Russian scientists develop breakthrough technology to enhance accuracy of petroleum quality assessment

Scientists from the Institute of Automation and Control Processes of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have created an innovative technology that significantly increases the accuracy of assessing the quality of petroleum products and specialised hydrocarbon fractions. This is reported by the official website of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

The method takes into account error correlation at every stage of data processing, improving the efficiency of automated monitoring and quality control systems in the production of Arctic fuel components and drilling fluid bases – a vital step for sustainable Arctic exploration.

According to researchers, previous analytical methods failed to consider the correlation of errors when assessing complex multicomponent quality parameters, leading to notable deviations in results. The newly developed approach resolves this issue by introducing an advanced algorithm that fine-tunes a multidimensional error predictor during each stage of data analysis. It also employs a system of virtual analysers to enhance the fractional composition of products in distillation columns and other separation units used in hydrocarbon processing.

Andrey Torgashov, Doctor of Technical Sciences and head of the project, stated: “We have created the first system capable of accurately evaluating complex error characteristics in quality assessment and improving process control in even the most sophisticated refining operations.”

Experimental tests have confirmed that the new method reduces average real-time quality assessment error by about one-third compared with existing techniques.

According to the scientists, this advancement opens the way for industrial implementation at major Russian refineries.

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