Oil, Gas and Petroleum Refinery

Biography

Biography: Andrei Nekipelov

Abstract

Most of the Russian refineries’ facilities have a significant potential to increase productivity, to reduce energy consumption and to improve quality. Existence of such reserves is due to the current practice of autonomous design, when each of the departments (technological, instrumentation, mechanical, etc.) develops only its part and is not able to look at the whole process. Inconsistency generates non-fitment in the project and leads to failures in achieving a goal set, and, consequently, to lost profits.To eliminate such inconsistencies, the system approach is preferred as the most rational among the other methods to increase efficiency, since it can be implemented with the use of actual operating equipment, i.e. does not require large-scale reconstruction or major circuit changes. Thus, a high economic effect is achieved with minimum capital and operating costs.A fundamentally important point is to identify the root cause of an inadequate result of an unit.This can be achieved based on the application of several techniques presented in the figure. At first, the processing of the raw data (trends, laboratory data, balance sheets) is used to eliminate gross mistakes and misses. Next, at the identification stage, the processed sample is used to reveal the hidden structure of the object, i.e. determination of the main parameters that limit unit’s effectiveness. And based on the known criteria, laws and best practices, a physical interpretation of the statistical dependencies obtained is given, i.e. the cause of ineffective unit operation is determined.Further, a static and dynamic model of the process is developed that fully describes the current picture, and a solution that ensures the implementation of the stated goals.As a result, recommendations and solutions are stated.The advantages of this approach will be demonstrated by the example of the AT-9 Omsk Refinery.