Logistic Optimization of Chemical Production Processes

In the demand-driven operation of chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical production plants, the efficient use of the available resources is of crucial importance to the economic performance of today's chemical companies. As the first of its kind, this book addresses the logistic optimization of chemical production processes, both from a practical and an academic point of view. All the chapters discuss real-world applications or case studies derived from authentic industrial problems. This book reviews the main problems in supply-chain optimization, the description of the methods and tools currently used in industry, logistic simulation, campaign planning under uncertainty, up to heuristics-and optimization-based production planning and scheduling, and recently proposed advanced optimization algorithms and their integration in ERP systems. Throughout, the authors represent industrial users of tools for logistic optimization, developers and vendors of such tools and software systems as well as academic researchers. the result is an up-to-date survey of the field, which can equally be used as a textbook in courses on the operation of chemical plants.