Optimizing LPG production under quality specifications by preprocessing MILP with Pareto dominance and DEA
提出一种整体优化炼油厂液化石油气净化过程的方法，利用操作场景建立混合整数线性规划模型以最小化能耗，并通过帕累托支配和数据包络分析过滤场景，大幅缩短求解时间，适用于实际生产。
Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) is an oil refinery product that must adhere to quality specifications with respect to certain impurities. Refineries apply an LPG purification process that consists of a flow network with several process units (PUs). Current methods focus on optimising the performance of each PU separately; there exists no known approach for identifying the whole process optimum. In this paper, we present an approach for optimising the LPG purification process as a whole. We utilise operational scenarios to model the non-linear transformations of each PU. These scenarios enable us to devise a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) that minimises energy consumption. The obtained solution is an approximation of the optimum but offers actionable support to refinery engineers. To enable the applicability of our approach at large scale, we propose two filters based on Pareto dominance and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to identify the Pareto optimal and the Best Practice set of scenarios, respectively. By filtering out the rest, we reduce the solution space of the corresponding MILP. Further, we provide computational evidence that the application of these filters vastly improves solution time and enables applicability under real production conditions.