In the chemical process industry, the need to make decisions in a context of multiple and competing objectives is frequent. Thanks to advances in the field of operational research and systems science, several methods of multi-objective optimization have emerged that can be applied to chemical and biochemical engineering processes. These techniques incorporate the knowledge of an expert of a given process to the optimization routine, which provides valuable information about the domain of optimal solutions.
This presentation will discuss a multi-objective optimization strategy that generates the Pareto domain containing all non-dominated solutions for some chemical and biological processes with conflicting objectives. The optimum region for the operation of these processes is also determined following the method of Net Flow and Rough Set. The processes considered are the manufacture of pulp to produce quality paper, the optimization of the production of beer by fermentation to obtain the best possible taste, the tuning of a PI controller and the optimization of a biobutanol fermentation incorporated with a membrane pervaporation process.
Biographical Sketch
Jules Thibault obtained his bachelor of chemical engineering at the Royal Military College. He later obtained a PhD in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University, where he worked on the topic of heat transfer in CANDU nuclear reactors. He then spent six years in the Canadian Armed Forces, including two six-month postings to Egypt and Cyprus with the United Nations. From 1981 to 1984, he taught in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the Royal Military College. In 1984, he left the Canadian Armed Forces to join the Department of Chemical Engineering of Laval University. In 2000, he moved to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Ottawa. His research interests are in biochemical engineering, and process simulation, control and optimization.