0263–8762/04/$30.00+0.

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# 2004 Institution of Chemical Engineers
www.ingentaselect.com=titles=02638762.htm Trans IChemE, Part A, May 2004
Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 82(A5): 611–623

MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL

CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT USING THE ELITIST NON-
DOMINATED SORTING GENETIC ALGORITHM
S. V. INAMDAR, SANTOSH K. GUPTA* and D. N. SARAF
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India

T
his study provides insights into the optimal operation of one of the most important
refinery units, namely, the crude distillation unit (CDU). A steady state model based on
(Cþ3) iteration variables is used to simulate an industrial column. The model is first
tuned using some industrial data. The elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-
II) is used to solve a few meaningful multi-objective optimization problems. It is observed that
current plant operation is sub-optimal and more profit can be realized for the same amount of
energy cost using the optimal operating conditions found. Also, it was found that profit can be
increased keeping the product properties within acceptable limits. The procedure used is quite
general and can be applied to other CDUs.

Keywords: crude distillation; genetic algorithm; multi-objective optimization; Pareto sets;

process optimization; refinery operations.

INTRODUCTION non-convergence during optimization. In view of the simul-

Optimization is a major quantitative tool in the process of
decision making. Due to the increasing cost of energy,
scarcity of raw materials, and fierce competition amongst
other reasons, the major objective of industries is to improve
the efficiency of existing plants, rather than large scale plant
expansion. The keyword has been the maximum utilization
of available resources for maximum profitability. Optimiza-
tion can play a crucial role in this regard.
The crude distillation unit (CDU) is the core unit of any
refinery and one of the most complicated operations in the
field of separation processes. A large number of models
are available for distillation in the published literature. The
earliest approach in this field was proposed by Thiele and
Geddes (1933). Tomich (1970) developed a model using
(Cþ2) iteration variables for a mixture of C components.
Naphtali and Sandholm (1971) developed another model
using (2Cþ1) iteration variables. Boston and Sullivan
(1974) developed the ‘inside-out’ algorithm which was later
modified by Russel (1983). Kumar et al. (2001) developed
yet another model using (Cþ3) iteration variables. The choice
of independent variables makes the model of Kumar et al.
(2001) less non-linear and, hence, more robust and efficient in
comparison to most other formulations. A reduction in the
non-linearity makes the model equations less sensitive to the
choice of the initial guesses. This minimizes problems of
*Correspondence to: Professor S.K. Gupta, Department of Chemical
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India.
E-mail: skgupta@iitk.ac.in
taneous solution of all the equations, the (Cþ3) formulation
has proved to be more robust and stable compared to the two-
and three-level convergence techniques used in the methods
of Tomich (1970) and Russel (1983), respectively. Use of
sparse matrix techniques further reduces memory require-
ments and the computational time. In the present study, the
model of Kumar et al. (2001) has been used to simulate an
industrial CDU.
Optimization is a mature discipline and the open literature
is full of texts, monographs, and research papers. We present
a brief review only of studies related to distillation and
petroleum refining, with an emphasis on the recent litera-
ture. Al-Haj-Ali and Holland (1979a,b) used the Box
complex method to optimize economic objective functions
for distillation columns having varying degrees of complex-
ity. Shyamsundar and Rangaiah (2000) reported work on the
steady state optimization of multiphase distillation columns,
in which they applied an NLP technique for a linear
objective function in the presence of non-linear constraints.
Basak et al. (2002) formulated a single objective function
for maximizing the profit for a crude distillation unit with
constraints on product quality for on-line usage. They
applied it in the off-line mode using on-line data from an
industrial unit and showed a potential increase of profits if
the unit is operated optimally. Hardin et al. (1995) reported
an application of closed loop real-time optimization
(CLRTO) for the optimization of a crude distillation unit
at Conoco’s Lake Charles refinery and claimed an additional
profit of $0.03=bbl. Several other industrial applications of
CLRTO have since been reported (Pedersen et al., 1995;

