An milp formulation for the scheduling of multiproduct pipeline systems

• Main Authors: R. Rejowski Jr., J.M. Pinto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazilian Society of Chemical Engineering 2002-12-01
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
• Subjects: pipeline; scheduling; logistics; distribution planning; optimization
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-66322002000400016

Pipelines provide an economic mode of fluid transportation for petroleum systems, specially when large amounts of these products have to be pumped for large distances. The system discussed in this paper is composed of a petroleum refinery, a multiproduct pipeline connected to several depots and the corresponding consumer markets that receive large amounts of gasoline, diesel, LPG and aviation fuel. An MILP optimization model that is based on a convex-hull formulation is proposed for the scheduling system. The model must satisfy all the operational constraints, such as mass balances, distribution constraints and product demands. Results generated include the inventory levels at all locations, the distribution of products between the depots and the best ordering of products in the pipeline.