Aspen Technology, Inc.

By Aspen Technology, Inc.

 Applications Manual
PIMS - PROCESS INDUSTRY MODELING SYSTEM
By Aspen Technology, Inc.
1293 Eldridge Parkway
Houston, Texas 77077

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Contents
Aniline Improver Using Curve and Nonlin 1
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Non-Additive Approach...............................................................................................1
Linearization of Improver Effects ................................................................................1
Use of Curve and Nonlin with Distributive Recursion.................................................2

PIMS Applications Manual Contents • i

Aniline Improver Using Curve and
Nonlin

Introduction
The use of aniline improver for changing the aniline point of a distillate fuel is quite
common. The aniline improver can be considered an additive to the fuel and can be
modeled through the use of the additive structure in PIMS. There are two
requirements to this, however. The first requirement is that the user must be able to
specify the response to the additive for each component of the blend. The other
requirement is that this can be the only additive, as PIMS currently only supports a
single additive. If the user is blending TEL, then the additive route is unavailable.

Non-Additive Approach
One approach to the problem of modeling the aniline improver is to put the lowest
acceptable value as the minimum specification of the blend, and assume that the real
specification can be met through the addition of the improver. The downside is that
the chemical costs are incorrect. The assumption being made is that all the
components will have the same response to the improver.
For example, if only so much improver can be added to the blend and that much
improver will improve the aniline by so much, then there is an implied minimum
aniline specification below which not enough improver can be added. If your real
spec. is 135 and you have a limit of 40 pounds of improver per thousand barrels
which will contribute 15 aniline points, then the absolute minimum value to set for
the blend spec. would be 120. Setting a specification below this amount would
require more than 40 pounds of improver.

Linearization of Improver Effects

One simple approach to the addition of aniline improver to a distillate blend is to
linearize the improvement per unit of additive. The relationship between the
improvement in aniline point and the amount of improver added to the blend is not a
straight line. If the curve lends itself to fitting a straight line, then this can be used to
contribute aniline point while purchasing a utility chemical. Because the relationship
is not a linear one, there are potential errors that must be dealt with.

PIMS Applications Manual Aniline Improver Using Curve and Nonlin • 1

 LP submodel structure must be set up to intersect the specification row with the
appropriate aniline improvement per unit of improver. The column also intersects a
utility row to represent the purchase of the improver. The improver can be purchased
in any unit, however, the aniline point improvement should be consistent with the
dimension of the purchased improver. One minor discrepancy with this structure is
that the volume of improver is not considered in the volume of the blend. The
volume contribution of the improver to the final blend volume can be easily added
through table ROWS.

Use of Curve and Nonlin with Distributive

Recursion
The next representation of the addition of aniline point improver to a distillate blend
requires the use of PIMS tables CURVE and NONLIN that are used to modify
Distributive Recursion structure.
The first part of building this structure requires the definition of the effect of the
addition of aniline improver to the blend. This particular example allows for the
maximum addition of 49.1 pounds of improver per thousand barrels of blend. In
addition, at an aniline point specification of 136.5, no aniline improver is required.
The resulting curve looks like the following:

Aniline Improver Effect

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
120 122 124 126 128 130 132 134 136 138
Aniline Point

This data must be translated into the proper form for inclusion into table CURVE.
The resulting table, which must have monotonically increasing X-values, would look
as follows:

Please note that the column headings (32, 29, etc.) are text entries and can be any 1,
2, or 3 character name.

2 • Aniline Improver Using Curve and Nonlin PIMS Applications Manual

 The companion table NONLIN for this structure is as follows:
* TABLE NONLIN
*
TEXT SX74AII
*
RCOFA4P ANILINE CONSUMPTION 1
*

One peculiar thing about this curve is that the X values are expressed in terms of
improvement in the aniline point (aniline shortfall), but the Y values are expressed in
terms of (the negative of) gallons of improver per thousand barrels of blend. Such
representation will require the capture of the volume of the blend in a submodel table
so that the correct amount of improver can be added to meet specification. This
submodel table serves several purposes. First, it contains the aniline specification for
the blend. This spec. is not set in table BLNSPEC. The table also captures the
volume of the blend as a quality and passes it to the CURVE and NONLIN structure
to compute the correct amount of additive given the current quality of the blend and
its volume.
The table is as follows:

In addition to this table, there are entries in table ROWS that capture the total volume
of the blend H74 through row ETOTH74. That structure is as follows:
* TABLE ROWS
*
TEXT BVBLH74
*
ETOTH74 CAPTURE VOLUME -1
*

Table SX74 functionality is explained below:

Row LANIX74 is a row that contains the blend specification in column SP4 and the
recursed value of the blend in column H74. The -1 in column AII is the contribution
to the aniline point from the improver. This column will have activity in aniline point
shortfall from specification, or exactly the X parameter for CURVE and NONLIN.
The structure requires that the aniline point of H74 be recursed (therefore in table
PGUESS). Recursion also requires the presence of a specification in table
BLNSPEC. Set a low value, such as 121.5, the lowest allowable value. Note that
both columns H74 and SP4 must be fixed at 1.0 in table BOUNDS.

PIMS Applications Manual Aniline Improver Using Curve and Nonlin • 3

 The row RBALA4P is a recursion balance row that will be used to capture the
additive level. The recursion that will be taking place will be on the gallons per
thousand barrels additive level. The recursion quality row is RCOFA4P. The
coefficient of -25 shown in column AII is the initial guess for the CURVE and
NONLIN structure. This value of -25 will be changed according to this structure.
The pool volume of H74 is captured by ETOTH74 and passed into column 74V.
This column is part of distributive recursion structure to capture the volume of H74
as a quality of pool collector 74V, which is also fixed at 1.0 in table BOUNDS. Note
that the DUM column must offset the RBAL row for this pool to prevent infeasibility.
Fixing the column at an activity of 1.0 ensures that the quality will be calculated
during the recursion procedure.
This volume quality is PCALCd into column CO4 in row EVOLX74. Now that we
have the volume in a column, we need only to have the additive level in gallons per
volume to determine the total volume of additive. This is accomplished through the
PCALC of the additive concentration from pool A4P to column SP4. That entry, in
the column fixed at 1.0, drives column CO4 to have an activity of the additive
concentration. Therefore a vector activity in terms of concentration with a coefficient
entry of volume performs the multiplication correctly to set the demand for the
additive. That demand is passed to UBALAIP, the purchase of utility aniline
improver.
The convergence of this structure is not by any means guaranteed. One reason is that
the CURVE/NONLIN coefficient is part of distributive recursion structure without an
associated error vector in the quality row. Tweaking various tolerances (ATOL and
RTOL) associated with the qualities (COF and VOL) in this structure may aid
convergence.

4 • Aniline Improver Using Curve and Nonlin PIMS Applications Manual

PIMS Applications Manual • 5