Research Initiation:  Optimal Design of General MultipurposeBatch Plants
{'Code': '07020000', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'ENG', 'LongName': 'Directorate For Engineering'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'CBET', 'LongName': 'Div Of Chem, Bioeng, Env, & Transp Sys'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Maria Burka', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
A significant portion of manufacturing operations in the chemical               process industry (CPI) and almost all the operations in the                     electronics industry and discrete parts processing industry are                 noncontinuous (batch/semicontinuous) in nature.  These processes are            economically very attractive for low-volume specialty products with             high profit margins.  A major advantage of noncontinuous processes is           that they are flexible and can be multipurpose in nature, i.e. they             are ideal for producing multiple products by sharing of common                  equipment.  They provide flexibility in accomodating the variable               nature of feed stock materials, the large number of products using              similar recipes, the nature of processing steps (e.g. complex                   reactions, bacterial culture) and the short allowable inventory life            of the products.  Often dedication of separate facilities for                   different products can not be justified. Significant improvements in            the cost-efficiency, productivity and flexibility of such plants can            be achieved by using a systematic design methodology.                                                                                                           The objective of the proposed research is to develop a computer-aided           methodology for optimally designing a multipurpose plant in its most            general form.  A general multipurpose plant will employ a common pool           of units of different types and sizes to produce a set of products.  A          unit may perform tasks for multiple products.  Tasks may be assigned            to a group of single or multiple nonidentical units, thus fully                 parallel production of different products can be achieved.  Also a              type of equipment may have items of different sizes.  The optimal               design problem will be to determine the number of batch/semicontinuous          units, their types, their sizes, their time usage among different               products and the production schedule of products.  A mixed integer              nonlinear programming formulation will be developed for the general             design problem.  Several rules/procedures will be devised for the               systematic development, tightening and size-reduction of the                    formulation.  An efficient procedure based on an outer-                         approximation/relaxation strategy will also be developed for the                solution of the nonconvex optimization problem.  This project will              establish a systematic engineering design base for general batch                plants, which will enable one to design them in a multipurpose form             having high flexibility, cost-efficiency and equipment utilization.             The project is also expected to lead to advances in the optimal                 solution of nonconvex mixed-variable optimization problems.
{'FirstName': 'Iftekhar', 'LastName': 'Karimi', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'A', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Iftekhar A Karimi', 'EmailAddress': None, 'NSF_ID': '000287345', 'StartDate': '06/15/1988', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Northwestern University', 'CityName': 'EVANSTON', 'ZipCode': '602080001', 'PhoneNumber': '3125037955', 'StreetAddress': '633 CLARK ST', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Illinois', 'StateCode': 'IL', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '09', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'IL09', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'EXZVPWZBLUE8', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
{'Name': None, 'CityName': None, 'StateCode': None, 'ZipCode': None, 'StreetAddress': None, 'CountryCode': None, 'CountryName': None, 'StateName': None, 'CountryFlag': None, 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': None, 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_PERF': '""'}
{'Code': '1403', 'Text': 'Proc Sys, Reac Eng & Mol Therm'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8810174.xml'}