611
612 INAMDAR et al.
Yoon et al., 1995; Georgiou et al., 1997, 1999; Besl et al.,
1997; Geddes and Kubera, 2000).
Recently, several workers have been researching non-
conventional optimization techniques such as artificial neural
network (ANN) for refinery fractionators (Wu et al., 2000),
genetic algorithm (GA) and its adaptations for distillation
column systems (Wang et al., 1999; Zhao et al., 2000) and
object oriented language packages (Fraga et al., 2000). An
industrial application of ANN for optimization of the Mobil
Beaumont refinery in Texas had also been discussed by
Riddle et al. (1997). The concept of overall refinery optimi-
zation using novel decomposition strategies had been outlined
by Zhang and Zhu (2000) wherein site level (master models)
and process level (sub-models) were involved. The former
determined the common issues among processes such as raw
materials and utilities while the latter optimized individual
processes. The technique, when applied to a 100,000 bpd
refinery, had the potential to achieve incremental benefits of
the order of 30 million dollars.
Multi-objective Optimization
Often, in real life, we encounter optimization problems
with two or more conflicting objectives. The optimization of
such multi-objective problems may give rise to a set of non-
dominated, Pareto-optimal solutions. Different methods
exist to solve such problems (Deb, 2001). In recent years,
stochastic search optimization algorithms such as evolutionary
algorithms (EA), have been developed for solving multi-
objective optimization problems (Deb, 2001). Adaptations
of GA are one set of techniques that have been used to solve
such problems successfully. One of these adaptations is the
non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-I) developed
by Srinivas and Deb (1995). In the last few years several
studies have been reported in the literature on the multi-
objective optimization of industrial units using this technique.
These have been reviewed by Bhaskar et al. (2000b). Unfortu-
nately, NSGA-I has been observed to fail in a few cases,
e.g., PET reactors (Bhaskar et al., 2000a, 2001). A modifi-
cation of this algorithm, called NSGA-II, which incorpo-
rates the concept of elitism (Deb, 2001; Deb et al., 2002)
was used to solve several optimization problems in chemical
engineering. Kasat et al. (2002) used this modified algo-
rithm to study two- and three-objective optimizations of an
industrial fluidized-bed catalytic cracking (FCC) unit.
Nandasana et al. (2003) used this improved algorithm to
optimize the dynamic operation of steam reformers, an
extremely computer-intense problem. In the present study,
NSGA-II is used for solving the multi-objective optimiza-
tion of an industrial crude distillation unit.
The CDU
The industrial crude distillation unit used in the present
study consists of the main column with 48 stages (see Figure 1).
The preheated crude enters the column at the 44th stage
(numbered from top down, with the condenser being the first
stage). The furnace outlet coil is connected directly to the
main tower and the feed enters the flash zone without any
throttling in the industrial unit. In addition to the two
conventional products from the top of the column (unstabi-
lized naphtha, UN) and the bottom (long residue, LR), there
are four other products withdrawn as side-streams that are
Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A5): 611–623
steam-stripped before use. The four side-stream products are
heavy naphtha or special cut naphtha (HN or SCN), superior
kerosene=aviation turbine fuel (SK=ATF), light gas oil
(LGO) and heavy gas oil (HGO). There are four pump-
around flows in this unit. In this arrangement, liquid stream
is withdrawn from a stage, heat is extracted from it by
exchanging it with cold feed, and the cooled stream is then
returned to the column a few trays above the drawal tray.
This pump-around flow helps recover heat as well as
regulate the vapour–liquid traffic in the column.
FORMULATION
Model Equations
The model equations comprise of material and energy
balances, phase equilibrium relations, and summation equa-
tions. These are summarized in Appendix I. The complete
details of the model and the solution procedure can be found
in Kumar et al. (2001), and are not repeated here. These
equations are solved simultaneously using a modified
Newton–Raphson technique, until the values of the residual
functions are below a specified tolerance.
The model equations are based on the ideal equilibrium
stage assumption. This is seldom observed in real life owing
to a variety of non-idealities. Moreover, no single model can
accurately predict the thermodynamic properties over
the entire range of boiling points encountered in a crude
distillation unit. These reasons lead to deviations of the
simulator results from plant data. Hence a certain tuning
factor, similar to the vapourization efficiency, is introduced
in the model equations to match the model-calculated values
with the measured plant data as follows (Dave et al., 2003):
yij ¼ Kij Zij xij (1)
where Kij is the phase equilibrium constant and Zij is the
vapourization efficiency. xij and yij are the liquid and vapour
mole fractions respectively. The index, i, refers to the stage
number, whereas j refers to the component number. In
the present study, it is assumed that the efficiency is the
same for all components on any given tray, and is independent
of the location on any tray. This means that we can drop the
index, j, from Zij, reducing these to Zi, some kind of a stage
efficiency. The details on the estimation of the efficiencies
from plant data can be found in Dave et al. (2003). It should
be noted here that while Zi are introduced as stage efficien-
cies in the model equations, these are merely tuning para-
meters and have no theoretical representation.
It may be mentioned here that in the present study, we used
the actual number of stages in the model and tuned it (adjust-
ing the ‘stage efficiencies’) using plant data, so as to match the
temperature profile. Alternatively, a theoretical analog of
the actual column can be constructed (by trial and error, to
match its performance approximately with the plant data), and
the final matching obtained by the use of tuning parameters.
Both these approaches have been tried (Ramaswamy and Saraf,
2002) and give equivalent performance. The former approach
has been chosen in the present study.
Multi-objective Optimization
The present study was undertaken with a view to optimiz-
ing conflicting objectives such as maximum profit and
 MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT 613

