An evolutionary approach to optimal synthesis of multiproduct batch plant

Abstract

In case of adding new equipment in parallel to the synthesized batch processes, there are two operating modes for the added equipment. One is ''out-of-phase (in-sequence)'' mode and the other is ''in-phase'' mode. However, previous approaches in solving the synthesis problem as a MINLP (Mixed Integer NonLinear Programming) problem so far have considered only the out-of-phase mode. In this paper, using MINLP, heuristics and NLP (nonlinear programming) formulation, we deal with the problems where the in-phase mode is also considered. The effectiveness of this approach is verified by solving three literature problems. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd