A multi-scenario and multi-objective scheduling optimization model for liquefied light hydrocarbon pipeline system

The mixed transportation mode based pipeline system plays a significant role in the supply chain of liquefied light hydrocarbon. Inefficient scheduling may lead to problems of frequent pump stoppage/restart, high energy consumption, and frequent pressure fluctuation. To avoid these problems, this paper implements the discrete-time representation to develop a multi-scenario and multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model to minimize the pump operation cost and the number of the switching operation. In the model, several factors, such as transportation mode, inventory limits of injection stations, flow rate and pressure limits of pipeline segments, are taken into consideration. Additionally, the uncertainty of the liquefied light hydrocarbon production is described by scenarios. The improved augmented epsilon-constraint method is implemented to solve this model. Finally, the model is successfully applied to a multi-source single-sink liquefied light hydrocarbon pipeline system in Daqing oilfield in China. The experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms another two available models in profit, safety, and robustness aspects. (C) 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.