Multiobjective Optimization Applied to Industrial Plant Design

Sauli Ruuska

The task of finding an optimal design for an industrial plant can
be formulated as an optimization problem. This optimization
problem, however, has a special bilevel structure: there are
actually two optimization problems, one within the other.
Furthermore, as is the case with most real-life problems, there
are multiple conflicting objectives in the design task to be taken
into account simultaneously. Thus, we end up formulating a bilevel
multiobjective optimization problem.

In this presentation, a general formulation of the optimization
problem associated with industrial plant design is presented, and
some of the difficulties in solving such a problem are discussed.
The purpose of this presentation is to give some idea how
multiobjective optimization can be applied to real-life design
problems, and what are the benefits versus limitations of that
approach.