Design, synthesis and scheduling of multipurpose batch plants via an effective continuous-time formulation

Design, synthesis and scheduling issues are considered simultaneously for multipurpose batch plants. Processing recipes are represented by the State-Task Network. The proposed model takes into account the trade-offs between capital costs, revenues and operational flexi-bility. Both linear and nonlinear examples are studied, resulting in MILP and MINLP problems, respectively. Comparisons with another approach are presented