(188f) Refinery Optimum Crude Blending and Operation

This paper reviews actual case studies that were used to determine the most optimum crude feed to a Gulf Coast refinery which utilized a combination of terminal tank blending, pipeline blending, and refinery crude tank blending to control the refinery production. Additional background knowledge required for the crude blending process includes crude assay data, lab analysis data, crude ship and barges operations, pipeline and terminal operations, refinery operations, planning and economics, and environmental and safety. Each case study was based on seven different crude slates blended at the Gulf Coast refinery. The final tank and pipeline qualities such as gravity, wt% sulfur, % distillates, and % naphtha were predicted using actual results to build a model with correction factors, and were calculated using an Excel spreadsheet.

Intermediate inventories were treated as both refinery production products and refinery feedstocks. The sulfur production of each crude slate was also predicted using an Excel spreadsheet based model. An example operating plan was constructed for the refinery operation using the most optimum crude slate. Overall, to be able to evaluate the most optimum crude slate requires to taking into account all aspects of refinery operations. The results with the most optimum crude slate will benefit for the refinery by minimizing refinery upsets, increasing reliability and profitability, and preventing environmental and safety incidents.