A new optimization model and a customized solution method for natural gas production network design and operation

This article proposes to tackle integrated design and operation of natural gas production networks under uncertainty, using a new two‐stage stochastic programming model, a novel reformulation strategy, and a customized global optimization method. The new model addresses material balances for multiple key gas components, pressure flow relationships in gas wells and pipelines, and compressor performance. This model is a large‐scale nonconvex mixed‐integer nonlinear programming problem that cannot be practically solved by existing global optimization solvers or decomposition‐based optimization methods. With the new reformulation strategy, the reformulated model has a better decomposable structure, and then a new decomposition‐based global optimization method is developed for efficient global optimization. In the case study of an industrial naturals production system, it is shown that the proposed modeling and optimization methods enable efficient solution, and the proposed optimization method is faster than a state‐of‐the‐art decomposition method by at least an order of magnitude. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 933–948, 2017