Manage your feedstocks
- Last UpdatedAug 11, 2025
- 7 minute read
Each feed unit on a flowsheet has an associated feedstock group. Only materials belonging to the group may be used as feed for that unit.
The Overview tab of the Feeds page shows a list of the feeds in your model and the associated feedstock groups, and allows you to change the feedstock group associated to a feed.
If two feedstock groups can be used as feed for one unit, you must add two feeds to the flowsheet, each using one of the feedstock groups, and then include a mixer before the process unit.
When optimizing your plant to control how the different feedstock groups are fed to the processing units, it is usual to create different operational modes on the unit, and also on the splitter, to carry the correct feed to the unit in the correct mode.
Example: If your refinery had a Low TAN group of crudes, and a Standard group of crudes, it would be necessary to create a Low TAN and a Standard CDU mode
on the CDU. It would also be necessary to add a Low TAN Split mode on the splitter,
and a Standard Split mode on the splitter. The Low TAN crudes would then be associated
with the Low TAN Split and the Low TAN CDU mode, while the Standard crudes would be
associated with the Standard Split mode and the Standard CDU mode.
You could then control the ratio which these crudes are run into the crude unit by
setting appropriate constraints for the separated modes on the crude unit.
Tip: Double-clicking on a feed unit in the flowsheet opens the Overview tab of the Feeds page, from which you can manage all the feeds in your model and the associated feedstock groups.
Add and delete feedstock groups
Add and delete feedstock groups from the Feedstock Groups tab of the Feeds page.
To add a feedstock group, follow these steps:
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Do either of the following:
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Click Add in the Feedstock Groups group of the Home ribbon tab.
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Right-click in the left-hand pane of the Feedstock Groups tab, and choose Add from the context menu.
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Enter a Name, and optionally a Description, for the new feedstock group.
To delete a feedstock group, follow these steps:
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Select the group you want to delete from the list in the left-hand pane of the Feedstock Groups tab.
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Do either of the following:
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Click Delete in the Feedstock Groups group of the Home ribbon tab.
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Right-click the selected feedstock group and choose Delete from the context menu.
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Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box. The feedstock group is deleted.
Add and remove feedstocks in a group
Manage the feedstocks in a group from the Feedstock Groups tab of the Feeds page.
To add one or more feedstocks to a group, follow these steps:
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Select the group from the list in the left-hand pane of the Feedstock Groups tab. Type in the first row of the table to show only the rows with values beginning by what you have typed.
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Select the feedstocks you want to add in the Available Feedstocks table.
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Do either of the following:
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Click the right arrow button
between the Available Feedstocks and Feedstocks in Group panes.
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Click Add Feedstocks in the Feedstocks group of the Home ribbon tab.
The feedstocks are removed from the Available Feedstocks table and added to the Feedstocks in Group table.
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The feedstock you have added now appears in the Purchases page, where you can enter a price and set constraints.
New feedstocks not yet committed to the server are not shown in the Available Feedstocks pane. To add a new feedstock to a feedstock group, commit the feedstock first.
If you add a feedstock to a case, the feedstock is also added to all the children of the case.
If feeding material to a distillation model, the associated feedstock must have a distillation profile. It must have been published via an assay tool such as Assay.
To remove one or more feedstocks from a group, follow these steps:
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Select the group from the list in the left-hand pane of the Feedstock Groups tab.
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Select the feedstocks you want to remove in the Feedstocks in Group table.
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Do either of the following:
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Click the left arrow button
between the Available Feedstocks and Feedstocks in Group panes.
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Click Remove Feedstocks in the Feedstocks group of the Home ribbon tab.
The feedstocks are removed from the Feedstocks in Group table and added to the Available Feedstocks table.
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If you only wish to temporarily prevent a feedstock from being used within a case, deactivate the feedstock in the Purchases page by clearing the Active check box.
If you remove a feedstock from a group, and the feedstock is not in use in any other group, you can automatically remove purchases of that feedstock. Enable the Automatically remove purchases option in the Feedstocks group of the Home ribbon tab.
Assign feedstocks to groups
The Feedstocks tab of the Feeds page allows you to configure which feedstocks are included in which feedstock group. To allow a particular feedstock to be included in the feedstock group, select the corresponding check box in the feedstock group's column.
For a feedstock to appear in the Feedstocks tab you must have added it to at least one feedstock group.
Tip: Filter the list via the Filter menu and configure which columns are shown, and in what order, via the View menu. See the Grids topic for more information.
Remove duplicate feedstocks in subcases
When you have a hierarchy of cases, it may happen that one or more feedstocks are added to a subcase and then added again to a parent case. The feedstocks added to the parent are then cascaded to all subcases. As a consequence, they end up as duplicates in the subcase to which they were previously added.
In this case, a warning message appears at the top of the page. To delete duplicate feedstocks, click the Remove duplicates link in the top right corner of the tab.
Find how much feedstock is in each group
The Feedstock Routing grid shows how much of a particular feedstock is in each of its feedstock groups, and also how much of a particular group is composed of a particular feedstock.
Example: Bonny Light might be present in two feedstock groups, a Light Sweet Group and an Anode Coke group. After analysis, the Feedstock Routing tab would show how much of the Bonny Light purchased was associated with each group. The Anode Coke group may also contain Lokele as well, and the Feedstock Routing tab shows the percentage of this group that is composed of Bonny Light and the percentage composed of Lokele.
Tip: Filter the list via the Filter menu and configure which columns are shown, and in what order, via the View menu. See the Grids topic for more information.
Lock feedstock routings
Solution values can be locked during subsequent runs. This means that a solution value will not change in any subsequent run, even if other input to the run is changed.
Example: The flow of naphtha from a crude could be locked, and in subsequent runs it would not be able to change. Therefore, if a fixed swing cut point was changed and the model re-run, the crude blend would have to change in order to match the fixed flow rate.
Locking a solution value acts in a similar way to fixing the value. The advantage over fixing a value is that the lock can be clearly seen in the user interface, so it is simpler to distinguish true fixed values from those which are temporarily locked.
To lock one or more solution values, select the corresponding rows in the table and do either of the following:
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Click Lock Solution in the Behaviour group of the Home ribbon tab.
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Right-click on the table and choose Locking > Lock from the context menu.
To unlock one or more solution values, select them and either click Unlock Solution in the ribbon or choose Locking > Unlock from the context menu.