Batch of chemical processes

The objective of this paper is to use production engineering concepts to solve scheduling problems encountered in chemical engineering. The studied case is the multipurpose (or job-shop) chemical batch plant involving the most complex specific constraints which can be found practically: various products to be manufactured, different synthesis sequences, presence of intermediate products, various storage policies, mass balances, utilities, effluent limitation,... The development of a discrete-event simulation model of a fine chemistry plant is proposed in this paper. Use of the model and simulation results are then analyzed. Attention is focused on applications which seem interesting from a production management viewpoint but also from chemical engineering concepts (plant design, effluent treatment, stability et storage of reaction intermediates...).