• Process engineers
• Refinery schedulers
• Planners, and managers
• Data Scientists
• Data Analysts
• Petroleum engineers
• Refinery Plant Engineers

The oil refining process is one of the most complex processes in today’s industry, as it incorporates catalyst systems, complex reactor designs, sophisticated computer control hardware and software, and advanced safety and environmental controls.

A typical medium-size refinery has hundreds of pumps, heat exchangers and drums; dozens of furnaces, compressors, and high temperature/high-pressure reactors; and thousands of control loops and associated computer control technologies. In order to optimize these complex systems and their interactions approach to a single point or single system optimizing cannot work as effectively as we hope, as the refinery has to be considered as a system, rather than the connection of its parts. Here is where the multi-method simulation comes to play an important part, as we can use Discrete Event, Agent-Based and System Dynamics simulation to incorporate all the refinery systems into one and be able to have the outputs from the system, as well as its components, rather than just having an output from one of the components.   

This training course will feature:

• Explanation of refinery process
• Basis of Discrete Event, Agent-Based and System Dynamics simulation
• Establishing relationships between measurements and reservoir properties
• How to minimize overall operating costs while achieving the maximum possible “upgrade” for each hydrocarbon molecule (called “molecule management”)
• Hands-on practice in AnyLogic software for all three methods of simulation
• Advanced concepts: AnyLogic fluid library, incorporating operator performance

By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:

• Learn the concepts and methods of selecting feedstocks and product slates
• Understand the capabilities of AnyLogic as a multi-method simulation tool
• Acquire the knowledge to consider the refinery as a system, not a sum of its parts
• Incorporate optimizing models into a simulation package
• Create and run simulations of complex systems
• Harness the possibilities of testing change options in a virtual environment

Day One: Refinery Process

• Basics of the Petroleum refining industry
• Refinery Configuration
• Distillation Processes
• Coking and Thermal Processes
• Catalytic Processes
• Cracking Processes
• Alteration Processes
• Treatment Processes
• Product Blending
• Mathematical Programming in Refining

Day Two: Multi-method Simulation

• Discrete Event Simulation Modeling
• System Dynamics Simulation Modeling
• Agent-Based Simulation Modeling
• Introduction to AnyLogic software
• Exercise: First model development in AnyLogic software
• Multi-method modelling and its application to refinery process
• Exercise: Multi-model creation in AnyLogic

Day Three: Petroleum Refinery Planning

• Characterization, Physical and Thermodynamic Properties of Oil Fractions
• Crude Assay
• Bulk properties
• Fraction properties
• Regression-Based Planning
• Artificial-Neural-Network-Based Modeling
• Exercise: using the fluid library in AnyLogic

Day Four: Planning Under Uncertainty for a Single Refinery

• Deterministic Model Formulation
• Stochastic Model Formulation
• Sampling Methodology
• Objective Function Evaluation
• Variance Calculation
• Demand Uncertainty
• Process Yield Uncertainty
• Variation Coefficient
• Exercise: Refinery plant model creation in AnyLogic

Day Five: Integration with Petrochemical Supply Chain

• Refinery and Petrochemical Synergy Benefits
• Delivery of crude oil to the refinery
• Exercise: Connecting the delivery process with the refinery process
• Exercise: Calculating outputs and statistics
• Exercise: Optimization results of the system as a whole
• Areas of application for multi-method-based simulation