It is a challenge to conserve energy for the large-scale petrochemical enterprises due to complex production process and energy diversification. As critical energy consumption equipment of atmospheric distillation oil refining process, the atmospheric distillation column is paid more attention to save energy. In this paper, the optimal problem of energy utilization efficiency of the atmospheric distillation column is solved by defining a new energy efficiency indicator - the distillation yield rate of unit energy consumption from the perspective of material flow and energy flow, and a soft-sensing model for this new energy efficiency indicator with respect to the multiple working conditions and intelligent optimizing control strategy are suggested for both increasing distillation yield and decreasing energy consumption in oil refining process. It is found that the energy utilization efficiency level of the atmospheric distillation column depends closely on the typical working conditions of the oil refining process, which result by changing the outlet temperature, the overhead temperature, and the bottom liquid level of the atmospheric pressure tower. The fuzzy C-means algorithm is used to classify the typical operation conditions of atmospheric distillation in oil refining process. Furthermore, the LSSVM method optimized with the improved particle swarm optimization is used to model the distillation rate of unit energy consumption. Then online optimization of oil refining process is realized by optimizing the outlet temperature, the overhead temperature with IPSO again. Simulation comparative analyses are made by empirical data to verify the effectiveness of the proposed solution. (C) 2018 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.