A Continuous-Time Approach for Scheduling Bidirectional Pipeline Operations

VANINA G. CAFARO; DIEGO C. CAFARO; JAIME CERDÁ

Singapur

Simposio; 11th International Symposium on Process System Engineering; 2012

National University of Singapur & Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences

Scheduling pumping operations in multiproduct pipelines is a complex logistic task that requires efficient supporting tools. Several approaches have been proposed for solving the pipeline scheduling problem for different pipeline configurations, but up to now the problem of sizing and sequencing oil product batches moving through bidirectional pipelines could not be tackled by continuous-time representations. This work introduces a mixed integer linear programming formulation standing for the first rigorous approach effectively solving the short-term operational planning of bidirectional pipelines.