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the industrial CDU studied.

minimum energy cost, or, maximum total distillate and
minimum energy cost, etc., for the industrial CDU unit
described above. While doing this, the properties of the
fractionation products must be constrained to lie
within acceptable limits. Lower and upper bounds on
the product withdrawal rates must be honoured to reflect
the operating zone of the column. We also explored the
possibility of making profit with an acceptable compromise
on properties.
Selection of the decision variables
The decision variables used for the optimization of the
operating unit must be selected from among the operating
conditions. These also constitute the control variables for
the process. After giving due importance to the effect of
each of these variables on the objective functions,
the requirements of industry, and the ease with which
the variables can be changed in the plant, the following
variables are chosen as the decision variables in the present
study: four side-strippers drawdown flow rates (SCN,
SK=ATF, LGO and HGO); four pump-around flow rates
(PA1 to PA4); the reflux flow rate (RF); and coil outlet
temperature (COT). The coil outlet temperature is the
temperature of the crude at the exit of the preheating
furnace, which determines the temperature of the feed to
the CDU and can, therefore, be taken as a control variable.
The operating decision variables can usually be varied in
a narrow range called the ‘operability range’ because of
design limitations and the stability of the process operation.
The lower and upper bounds for these variables must be
specified based on plant practice. We assumed that the side
stripper drawdown flows and the reflux flow can be varied
by
10%, and the pump around flows can be varied by

20% around the currently used (base) industrial values.
Bounds for the COT were chosen carefully since a high
value of COT can lead to thermal cracking of the crude.

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614 INAMDAR et al.
Table 1. Price of products and raw materials, and
Selection of objective functions operating costs.
The objective of optimization of any industrial process is,
obviously, profit maximization, as outlined by Cutler and Product=utility Price (Rs.=MT)
Perry (1983). Hence, the profit function is a natural choice LPG 17605.63 (subsidized)
as an objective function. However, the petroleum industry is SRN 13880.00
also concerned about energy cost minimization. This could SCN 13880.00
be another choice of the objective function. Details of SK=ATF 17953.32
evaluating these are given below. LGO 16895.00
HGO 15672.91
LR 9938.77
Profit function: The profit function is calculated as follows Furnace oil 9938.77
Crude 7636.00
Cost of pumping 25.00
f ¼ P1  P2  P3  Energy Cost (2) Cooling water cost 0.66
Steam cost 25.00
where

