Multi-objective optimization of energy consumption in crude oil pipeline transportation system operation based on exergy loss analysis

Abstract Energy consumption plays a dominant role in the technical and economic indicators of pipeline operation, and is greatly influenced by operation schemes. However, the conventional energy consumption model is often analyzed from the perspective of “energy” in the process of optimization without addressing the issue of energy quality. Based on energy quality, this paper analyzes exergy loss and exergy efficiency of every component of the crude oil pipeline transportation system. The expression of the exergy loss is determined and the mathematical model of the pipeline transportation system is established with the optimization objective of minimizing the total exergy loss of the system, which is combined the two optimization algorithms of genetic algorithm and multi-objective programming. Using one external oil pipeline in northeast China as an example, the model is used to do hierarchical optimization for the equipment arrangement and operation parameters of each station in the pipeline transportation system. The results found that the total oil transportation cost and the total exergy loss of the pipeline transportation system after optimization have seen an obvious improvement in the effective utilization of energy when compared to pre-optimized levels. The purpose of reducing the operation energy consumption and exergy loss of the system as well as each subsystem simultaneously has been achieved, and the theoretical basis is provided for the energy consumption optimization of oil pipeline transportation system operations.