Siberian Federal University

If the operational processes of the heat exchangers used in oil refineries are optimized, the quantity of their harmful emissions can be reduced and their high energy costs can be decreased. Lyudmila Kulagina, a Ph.D. student from the Department of Information Processing, Siberian Federal University, has developed a new method for doing this by computing the parameters of optimal control for heat exchangers under constant operation. Design can thus be optimized at an early stage.

Lyudmila Kulagina says, “Research in petroleum engineering processes is complicated since they are usually described by partial differential equations. These problems are difficult to consider because the equations are non-linear and the constraints are described by differential equations. In addition, these are multidimensional problems as the technological processes involve various physical parameters and design parameters. Existing frameworks do not consider the chemical and technological processes of heat exchange under a wide range of constraints and disturbances, and they do not estimate the static and dynamic characteristics of the complete technological process. It is difficult to create a useful framework due to the lack of data on non-stationary regimes under various disturbances. We propose numerical methods for solving boundary problems and the problems of optimal control for computing the global optimum for multidimensional functionals.”

The results of her research have been published in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. Lyudmila Kulagina has presented her findings at two conferences (Egypt, 2005; Symkom’06, Poland), at which chemists, petroleum engineers and designers discussed the state of the petroleum industry and methods of decreasing harmful emissions, improving the environment and decreasing operational costs.

Contact

Lyudmila Kulagina by emailing klv_post@mail.ru