OPTIMAL CAMPAIGN PLANNING SCHEDULING OF MULTIPURPOSE BATCH SEMICONTINUOUS PLANTS .2. A MATHEMATICAL DECOMPOSITION APPROACH

In the companion paper, a single-level mathematical formulation has be en presented describing the multiple campaign planning/scheduling prob lem in considerable generality. However, the resulting mixed integer l inear programming model is too large to be computationally tractable f or many cases of practical interest. In this paper, we present a rigor ous decomposition approach to the solution of this problem and demonst rate its effectiveness by applying it to a number of illustrative exam ples. In addition, we consider ways in which the structure of the cons tituent mathematical models of the decomposition scheme can be exploit ed to reduce their sizes and the associated integrality gaps. Examples illustrating the applicability of the overall approach are also prese nted.