Systems and methods for optimizing refinery coker process

A controller for automatic operation of a coker, the controller comprising a processing circuit configured to:

• obtain an objective function that defines a control objective as a function of one or more controlled variables affected by modulating a feed of oil into a coke drum of the coker;
• use a predictive model and the objective function to generate a target coker feed rate indicating a target rate at which to feed the oil into the coke drum, the predictive model configured to predict values of the one or more controlled variables predicted to result from the target coker feed rate;
• and
• operate a drum feeder using the target coker feed rate to modulate the feed of oil into the coke drum.

A method for automatic operation of a coker, the method comprising:

• obtaining an objective function that defines a control objective as a function of one or more controlled variables affected by modulating one or more manipulated variables provided as inputs to the coker;
• using a predictive model and the objective function to generate values of the one or more manipulated variables, the predictive model configured to predict values of the one or more controlled variables predicted to result from the values of the one or more manipulated variables;
• and
• operating controllable equipment of the coker to modulate the one or more manipulated variables provided as inputs to the coker.