An improved MILP model for scheduling crude oil unloading, storage and processing

Developing a methodology for short-term crude oil unloading, tank inventory management, and CDU charging schedule using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model has been a serious challenge. This paper is an improvement to the previous work reported by Lee et al. (1996) and aims at making the MILP model reflects real industrial applications. The model in the previous work was re-formulated based on established operating rules, material balance constraints, resources allocation constraints, sequence constraints, product quality and crude oil mix demand constraints. The problem statement was modified to represent certain details in the improved model. A case from examples presented in the Lee et al. (1996) paper was used to test the improved model. Two scenarios (A and B) were created from the case to show the benefits of the improved model in deciding the best schedule to use.