f ¼ Profit (Rs.=day)
P1 ¼ Selling price of the products (Rs.=day)
X
¼ (Prodi  Pricei ); i ¼ 1, 2, . . . , 7,
i of the vapour and liquid coming out of the furnace at a
for SCN, SK, LGO, HGO, LR, LPG, and SRN, respectively
Prodi: Draw rate of product, i (MT=day)
Pricei: Price of product, i (Rs.=MT).
Typical values are given in Table 1.
P2 ¼ Cost of raw materials (Rs.=day)
¼ (F  Costf )
F: Flow rate of crude (MT=day; fixed at 9030 MT=day)
Costf: Cost of crude (Rs.=MT)
Here, only the cost of crude has been considered. Since
crude flow rate is held constant, it need not be included at all
in the optimization
P3 ¼ Operating cost (Rs.=day)
X
¼ (RF  RC þ PA  PC þ Q  UC)
RF: Reflux flow rate (MT=day)
RC: Cost of pumping reflux (Rs.=MT)
PA: Total pump around flow rate (MT=day)
PC: Cost of pumping PA flows (Rs.=MT)
Q: Quantity of utility, e.g., steam rate (MT=day)
UC: Utility cost (Rs.=MT)
The prices of the products and utilities are provided in
Table 1, in Indian Rupees. The exact costs of the
utilities were proprietary, and so we have assumed
some reasonable values. These do not restrict the
usefulness of this study since any equivalent costs can be
substituted.
Energy cost: The energy cost comprises the cost of heat-
ing the crude oil in the furnace from 200 C to COT, as well
as the cooling water (condenser) cost. The cost of heating
the crude to 200 C is not included here because
it is accomplished in various heat exchangers which are
heat-integrated with other refinery streams. Thus, we have
assigned zero cost for heating the crude upto 200 C. The
furnace duty (for heating the crude) is calculated by making
(3) an enthalpy balance around the furnace. The compositions
temperature, COT, are taken to be the same as that of the
flash zone in the column, and are obtained using isothermal
flash calculations. The enthalpies of the streams are calcu-
lated using the Kesler and Lee correlations (Kesler and Lee,
1976). We used a typical furnace efficiency of 60% (Kern,
1957) to account for losses. Thus, the energy cost is
calculated as follows:
Energy cost ¼ Furnace oil cost þ Cooling water cost
(4)
(6)
Furnace oil cost ¼ Furnace oil required
Cost of furnace oil
þFurnace oil pumping cost (7)
Furnace oil required
Furnace duty
¼ (8)
0:6Calorific value of furnace oil
(5)
Cooling water amount
Condenser duty
¼
Cpw  (outlet temperature  ambient temperature)
(9)
where Cpw is the heat capacity of water:
Cooling water cost ¼ Cooling water
 Cost of cooling water (10)
The condenser duty is obtained from the simulator for a
specified condenser temperature (36.7 C).
Product properties: The fractionation products must meet
specified quality standards in order to be of value. The
quality of petroleum products is specified in terms of certain
key properties for each product and deviations of their
values beyond the acceptable range attract economic
penalty. It is, therefore, necessary that during optimization
we do not assign values to decision variables that may
lead to product properties going beyond acceptable limits.
The properties considered in this study to represent the

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A5): 611–623
 MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT
product quality are: specific gravities of SCN, SK=ATF,
LGO and HGO, flash points of SCN, SK=ATF, LGO and
percent recovery at 366 C of HGO. All these properties are
estimated using a ‘properties prediction package’ developed
in house (Murali, 1999) using information available from
the simulator output.
Constraints: The multi-objective functions must be
optimized subject to relevant constraints. The decision
(or manipulated) variables must lie within prescribed
bounds, the model equations must be satisfied, and the
product properties must satisfy quality constraints. One
additional constraint is usually added to ensure that the
optimizer will not call for a sudden drastic change in opera-
ting conditions which may destabilize the column opera-
tion. This condition is incorporated by requiring that the
optimized total distillates flow will not change more than a
small fraction (7% in the present study) of the base value
in one step.
Multi-objective optimization problems studied
A variety of multi-objective optimization problems can
now be formulated. We present three relatively simple,
though meaningful, two-objective problems in this study
for the industrial CDU ( for a fixed feed flow rate). The
solution of problems involving three or more objectives
is highly computer-intense. Moreover, presentation and
interpretation of the results of such problems is not
easy. The three 2-objective problems studied are described
below.
Problem 1
The first problem was formulated to maximize the profit
and minimize the energy cost:
Max I1 (u) ¼ f
Min I2 (u) ¼ energy cost
subject to:
Model equations (Appendix I)
Property constraints (bounds given in Table 2)
Increase in the total distillate is
less than 7% of the base value
Here, u is the vector of the decision variables. It may be
mentioned here that energy costs are included and are a
small part (about a fiftieth) of the profit, j, and could have
been omitted, to give a one-objective optimization problem
Table 2. Bounds for the product properties.
Property Lower bound
SCN flash point ( C) 8 15
SK flash point ( C) 37
LGO flash point ( C) 58
Recovery of HGO at 366 C (%) 55
SG of SCN 0.74
SG of SK 0.78
SG of LGO 0.83
SG of HGO 0.87
Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A5): 611–623
615
involving the maximization of j. However, energy is
assuming importance these days independently (e.g., the
pollution associated with its generation, etc.), and incorpor-
ating it as a separate objective in Problem 1 makes the latter
more relevant (and also demonstrates the usefulness of
multi-objective optimization and Pareto sets involving
non-commensurate objectives).
Problem 2
The second multi-objective problem is chosen to maxi-
mize the total distillates produced while minimizing the
energy cost:
Max I1 (u) ¼ total distillates
¼ top distillate (UN) þ SCN þ SK
þ LGO þ HGO (16)
Min I2 (u) ¼ energy cost (17)
subject to all the constraints of Problem 1 (equations (13)–(15))
Problem 3
This problem is formulated keeping in mind that as we try
to maximize the profit, the properties associated with one or
more of the several products may deviate significantly from
current plant (desired) values:
Min I1 (u) ¼ property deviation (18)
Max I2 (u) ¼ f (19)
subject to two constraints of Problem 1 (equations (13) and
(15) only)
Here,
X
Property deviation  (Prop  Propplant )2i  Wi (20)
i
(11) Prop ¼ property value computed using the tuned model
(12) Propplant ¼ property value in the plant (under current=
base operating conditions; desired value)
(13) Wi ¼ weight associated with property, i
(14) The summation is taken over all the properties that must be
kept within bounds. The values of Wi are taken as unity for
all the properties except the four specific gravities. For the
(15) latter, Wi are taken as 1000. It must be emphasized that the
two (calculated and measured) properties used in equation
(20) correspond to different operating conditions.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Model Tuning
The CDU simulator uses the ideal stage model, but the
Upper bound performance of real stages may significantly deviate from
ideal behaviour. As discussed earlier, tuning parameters were
used, one for each stage, to account for the deviations. This
45
65 tuning is accomplished by solving an optimization problem
80 using simple genetic algorithm (SGA) (Deb, 2001). The
0.76 objective function to be minimized is the sum of square errors
0.80 between the measured values in the plant (some specific tray
0.85
0.89
temperatures and the distillate flow rate), and the corresponding
simulator-generated values. Table 3 shows the match between
616 INAMDAR et al.
Table 3. Comparison of tuned model values for a CDU with plant data. Table 5. Computational parameters used in NSGA-II.

