GLOBAL STRATEGY FOR ENERGY AND WASTE ANALYSIS IN SCHEDULING AND PLANNING OF MULTIPRODUCT BATCH CHEMICAL PROCESSES

Energy integration and waste minimization have received increasing att ention in the chemical industry. Recent studies have addressed the spe cific problems that arise in batch chemical processes. However, a prod uction plan built up using schedules developed beforehand may become i nefficient or even fail to attain its production targets. Furthermore, production plans satisfying demand objectives may reduce or even elim inate energy integration or waste minimization opportunities. In this work, waste and energy minimization are treated as an integral part of the constrained production scheduling problem with limited resources. The methodology developed is based on a comprehensive and rigorous mo delling framework used to describe the detailed batch process operatio ns as a preliminary step rewards their optimization. The methodology w ill be presented and results from case studies will be provided to ill ustrate the complex interaction between energy integration, waste mini mization and production planning in multiproduct batch processes.