Identifying the optimal process design for a chemical process to be implemented in an existing multipurpose batch plant

We developed a method that focuses on the problem of optimizing the use of equipment units in an existing single-process production line for the design of a new chemical batch process. The method considers standard heuristics from industrial practice as well as all equipment and processing details and constraints within a Tabu Search optimization algorithm. In this paper we propose an extended multiobjective Pareto approach that delivers a panel of process designs consisting of the Pareto optimal layouts as well as dominated designs that meet certain performance criteria and at the same time have a process structure that is significantly different from the Pareto optima. This new approach is demonstrated using a batch process design case study.