Tuned parameter Plant values Tuned model values Parameters Problem 1 Problem 2 Problem 3

Tray 2 temperature ( C) 106 109.9 Number of generations 100 100 100
Tray 5 temperature ( C) 126.2 127.1 Population size 50 50 50
Tray 14 temperature ( C) 153.7 156.6 Crossover 0.98 0.98 0.98
Tray 24 temperature ( C) 195.8 192.9 probability (Pcross)
Tray 28 temperature ( C) 234.7 239.5 Mutation 0.01 0.05 0.05
Tray 32 temperature ( C) 269.1 270 probability (Pmute)
Tray 37 temperature ( C) 321.5 319.8 Sub string length 10 10 10
Tray 39 temperature ( C) 337.9 339.3 Random seed 0.88876 0.88876 0.88876
Tray 44 temperature ( C) 369.3 366.6
Tray 49 temperature ( C) 359.9 361
Distillate flow (MT=hr) 50 39.8553
Product property a low value (100) when it is to be maximized. Some
SCN flash point ( C) — 14.34 chromosomes showed values of HGO that are not practically
SK flash point ( C) 42.5 44.31 meaningful. This was because all the trays below the
LGO flash point ( C) 63 64.54
Recovery of HGO 55 66.98 HGO draw tray showed values of the liquid flow rate
at 366 C (%) (between two trays) near the lower limit set in the model
SG of SCN 0.7433 0.7515 (10 lb-mole=hr). This was accompanied by a violation of
SG of SK 0.7827 0.7872 the mass balance equations in the column, an artifact of
SG of LGO 0.8327 0.8355
SG of HGO 0.8800 0.8804
our earlier simulation code. These chromosomes were
removed by penalizing them using the same approach as
discussed above.

