Planning and Scheduling Water Reuse in Process Industries

Systems Conversation with Renzo Akkerman, Operations Research and Logistics, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Due to scarcity problems and sustainability initiatives, industrial water usage is becoming more and more important. Many companies have communicated water use reduction goals to the public, but often find out that reducing water consumption or increasing water reuse is not that easy. In process industry environments, many technological and managerial challenges exist for the efficient and effective reuse of water. This presentation focuses on the planning and scheduling of production operations and water flows to better facilitate water reuse. Based on the development of a methodology to model water quality, the presentation will outline different planning and scheduling challenges, and provide modelling approaches to deal with them. Specific examples from the food-processing industry will be used to illustrate the challenges and solution approaches.