On-line waste management in a galvanization plant

In this paper the authors present a case study of a waste-water treatment procedure for the zinc galvanization unit of a metal-processing company. During the process of galvanization several types of waste-water in different quantities as well as in different concentrations occur and are stored temporarily in containers. To empty these containers waste-waters may be mixed in certain ratios and then disposed of with the possible use of additional chemicals. The aim of the developed management tool is to control the storage of the waste-waters (no container should be filled beyond capacity) and to minimize the amount of additional chemicals used. In this paper the authors present an on-line heuristic meeting the above requirements satisfactorily.