measured values and those obtained from the simulator

after tuning. Also included in this table are some of Problem 1
the important product properties (not used for tuning)
for comparison. As seen in the table, the match is generally Figure 2 shows the results of Problem 1. This involves the
satisfactory. Additional details on the tuning may be found simultaneous maximization of profit and minimization of
in Dave et al. (2003). The tuned model is then used for the energy cost. It is observed in Figure 2(a) that one cannot
multi-objective optimization (using the same crude, and improve one objective function without an attendant dete-
the same feed flow rate of the crude), the main focus in rioration in the other, and so we obtain a Pareto set of
this study. We use the same values of the efficiencies optimal solutions. The base case (the current operating point
(tuning parameters) for all chromosomes, even though in the plant) is included in all these diagrams (filled square)
these would depend, to an extent, on the exact operating for comparison. The entire Pareto optimal curve (Figure
conditions. 2(a)) lies above the base case, indicating that the current
practice is sub-optimal. A much higher profit can be realized
at the same energy cost (approximately 1 million rupees per
Optimization day) if optimal operating conditions are used. These are
Tables 4 and 2 give the bounds on the decision variables given in Figure 2(b)–( j). The profit increases almost line-
and on the product properties, respectively. The values of the arly as the energy cost increases. This appears to be related
computational parameters used in NSGA-II for solving to an increase in the value of COT (Figure 2(j)), which
the three different problems are given in Table 5. These causes the energy cost to go up but gives higher total
have been obtained after preliminary experimentation, as distillates (Figure 2(k)). It is interesting to see that the side
discussed later. The average computational time required stream products do not increase linearly as does the total
for solving an optimization problem was 12 hr on a distillate. It is observed that the SCN and HGO side
Compaq Pentium 4 (1.7 GHz) machine. A chromosome products lie near their lower bounds, while the amount of
that does not satisfy all the constraints is penalized by LGO always lies near its upper bound. Only SK shows
assigning, somewhat arbitrarily, a high value (108) for the a near-linear increase with increase in energy cost
objective function when the latter is to be minimized, and (or COT). This is because of the relative costs of these pro-
ducts and the requirement imposed for the various product
properties to stay within acceptable ranges. The pump
Table 4. Bounds for the decision variables. around flows, particularly PA1 and PA2, do not show any
trends. The PA3 flow rate seems to lie around the base value,
Variables Lower bound (MT=day) Upper bound (MT=day)
while PA4 takes on values near its upper bound. Figure 2(l)
SCN 185 225 shows the property deviation (equation (20)) of all the
SK=ATF 1170 1430 calculated properties from the plant values. This total
LGO 1155 1410 deviation does not show any specific trend with energy
HGO 690 845
PA1 1156 1735 cost, as expected. Since the difference between the plant
PA2 3780 5670 values and the values from the tuned-model is used to
PA3 960 1440 calculate the property deviation, the latter is non-zero for
PA4 3040 4560 the base case.
Reflux 775 950
COT 350 C 377 C
It is interesting to see the evolution of the Pareto optimal
solution over the generations. Figure 3 shows plots of

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 MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT 617

the solutions at generation numbers 5, 25, and 50. This
diagram shows that the solutions at the 5th generation are
randomly scattered. However, the solutions slowly evolve to
the Pareto optimal set. We found that the evolution of the
Pareto set is nearly complete in about 50 generations. The
results at the 75th and the 100th generations (not shown
here) did not show any significant change (this was checked
for all cases studied).
The effect of variations in the computational parameters
(Pcross, Pmute and random seed) is then studied for this
problem. Figure 4 shows the effect of varying Pmute, the
most sensitive of the parameters, keeping Pcross at its
reference value (Table 5) of 0.98, at the 100th generation.
It is observed that fewer points are generated at low values
of Pmute, but at higher values of Pmute, more new points
(but less than those obtained with the reference value of
0.01) are generated. If we keep the mutation probability
constant and vary the crossover probability, Pcross, a similar
trend is observed (results not shown), and the reference
value of 0.98 appears to give the best Pareto results.
Similarly, the reference value of the random seed of
0.88876 gives the best Pareto solution. It may be added
here that use of different values of the random seed should
lead to similar performances, and that one should not have to
‘tune’ this parameter. This is true for simple problems, but
for computer-intense industrial problems, better results are

Figure 2. Results of Problem 1: a) profit (Pareto); b) SCN flow rate; c) SK flow rate; d) LGO flow rate; e) HGO flow rate; f) PA1 flow rate; g) PA2 flow rate;
h) PA3 flow rate; i) PA4 flow rate; j) COT; k) total distillate; l) property deviation. Filled square represents the base value.

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A5): 611–623
618 INAMDAR et al.

