Special session — Petroleum refinery optimization modeling

In today´s challenging economy, the petroleum refining industry remains one of the most important industries in the world. However, this industry is facing many challenges, including price volatility and role of speculators, depletion of oil reservoirs, corporate social responsibility, clean-fuel legislation, strict greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, and the large amount of water usually being used at the refineries. Therefore, petroleum refineries face a serious need to increase the efficiency and optimize the productivity of their conversion units, such as the hydrocracker and fluid catalytic cracking units (FCCs) and distillation towers. The organizer of this special session would like to invite theoretical and/or empirical contributions that advance the current state of knowledge in this area. The session addresses issues related to various aspects of using optimization modeling in petroleum refineries.