Multiobjective Pinch Analysis for Resource Conservation in Constrained Source–Sink Problems

Abstract

Resource conservation strategies play a vital role in the manufacturing and process industries to fulfill environmental discharge and societal responsibilities. This paper aims to conserve resources with multiple objectives in a constrained source–sink resource conservation network. A special type of network, known as segregated targeting problems with multiple external resources (ERs), is considered in this work. The problem contains a set of zones with their own demands and a dedicated resource specified for individual zones. A set of internal sources which are available freely for reuse, as well as the ERs, are also available to be shared among all the zones. The purpose of this work is to apply pinch analysis principles for optimizing the multiple objectives associated with multiple resources in a segregated targeting problem. The first step includes the targeting of each zone individually without considering ERs for maximum internal reuse efficiency and to determine the pinch points of each zone. Using these pinch points, a novel prioritizing indicator, termed the multiobjective extended prioritized cost, is proposed in this work. The indicator identifies the zones’ targeting sequences graphically and dictates the addition of ERs to different zones to optimize multiple objectives simultaneously. The Pareto-optimal solutions for the problem are identified by graphical visualization based on different weighting coefficients. Two different examples, a representative case study and a water conservation network, demonstrate the proposed methodology. The proposed method is applicable in conserving multiple resources in a constrained source–sink reuse network considering multiple objectives.