Introduction
Dr. Agrawal, founder and CEO of Offsite Management Systems LLC and Academy director of OMS eLearning Academy, conducted three days provide training courses for Advanced Blend Control and Optimization for the Ecopetrol refinery in Cartagena, Columbia. Fourteen attendees from the planning, control, IT, and operations departments to gain skills for their roles and responsibilities. The course was very interactive and included a lab exercise to learn how to optimize the blend using the instructor’s demo blend optimizer software. Discussion followed after the lab exercise on how to resolve constraint conflict and infeasibility situations. That gave the participants more significant insights into blend optimization.
Training Agenda
Following is the training plan for the course conducted by Dr. Agrawal. The plan is adjusted according to the learning requirements of the participants and can vary from refinery to refinery. However, 90% of the covered topics in the training courses are common to all refineries except for a few lab exercises and discussions. The plan is fully customized for private training.
Day-1 Overview of the Blending operation
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Session-1 An Overview of Blending Operations
- Fuel Blending Operations in Refining
- Overview of Fuel-Blending Economics
- Blending Problems and Challenges
- Blenders Configurations
- Methodology to Assess the Current State of Blending
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Session-2 Blending Models
- Blending Problem Definition
- Linear Blend Models
- Non-linear Blend Models
- Methods to Handle Blend Non-linearity
- Control Matrix of Qualities
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Session-3 Blend Qualities Analysis and Measurements
- Gasoline, Diesel, and Fuel Oils Specifications
- Quality Relationships and Measurements
- Lab Analysis of Stock and Product Qualities
- Online Analysis of Stock and Header Qualities
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Session-4 All about octane and its measurements
- Octane Measurement by Knock Engine
- Integrated Analyzers Technology and Applications
- Octane Measurement by Spectrum-based technology
- Comparison of Knock engine versus Spectrum-based methods
- In-line measurement of non-octane qualities of the blend
Day-2 Advanced Blend Control, Optimization, and Planning
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Session-1 Blending Control Strategy
- Advanced Blend Control Strategy
- Optimum Blend Control System Strategy
- How to estimate and update Blending values
- The Quality giveaway – Concept, Cost, and reduction Benefits
- Methods to update blending Models
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Session-2 Mathematical Formulations of Blending Operations
- Multi Products-Single Period Blending LP formulation
- Multi Products-Multi Periods Blending LP formulation
- Multi Products-Multi Periods + Inventory Blending LP formulation
- Lab Exercise to solve an LP problem of a small refinery
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Session-3 Online and offline Blending controls
- Advanced Online Blend Control & Optimization
- Online versus Offline Optimizers
- Levels of Blend optimization
- Blend Optimization Methods
- How to handle Quality violations and giveaways
- Blending LP formulation (Single Product-Single period)
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Session-4 Blend Optimization
- Collaboration of Data and Process for Refinery Offsite Operations
- Offline Blend Planning and Optimization
- Blending Modeling Process
- Required Blending Data for control and Optimization
- Demonstration of An Offline Blend Optimizer System
Day-3 Lab Exercises for the Offline Optimization of Blends
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Session-1 Lab Exercise – Single Product, Multi-Periods Optimization
- Installation of Offline Blend Optimizer for Exercises
- Single Product, Single Period Optimization
- Discussion of Results
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Session-2 Lab Exercise – Single Product, Multi-Periods Optimization
- Multi-Product, Single Period Optimization
- Discussion of Results
- Single Product, Multi-Periods Optimization
- Discussion of Results
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Session-3 Lab Exercise – Single Product, Multi-Periods Optimization
- Multi-products, Multi-Periods Optimization
- Discussion of Results
- The Hydrocarbon Management (HM) in the Refining Industry
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Session-4 Lab Exercise – Single Product, Multi-Periods Optimization
- How to realize and sustain blending benefits
- Required Enterprise Changes to implement blending projects
- Discussion Forum
- Feedback and Certificate Awards
Testimonials from the participants
“The course was great and very important for my knowledge and satisfied my expectations,” Holwaed Olmos H, Process Engineer.
“Make a combination of theory and practice each day” Francisco Trespalacio, Plant Engineering.
“Thanks, I feel honored to live this training experience,” Wilson Davilla, Refinery Offsite Operations.
eLearning Course
This course is now offered on OMS eLearning Academy as an online eLearning and hybrid or live-streaming course. So you can enroll in an offline version anytime and watch the online streaming course schedule.
This course is offered by our academy in various options of enrollment types and formats. Please click the links in the following table for your enrollment preference.
Course Format | For individual | For Corporate Groups |
eLearning | OEA562P | OEA566P |
Hybrid online Streaming | OEA702P | OEA727P |
Live Online Streaming | OEA752P | OEA777P |
Click here to browse through the course catalog with details of all topics included in the course
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