Continuous time formulation of short-term scheduling for pipeless batch plants

An efficient scheduling of pipeless plants is proposed as mixed integer lin ear programming models. As previous models based on uniform time discretiza tion methods or two-coordinate time representation methods cause a large nu mber of binary variables, a continuous time representation model based on c onventional multipurpose/multiproduct formulations is proposed. It is compo sed of three formulations, which are the production-restricted scheduling, the vessel-restricted scheduling, and the waiting-station-restricted schedu ling. When the number of products increases, the size of a proposed formula tion exponentially increases. Therefore, periodic scheduling is considered and an iterative solution procedure is proposed. The performance of the pro posed models and the solution procedures are illustrated with several examp les.