Interactive multi-objective optimization for simulated moving bed processes

In this paper, efficient optimization techniques are used to solve multi–objective optimization problems arising from Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) processes. SMBs are widely used in many industrial separations of chemical products and they are very challenging from the optimization point of view. With the help of interactive multi–objective optimization, several conflicting objectives can be considered simultaneously without making unnecessary simplifications, as it has been done in previous studies. The optimization techniques used are the interactive NIMBUS® method and the IPOPT optimizer. To demonstrate the usefulness of these techniques, the results of solving an SMB optimization problem with four objectives are reported.