Multicriteria decision making for optimal blending for beneficiation of coal: a fuzzy programming approach

Beneficiation of coal refers to the production of wash coal from raw coal with the help of some suitable beneficiation technologies. The processed coal is used by the different steel plants to serve their purpose during the manufacturing process of steel. The present paper deals with the optimal planning for blending raw coal of different grades used for beneficiation with a view to satisfy the requirements of the end users with desired specifications. The input specifications of coal samples are known whereas the output specifications are imprecise in nature. The aim of the work is to fix the level of the raw coal from different coal seams to be fed for beneficiation to meet the desired target of yield and ash percentage to maximum extent. Further, it is also desired by the decision-maker (DM) to restrict the input cost of raw coal to be fed for beneficiation. The problem is modeled as multicriteria decision-making problem with imprecise specifications. Fuzzy set theoretic approach has been used and a corresponding model has been developed. The solution of the problem would enable the DM to optimize the raw coal feed with existing available specifications from different collieries along with the overall degree of satisfaction.