Nikkhah Hasan, Aghayev Zahir, Shahbazi Amir, Charitopoulos Vassilis M, Avraamidou Styliani, Beykal Burcu
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 06269, CT,USA.
Center for Clean Energy Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 06269 CT, USA.
Digit Chem Eng. 2025 Mar;14. doi: 10.1016/j.dche.2025.100218. Epub 2025 Jan 17.
Planning and scheduling are crucial components of enterprise-wide optimization (EWO). For the successful execution of EWO, it is vital to view the enterprise operations as a holistic decision-making problem, composed of different interconnected elements or layers, to make the most efficient use of resources in process industries. Among different layers of the operating decisions, planning and scheduling are often treated sequentially, leading to impractical solutions. To tackle this problem, integrated approaches, such as bi-level programming are utilized to address these two layers simultaneously. Yet, the bi-level optimization of such interdependent and holistic formulations is still difficult, particularly when dealing with mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems, due to a lack of effective algorithms. In this study, we utilize the Data-driven Optimization of bi-level Mixed-Integer NOnlinear problems (DOMINO) framework, a data-driven algorithm developed to handle single-leader single-follower bi-level mixed-integer problems, to solve single-leader multi-follower planning and scheduling problems subject to MINLP scheduling formulations. We apply DOMINO to the continuous production of multi-product methyl methacrylate polymerization process formulated as a Traveling Salesman Problem and demonstrate its capability in achieving near-optimal guaranteed feasible solutions. Building on this foundation, we extend this strategy to solve a high-dimensional and highly constrained nonlinear crude oil refinery operation problem that has not been previously tackled in this context. Our study further evaluates the efficacy of using local, NOMAD (Nonlinear Optimization by Mesh Adaptive Direct Search), and a global data-driven optimizer, ARGONAUT (AlgoRithms for Global Optimization of coNstrAined grey-box compUTational), within the DOMINO framework and characterize their performance both in terms of solution quality and computational expense. The results indicate that DOMINO-NOMAD consistently achieves superior performance compared to DOMINO-ARGONAUT by identifying lower planning costs and generating more feasible solutions across multiple runs. Overall, this study demonstrates DOMINO's ability to optimize production targets, meet market demands, and address large-scale EWO problems.
规划和调度是企业范围优化(EWO)的关键组成部分。为了成功执行EWO,将企业运营视为一个整体决策问题至关重要,该问题由不同的相互关联的元素或层次组成,以便在流程工业中最有效地利用资源。在运营决策的不同层次中,规划和调度通常按顺序处理,导致解决方案不切实际。为了解决这个问题,采用了诸如双层规划等集成方法来同时处理这两个层次。然而,由于缺乏有效的算法,这种相互依赖和整体式公式的双层优化仍然很困难,特别是在处理混合整数非线性规划(MINLP)问题时。在本研究中,我们利用双层混合整数非线性问题的数据驱动优化(DOMINO)框架,这是一种为处理单领导者单跟随者双层混合整数问题而开发的数据驱动算法,来解决受MINLP调度公式约束的单领导者多跟随者规划和调度问题。我们将DOMINO应用于制定为旅行商问题的多产品甲基丙烯酸甲酯聚合过程的连续生产,并展示了其在实现接近最优的保证可行解方面的能力。在此基础上,我们扩展了这一策略,以解决一个高维且高度受限的非线性原油炼油厂运营问题,该问题在此背景下以前尚未得到解决。我们的研究进一步评估了在DOMINO框架内使用局部优化器NOMAD(通过网格自适应直接搜索进行非线性优化)和全局数据驱动优化器ARGONAUT(用于约束灰箱计算全局优化的算法)的有效性,并从解决方案质量和计算成本方面对它们的性能进行了表征。结果表明,通过在多次运行中识别出更低的规划成本并生成更多可行解,DOMINO - NOMAD始终比DOMINO - ARGONAUT表现出更优的性能。总体而言,本研究展示了DOMINO在优化生产目标、满足市场需求以及解决大规模EWO问题方面的能力。