Involving Acceptability in the Optimal Synthesis of Water Networks in Eco-Industrial Parks

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 58; no. 6; pp. 2268 - 2279
• Main Authors: Aguilar-Oropeza, Guillermo, Rubio-Castro, Eusiel, Ponce-Ortega, José María
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 13.02.2019
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.8b04419

This paper proposes a superstructure that considers the recycling and reuse of water in an eco-industrial park, where different industries share wastewater as well as a treatment system to meet their water needs in their process units. The involved flows as well as the treatment system are optimization variables, and the objective is to synthesize the network that allows satisfying water requirements at the lowest possible cost for each of the involved industries, thus approaching the individual utopian point of each participating industry. Based on the proposed superstructure, a mathematical model was implemented that involves mass and property balances of the involved streams. Also, the equations corresponding to the water treatment equipment as well as the economic objective functions for each of the involved industries are considered. Subsequently, the individual objectives of each industry are determined to find the utopian point. With this information, a strategy is implemented to allow obtaining a trade-off solution that is closest to the utopian point. The proposed strategy also allows the generation of a set of solutions that trade off the different objectives to identify the weight of each industry involved in the eco-industrial park. A case study is presented to show the applicability of the proposed approach, where it is possible to identify solutions that minimize the dissatisfaction of each of the involved plants.