Evaluation of waste minimization alternatives under uncertainty: a multiobjective optimization approach

A general methodology is proposed for implementing waste minimization progr ams. This paper focuses primarily in the evaluation of source reduction alt ernatives using a two criteria approach. The first criterion considers the economic performance of the process that includes all the waste related cos ts within an environmental accounting framework. Whereas the second criteri a evaluates the environmental impact of the alternative taking into account a release factor, as well as toxicological data for each chemical present in the process stream. Realizing the uncertainty present in the evaluation of potential source reduction projects, the evaluation phase is accomplishe d using a multiple objective optimization approach by combining the comprom ise programming method and the stochastic annealing algorithm using the pro cess simulator ASPEN PLUS. As an example, the methyl chloride process is ev aluated using the proposed methodology. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.