High-throughput microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) were used to perform treatability studies on many different refinery wastewater samples all having appreciably different characteristics, which resulted in large differences in current generation. A de-oiled refinery wastewater sample from one site (DOW1) produced the best results, with 2.1±0.2 A/m(2) (maximum current density), 79% chemical ox...

This work addresses the large-scale crude oil scheduling problem of China’s SINOPEC Maoming refinery importing various types of crude oil from two terminals via long-distance pipelines. A hierarchical decomposition approach is employed to construct a two-stage MILP model of the practical refinery operations. In the upper level model, storage and charging tanks are aggregated to determine the in...

This paper discusses the application of control loop performance assessment (Desborough and Harris, 1992) in a refinery setting. In a large process it is not feasible to tailor the parameters of the algorithm to every individual control loop. A procedure is illustrated for selecting default values which make it possible to implement the technology on a refinery-wide scale. For instance, it is s...

This paper presents a novel decomposition strategy for solving large scale refinery scheduling problems. Instead of formulating one huge and unsolvable MILP or MINLP for centralized problem, we propose a general decomposition scheme that generates smaller sub-systems that canbe solved toglobal optimality. The original problem is decomposed at intermediate storage tanks such that inlet and outle...

Browsing is a fundamental aspect of exploratory information-seeking. Associative browsing represents a common and intuitive set of exploratory strategies in which users step iteratively from familiar to novel bits of information. In this paper, we examine associative browsing as a strategy for bottom-up exploration of large, heterogeneous networks. We present Refinery, an interactive visualizat...

In model-based refinery scheduling, the varying composition of the crude being refined is a major challenge, especially for those reaction processes. In this paper, a classification based, multi-model approach is proposed to handle the frequently varying crude. The idea is to build a scheduling model for each type of feed crude, and the type can be determined by using an online classifier. The ...

The March 2005 British Petroleum (BP) Texas City Refinery disaster provided a stimulus to examine the state of process safety in the U.S. refining industry. Participatory action researchers conducted a nation-wide mail-back survey of United Steelworkers local unions and collected data from 51 unionized refineries. The study examined the prevalence of highly hazardous conditions key to the Texas...

Atmospheric pressure combined with a partial vacuum within chemical plant or refinery tanks can result in some ego-deflating moments. This article will review three catastrophic vessel failures in detail and touch on several other incidents. A 4000-gal acid tank was destroyed by a siphoning action; a well maintained tank truck was destroyed during a routine delivery; and a large, brand new refi...

Oil refineries provide the lifeblood for global economic health, and disruptions to their operations have major worldwide impact. We are developing a large-scale intelligent refinery control system to assist human operators in controlling refineries during abnormal situations. Based primarily on reactive and procedural approaches to intelligent behavior, the Abnormal Event Guidance and Informat...