. However, an area of opportunity that is lesscommonly exploited is the optimization of gasoline run-down headers. The economicbenefits of gasoline run-down header optimization are enormous, but there are manychallenges.Run-down header optimization is challenging since many process units feed into the rundownheader. Multiple control rooms, process operators and control systems areinvolved. This poses a significant challenge for a single application to optimize the entiresystem in real-time. Secondly, many of the process streams entering the run-downheaders have multiple dispositions. Thirdly, the gasoline blending operation is highlynon-linear. Lastly an on-line stream property measurement system that is sufficiently fastfor on-line control and is able to provide a reliable property measurement over the entireblending range of components is a challenge.Suncor Energy at Edmonton Refinery has been active in real-time optimization of therefinery operation for the last several years. While a majority of process units are beingoptimized using Advanced Process Control (APC), gasoline blending operation was, untilrecently, optimized using offline LP tools.The gasoline blending operation at Suncor comprises Gasoline Blending operation andGasoline Run-down Headers operation. An innovative project to optimize the gasolinerun-down blending operation in real-time was recently completed and is the subject ofthis paper.
展开▼
