Abstract
An optimised integration approach connecting a conventional oil refinery with an ethylene production plant is investigated. Using the intermediate materials produced as the connection between the two plants, the use of internally provided feedstocks and blending options removes, at least partially, the reliance on external sourcing. This is also beneficial in terms of increasing profit margins and quality for both production systems. Thus, a mathematical model has been developed and implemented in this work to model the oil refinery and the ethylene production plant while considering their integration as an MINLP problem with the aim of optimising the integrated plants. This work considers the optimisation of each plant individually and later the final integration by modelling the interconnection between the oil refinery and the ethylene production plant. Moreover, a case study using practical data was carried out to verify the feasibility of the integration for an industrial application.