Figure 2. (Continued).

obtained for some values of this computational parameter.
Similar experiences have been found for several other cases
(Bhaskar et al., 2000b). The final GA parameters are so
chosen that we get less scatter and a good spread (a near-
continuous Pareto). A similar procedure is followed for the
other two problems and optimal parameters are chosen
accordingly. A population size of 50 was found to
be satisfactory. A higher population size increases the
computational time significantly (one simulation run takes
about 7–8 s).
Problem 2
Figure 5(a) shows the Pareto optimal solution for
Problem 2. The energy cost increases with an increase in
the total distillates. This is to be expected since higher
amounts of the total distillates can be obtained only if the
feed temperature is increased, which leads to an increase of
both the vapourization and the energy costs. Again, the entire
Pareto lies above the base case, reconfirming that the current
operation is sub-optimal. As before, the total deviation of all
the properties from the base case does not show any specific
trend (Figure 5(b)). Figure 5(c) shows a monotonic increase
in the profit with increase in energy cost. The plots for the
other quantities (as for Problem 1) for this problem (as well as
for Problem 3) are not being shown for brevity but can be
supplied on request. However, we find that the SCN flow is
near its lower bound, as in Problem 1. However, the SK flow
tends to remain at the base case. The LGO and HGO flow

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 MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT 619

Figure 3. Evolution of the optimal solutions for Problem 1 at generation

numbers: a) 5; b) 25; c) 50.

Figure 4. Effect of variations of the computational parameter (Problem 1),

rates show a lot of scatter but at a higher level compared to
the base case. The pump around flows show a lot of scatter,
as in Problem 1. The plot of COT vs. energy cost is identical
to that in Problem 1. With increased energy consumption we
obtain more distillate products and less RCO, a less valuable
product.
Problem 3
In this problem we examine the simultaneous optimization
of the cumulative deviation of all the properties from the
plant values and the total profit. Figure 6(a) shows the Pareto
optimal solution. With an increase in profit, the deviation of
Pmute.
the product properties increases significantly. This is because
there is no penalty for deteriorating quality as long as it is
within the specified range. Interestingly, for each point on the
Pareto optimal set, we find that the individual properties also
lie within their bounds (this was not put as a constraint in
Problem 3). The side stream flows followed the same trend as
in Problem 1 and hence plots for these are not included here.
Figure 6(b) shows the total distillates obtained vs. profit.
A near-linear increase is observed. A plot of the cost of
energy vs. profit (Figure 6(c)) shows that all the points lie at a
large value of the energy cost.

Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A5): 611–623
620 INAMDAR et al.
Figure 5. Results of Problem 2 showing: a) total distillate (Pareto);
b) property deviation; c) profit. Filled square represents the base value.
It may be mentioned at the end that several additional
multi-objective optimization problems that are relevant
and interesting, and that are even more complex than
the three presented here, can be formulated and solved.
An obvious choice is the four-objective problem involving
all the objective functions present in Problems 1–3. The
computational effort involved in solving such a problem
will be prohibitive, and presentation and analysis of the
results will not be too easy. However, the three simple
examples studied here demonstrate clearly that improve-
ments in the operation of the industrial CDU can be
achieved. It may also be mentioned that we could have
made our computer code more efficient (e.g., by
using shorter substrings to describe decision variables
having smaller ranges (Table 4), etc.) but the focus in
Trans IChemE, Part A, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 2004, 82(A5): 611–623
Figure 6. Results of Problem 3: a) property deviation; b) total distillate;
c) energy cost. Filled square represents the base value.
this work was to obtain meaningful solutions and illus-
trate possibilities.
CONCLUSIONS
A multi-objective optimization study was carried out for
an industrial crude distillation unit. The procedure is quite
general and can be applied to any other unit. It was found
that current industrial operation is sub-optimal and addi-
tional profit can be realized if we operate the CDU using the
optimal values of the operating=decision variables. Also, it
was observed that we can make higher profit with an
acceptable compromise on the properties.
 MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT 621

