Advanced Real-time Refinery Monitoring and Optimisation

Oil refining is a trillion dollar industry. However, refineries are under increasing pressure from global competition, overcapacity and regulation and these are reflected in tight margins. Opportunities to improve refining margins include improvement of energy efficiency and yields of crude oil to valuable products.
This project will develop two key innovations embedded in technology to improve refining margins:
1. More accurate, model-based approaches for dynamic state estimation: these will allow refiners to understand in real time the properties of different stream and the crude they are processing, allowing them to improve yields.
2. Dynamic optimisation of the CDU system. The CDU system is at the heart of the refinery and drives its economics. Improved operation can reduce the amount of energy required to process crude, convert more of the crude to valuable products and reduce the time required to switch between crudes.