Refinery Simulation Practice
Refinery Simulation Practice brings together practical engineering solutions, real-world case studies, and best practices for solving complex simulation challenges. This section demonstrates how simulation modeling is applied to the oil and gas industry, including petroleum refining, production planning, logistics, tank farms, pipelines, storage systems, and digital twins. Based on real industrial projects and engineering experience, these articles explain modeling approaches, design decisions, optimization techniques, common pitfalls, and proven solutions that help build accurate, reliable, and efficient simulation models.
First published: August 06, 2026
Why Maximum Product Yield Is Not a Property of the RefineryRefinery product slate optimization is often formulated as finding the minimum and maximum production of each product under a fixed feedstock composition. This article explains why such a formulation has no unique solution and shows how operating scenarios, process constraints, and production strategies define the feasible product slate. It also discusses why mathematical optimization models provide a more reliable approach than repeated scenario enumeration.
First published: September 06, 2026
Production vs. Realization in Refinery Simulation (part 1)This article presents a practical approach to evaluating refinery performance by both production volume and product realization using a single simulation architecture. It shows how Petroleum Refinery Library can switch between the two assessment modes by selectively neutralizing downstream storage, loading, and shipment constraints without rebuilding the model.
First published: September 23, 2026
Production vs. Realization in Refinery Simulation (part 2)This article presents an approach to coordinating production and shipment plans in refinery simulation models. It introduces a common production target, product-specific configurations, and event-driven communication between model nodes to maintain consistency between production, storage, and shipment operations.
