Open AccessDesign of Comminution Plants in the Ceramic Industry Using a Simulation-based Optimization Approach
Author(s) -
Ignacio Ortiz de Landazuri Suárez,
María-José Oliveros
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ingeniería e investigación/ingeniería e investigación
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2248-8723
pISSN - 0120-5609
DOI - 10.15446/ing.investig.v41n3.87761
Subject(s) - comminution , process (computing) , ceramic , industrial engineering , computer science , manufacturing engineering , process optimization , production (economics) , engineering , process engineering , mathematical optimization , mathematics , materials science , economics , metallurgy , composite material , operating system , environmental engineering , macroeconomics
In many cases, the design process of a structural ceramic comminution plant typically consists of an ‘expert designer’ who makes decisions using intuitive criteria to select commercial equipment. This paper proposes a simulationbased optimization approach to help decisionmaking. The complexity of the problem lies in selecting the model and amount of equipment for each stage at the lowest cost while simultaneously satisfying a previously fixed production and granulometry. The proposed approach is based on a genetic algorithm to generate solutions and facilitate the optimization process, together with discrete simulation to evaluate the performance of the comminution process according to its service level. To evaluate the algorithm, different problems, whose parameters are based on the requirements of the ceramic industry, are solved and analyzed.