ABSTRACT
Saadet Ulas Acikgoz““ UOP, A Honeywell Company,““ 25 E. Algonquin Rd.,““ Des Plaines, IL 60017
Batch plants produce multiple products in a series of processing steps called a batch recipe. These products are processed in a certain period of time as dictated by market demands and requirements. Contrary to continuous chemical processes, for batch processing, the market demand is not defined for a certain quantity of a single product, but instead a range of products for which the demand is continuously changing and new products are introduced on a regular basis. For production of a single product in a continuous chemical processing plant, the sequence of process tasks are decided at the design stage for a specific market capacity and the equipment is designed specifically to perform those process tasks. In a batch production environment, often the same resources or equipment are used to process multiple products and the allocation of process tasks to equipment is constantly changing to meet the varying market demands and requirements. In order to reduce inventory, lower manufacturing costs, meet market demands in a timely manner, and maximize the efficiency of available resources, batch scheduling and planning is used to assign process equipment to produce multiple products in a certain amount of time following a sequence of process tasks for each product.
