Project staff and support

Nedyalko Petrov (Intern, University of Portsmouth)
Haitao Huang (Company Supervisor, HP Labs)
Ivan Jordanov (Academic Mentor, University of Portsmouth)
Rushen Patel (Technology Translator, Industrial Mathematics KTN)

This Internship project is being carried out at BP, in conjunction with the University of Portsmouth. It is part of the KTN's Industrial Mathematics KTP Programme, co-funded by EPSRC. Start date: February 2011; duration: 6 months.

Project description

BP is an oil and gas company with strong investment in alternative energy.

Hydroprocessing is one of the most important processes across BP refineries. BP has developed a computer model to simulate BP hydroprocess units. The model has played an important role in monitoring, optimizing and revamping and design new hydroprocess units. As environment regulation and market demand for clean fuel become more stringent, BP faces new challenge in operating its hydroprocess units. The proposed project is to analyze the gap between the requirement and the current capability of the hydroprocess model based on pilot plant data and advanced speciation data (1DGC/2DGC sulphur speciation) and to improve the model capability and the model accuracy in prediction.

The work plan of the intern includes:

• Consolidation and sorting of the relevant data.
• Identification of the technical gaps in the current hydroprocessing model.
• Implementation of the hydroprocess model with 1DGC, 2DGC sulphur speciation data. This is to be followed by analysis and recommendations on best practise for most appropriate methods in different refinery applications.
• Development of a new hydroprocess model.