Feature extraction algorithms for constrained global optimization II. Batch process scheduling application

The feature extraction algorithms developed in part I of this series are applied to solve nonconvex mixed integer nonlinear programming problems which arise in the optimal scheduling of multipurpose chemical plants. A general formulation of the multipurpose plant scheduling problem is developed which considers the allocation of plant equipment and secondary, limited resources to recipe operations so as to satisfy given production requirements while minimizing cost. Results obtained with a test example involving 135 binary and 922 continuous variables show that the successive refinement strategy is effective in identifying dominant regions of the solution space. Furthermore it is shown that multiple moment based characterization methods are superior to the interval analysis method reported in the literature. Trials using a second, larger nonlinear test problem involving 356 binary and 2402 continuous variables demonstrate that the focused successive refinement strategy is more efficient than a constant resolution strategy which employs genetic algorithm constructions. Although the conventional genetic algorithm can be significantly improved by introducing a heuristic mutation strategy which increases the likelihood of constant feasibility, the successive refinement strategy remains dominant. These studies demonstrate that the feature extraction strategy employing successive refinements and relatively low order moment based region characterization methods, offers an effective approach to solving an important class of large scale MINLP problems with multiple local optima.