Multiproduct pipeline scheduling integrating for inbound and outbound inventory management

This paper addresses the operation of a unidirectional multiproduct pipeline system integrated with inventory tanks management at the refinery and distribution center. A Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation is proposed to model the scheduling of a pipeline operation consisting of a single source node and a single destination node representing a refinery and a distribution center, respectively. Different operational aspects such as product availability, inventory limits, product quality, forbidden sequences, transition between different products injected into the pipeline and tanks inventory management are considered. Time synchronization among refinery, pipeline, and distribution center is guaranteed enhancing the model representation of real operations. Additionally, a solution procedure is developed to improve the model solution performance that explores the reduction of the number of variables and constraints. Different examples based on a real world case are solved showing the model's applicability, which proves to be effective in generating feasible solutions in reasonable computational times.