Refinery operations and control: A future vision

Journal Article · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996 · Hydrocarbon Processing

OSTI ID:260695

Pelham, R; Pharris, C ^[1]

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1. Honeywell Hi-Spec Solutions, Phoenix, AZ (United States)

How will refineries be operated in 10 to 15 years? An educated guess strikes a balance between the gee-whiz marvels and some practical realities of a conservative industry having many legacy systems and an evolutionary approach to change. The authors will briefly review future trends. What evolves is that the current model exemplified by the cycle of operations condenses into two entities. This future model they call assess and control. Assessing is the combined activities of the three functions in the top half of the cycle: planning, analysis, and scheduling. Control covers the bottom three: monitoring, regulatory control, and advanced control/optimization. Critical elements are: Assess -- uncertainties not currently amenable to mathematical solution; people involvement; and advanced technologies support people; Control -- must work automatically; uncertainties can be handled rigorously; people eliminating; and advanced technologies support automatic operation.

• OSTI ID: 260695
• Journal Information: Hydrocarbon Processing, Journal Name: Hydrocarbon Processing Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 75; ISSN HYPRAX; ISSN 0018-8190
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CONTROL SYSTEMS
FORECASTING
MANAGEMENT
OPERATION
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
PETROLEUM REFINERIES
PROCESS CONTROL
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION