A unified model for optimizing the pump start-up scheme of products pipeline

By virtue of the optimized pump start-up scheme on pump stations along products pipelines, the energy consumption during pipeline operation can be reduced. As for the products pipeline which is equipped with the variable frequency pump and adopts the parallel operation mode of the pump units, an Mixed Integer Linear Programming Model (MILP) was established based on existing batch scheduling. This model is aimed at minimizing the sum of the operation energy consumption along the whole pipeline during the operation under the constraints of node pressure and pump flow. This model was solved by the branch and bound algorithm. The pump start-up scheme of a certain products pipeline in China was taken as a case study to verify the model. It is shown that its computation time is 213.76 s, and all results satisfy the constraints, indicating that this model is practical. The research results provide a guidance for the operation optimization of products pipelines in China.