Optimal waste reduction and investment planning under uncertainty
Ever-changing production campaigns complicate the management of recovery and treatment options for unavoidable effluents at pharmaceutical plants. Each campaign produces large amounts of by-products differing in their number, amount as well as composition. Future business strategies designed to address changing market demands add uncertainty to this already challenging design problem. In such a dynamic and uncertain environment, the selection of operating policies as well as decisions to support future business operations by plant investments such as new reactors and separators is a formidable task. This paper will introduce a systematic planning methodology for obtaining long-term waste management strategies for entire batch manufacturing sites. Rigorous modeling of future business and regulatory changes will allow plant managers to assess their long-term monetary, infrastructural and ecological impact. The methodology will be illustrated with the help of quasi industrial case studies. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
waste management strategies combinatorial process synthesis multi-period optimization with capacity extension regulatory forecasts emission trading