Otimização de processos industriais: modelagem de problemas de programação linear e não-linear

Abstract

The efficiency of industrial chemical processes is tied not only to process variables, but also to external factors, such as the availability and cost of raw materials, transportation, storage, and many others. The concept of optimization may be applied to various aspects of the same process, and it is most utilized in minimizing production costs or lead time; maximizing profits or production volume; and even defining the layout of facilities or choosing the most appropriate location for a building site, according to its proximity to suppliers and clients. Conducting optimization analysis is essential to ensure that even smaller projects are viable, even more so now that reducing waste and using our natural resources more efficiently have become priorities in the search for more sustainable manufacturing. In this paper, two engineering problems were modeled in Pyomo, an open-source optimization Python package. The results were very close to those found in the articles from which the problems were extracted, and will be compiled, along with the developed models, for further study in the Chemical Process Optimization and Synthesis course, as part of the Chemical Engineering curriculum.