Value analysis of complex systems and industrial application to refineries

A generalized strategy for the modeling and integration of an overall system is developed for the purpose of detailed economic analysis of industrial systems. The work uses the basics of value analysis method (Sadhukhan, J. Ph.D. Dissertation, UMIST, Manchester, U.K., 2002) to identify major material streams and their elements of production and processing. These major material streams are evaluated for economics, and these economics are used to predict the economics of elements of production and processing expressed as profit functions of process units. However, in a complex network system, there exist a variety of streams forming a number of processing networks in addition to the core system of major material streams and utilities. To consider the effects of overall network interactions in the economics of major material streams and elements, these processing networks are modeled interchangeably as material or utility networks and integrated with the core system of major material streams and utilities. Further, these economics of streams and elements are used to establish the overall system economics and thereby capturing the effects of overall network interactions in the overall system economics. The insights developed to build economic models at various stages are illustrated with several examples and an industrial case study from a refinery. In addition to the economic analysis of an overall refining system, the refinery crude switch problem is used to demonstrate the application of system economic analysis to optimum feedstock selection