Scheduling a Multi-Product Pipeline: A Discretized MILP Formulation

Abstract

Multi-product pipelines are a highly efficient means of transporting liquids. Traditionally used to transport petroleum, its products and derivatives, they are now being repurposed to transport liquified natural gas admixed with hydrogen of various colors. We propose a novel mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation, which optimizes efficiency while satisfying a wide range of real-world constraints developed to meet the needs of the Czech national pipeline operator CEPRO. We provide tests on well-known synthetic (path-graph) networks and demonstrate the formulation's scaling properties using open-source and commercial MILP solvers.