Cost Optimal Selection of Storage Tanks in LPG Vaporization Station

Abstract

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is an important urban gas source in China. Before supplied to customers by pipeline supply systems, LPG is stored in tanks in LPG vaporization stations. Designers usually decide the number and the size of storage tanks by their experience during constructions of vaporization stations. These decisions are usually not best and most economical. To solve the problem, a compact mixed integer nonlinear programming model has been developed in this paper. The objective is to minimize annual storage cost of the vaporization station. The model has been transformed into a general nonlinear programming model by transforming integer variables and 0-1 variables into continuous variables. One LPG vaporization station was taken as an example to illustrate the usage of the model. The results show that the optimal storage scheme can be determined accurately and quickly by the model and about 15% of storage cost can be saved every year after optimization.

Share and Cite:

G. Shi, "Cost Optimal Selection of Storage Tanks in LPG Vaporization Station," Natural Resources, Vol. 3 No. 3, 2012, pp. 164-169. doi: 10.4236/nr.2012.33021.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] National Bureau of Statistics, “China Statistical Yearbook (2008),” China Statistics Press, Beijing, 2008.
[2] L. W. Jiang and B. C. O’Neill, “The Energy Transition in Rural China,” International Journal of Global Energy Issues, Vol. 21, No. 1-2, 2004, pp. 2-26.
[3] Q. Y. Zhang, “Residential Energy Consumption in China and Its Comparison with Japan, Canada, and USA,” Energy and Buildings, Vol. 36, No. 12, 2004, pp. 1217-1225. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2003.08.002
[4] J. W. K. Wong, “City-Gas Development in China-An NG Perspective,” Energy Policy, Vol. 38, No. 5, 2009, pp. 2107-2109. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2009.06.001
[5] J. F. Zhu and C. G. Duan, “Application of Solar Energy to LPG Vaporizer,” Gas and Heat, Vol. 25, No. 10, 2005, pp. 13-15.
[6] Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the PRC, “China’s Urban Construction Statistical Bulletin (2007),” China Architecture & Building Press, Beijing, 2008.
[7] LINGO Systems Inc., “Lingo User’s Guide,” Chicago, 2000.
[8] S. S. Rao, “Optimization: Theory and Applications,” 2nd Edition, John Wiley, New York, 1984.
[9] G. Y. Shi and J. L. Dong, “Optimization Methods,” High Education Press, Beijing, 1999.
[10] Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the PRC, “Code for Design of City Gas Engineering,” China Architecture & Building Press, Beijing, 2006.
[11] G. H. Shi, “Study on Non-Pipeline Gas Supply for Middle-Small Town,” M.S. Thesis, North China Electric Power University, Baoding, 2005.
[12] K. Aardal, R. Weismantel and L. A. Wolsey, “Non-Standard Approaches to Integer Programming,” Discrete Applied Mathematics, Vol. 123, No. 1-3, 2002, pp. 5-74. doi:10.1016/S0166-218X(01)00337-7
[13] Q. L. Wu and N. R. Xie, “A New Method for Solving a Class of Nonlinear Integer Programming Problems,” Control and Decision, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1997, pp. 97-108.
[14] G. H. Xu and Y. Liu, “Handbook of Operations Research Fundamentals,” Science Press, Beijing, 1999.
[15] D. Bertsimas, G. Perakis and S. Tayur, “A New Algebraic Geometry Algorithm for Integer Programming,” Management Science, Vol. 46, No. 7, 2000, pp. 999-1008. doi:10.1287/mnsc.46.7.999.12033
[16] Z. Q. Meng, Q. Y. Hu and X. Q. Yang, “A Method of Non-Linear Penalty Function for Solving Integer Programming and Mixed Integer Programming,” Control and Decision, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2002, pp. 310-314.
[17] C. G. Duan, “Transportation and Distribution of Gas,” China Architecture & Building Press, Beijing, 2001.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.