Refinery Cuts Planning Run Times from 30 Hours to 90 Minutes Using Aspen PIMS-AO

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Refinery Cuts Planning Run Times from 30 Hours to 90 Minutes Using Aspen PIMS-AO

Case study shows how a leading Asian refinery used Aspen PIMS-AO global optimization and parallel processing to eliminate local optima and accelerate planning cycles.

Published

June 4, 2026

Read time

3 min read

Source

A top Asian refining company operating over 700,000 BPD capacity upgraded to Aspen PIMS-AO V8.7 to address long planning cycles and sub-optimal solutions. By implementing multi-start global optimization, ranging, parametric analysis, and goal programming on 40-core servers, the team reduced solve times from 30 hours to 90 minutes while achieving zero local optima. The faster runs enabled more price and operations scenarios, quicker crude trading decisions, and higher internal customer satisfaction.

Key takeaways

Reduced linear programming solve time from 30 hours to 90 minutes (95% faster)

Eliminated local optima through multi-start global optimization and epsilon variation

Enabled evaluation of more price and operational scenarios for margin improvement

Identified optimal 40-core server configuration for parallel processing performance

Improved responsiveness to crude trading opportunities and internal stakeholders

Market overview

SCR methodology note

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Leaders

Implementation considerations

Important consideration

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