NOMENCLATURE (xw)j weight fraction of the jth pseudo-component

xi,j liquid mole fraction of the jth component on the ith plate
C number of pseudo-components yi,j vapour mole fraction of the jth component on the ith plate
COT coil outlet temperature
Cpw heat capacity of water Greek letters
Costf cost of crude f Profit
bj flow rate of the jth component in the bottom product
BL total flow rate of the bottom product (liquid) Superscripts
dLj flow rate of the jth component in the liquid distillate B bottom product
dV flow rate of the jth component in the vapour distillate D distillate
j
DL total flow rate of the liquid distillate F feed
DV total flow rate of the vapour distillate L liquid
F crude flow rate V vapour
f Li,j flow rate of the jth component in the liquid feed on the ith stage
Subscripts
fV i,j flow rate of the jth component in the vapour feed on the ith stage i stage number
hBj enthalpy of the jth component in the bottom product j component number
hD j enthalpy of the jth component in the liquid distillate p,q neighbouring stages in the column interacting with the ith stage
hFi,j enthalpy of the jth component in the liquid feed on the ith stage N Nth stage or the last stage of the column
C condenser
hi,j enthalpy of the jth component in the liquid leaving the ith stage
hp,j enthalpy of the jth component in the liquid from the pth stage
Abbreviations
reaching the ith stage
ATF aviation turbine fuel
HDj enthalpy of the jth component in the vapour distillate CDU crude distillation unit
HFi,j enthalpy of the jth component in the vapour feed on the ith stage HGO heavy gas oil
Hi,j enthalpy of the jth component in the vapour leaving the ith stage LGO light gas oil
Hq,j enthalpy of the jth component in the vapour from the qth stage LR long residue
reaching the ith stage MT metric tons
Hi discrepancy in enthalpy balance on the ith stage PA pump around flow
Ki,j equilibrium constant of the jth component on the ith plate UN unstabilized naphtha
Li,j liquid flow rate of the jth component leaving the ith stage and LPG liquified petroleum gas
reaching the (i þ 1)th stage SRN straight run naphtha
Lp,j liquid flow rate of the jth component from the pth stage and SCN special cut naphtha
reaching the ith stage SK superior kerosene
Li total liquid flow rate from the ith stage reaching the (i þ 1)th SS side-stripper
stage TBP true boiling point
Lp total liquid flow rate from the pth stage reaching the ith stage ASTM American standards for testing materials
Mj molecular weight of the jth pseudo-component
Mi,j discrepancy in the material balance of the jth component on the
ith stage
N total number of stages in the column
P1 selling price of products
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C X
C X
C X
C
Zhao, W., Chen, D. and Hu, S., 2000, Optimizing operating conditions based l1,j h1,j þ djV HjD þ djL hD
j  v2,j H2,j
on ANN and modified GAs, Comp Chem Eng, 24: 61–65. j¼1 j¼1 j¼1 j¼1

þ QC ¼ 0 (¼H1 ) [Partial condenser] (A8)

X
C X X
C
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT l1,j h1,j þ djL hD v2,j H2,j
j 
Partial financial support from the Department of Science and Technol- j¼1 j j¼1
ogy, Government of India, New Delhi [through grant III-5(13)=2001-ET] is
gratefully acknowledged. þ QC ¼ 0 (¼H1 ) [Total condenser] (A9)

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 MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT 623

for i ¼ 2, 3, . . . , N 7 1 Other details of the model can be found from Dave et al.
X
C X
C X
C (2003).
li1,j hi1,j þ lp,j hp,j þ viþ1,j Hiþ1,j
j¼1 j¼1 j¼1

X
C X
C X
C A1.2 Enthalpy Calculations
þ vq,j Hq,j  (li,j þwLi,j )hi,j (vi,j þ wVi,j )Hi,j
j¼1 j¼1 j¼1
ð t( F)
X
C X
C
þ fi,jL hFi,j þ fi,jV Hi,jF
Qi ¼ 0 (¼Hi ) Liquid enthalpy hj ¼ (CPL )j dT (A19)
j¼1 j¼1 200( F)

(A10)
where,
for i ¼ N
X
C X
vN ,j HN ,j þ bj hBj (CPL )j ¼ Heat capacity of the jth component
j¼1 in liquid phase (BTU=lb- F):
X
C
 lN 1,j hN 1,j  QN ¼ 0 (¼HN ) (A11)
j¼1 The units of hj are BTU=lb. The expression for the liquid
heat capacity is:
5) The equilibrium relation is:
yi,j ¼ Ki,j xi,j (A12) (CPL )j ¼ (0:6811  0:308(SG)j
In the above equations, the following relations hold: þ (0:000815 þ 0:000306(SG)j )T) (A20)
li,j ¼ Li xi,j ;vi,j ¼ Vi Ki,j xi,j (A13)  (0:35 þ 0:055Kw )
wi,j ¼ Wi xi,j ; wVi,j ¼ WiV Ki,j xi,j
L L
(A14)
djV ¼ DV K1,j x1,j ; djL ¼ DL x1,j (A15) The molar enthalpy of the required liquid stream is calcu-
lated by adding the pseudo-component enthalpies according
bj ¼ BL xN,j (A16) to their mole-fractions.
lp,j ¼ Lp xp,j (A17) The vapour enthalpy is calculated using the Johnson–
Grayson charts and the procedure given in the API Technical
vq,j ¼ Vq Kq,j xq,j (A18) Data Book (1977).

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