초록
In most plant layout optimization researches, MILP(Mixed Integer Linear Programming) problems, in which the objective function includes the costs of pipelines connecting process equipment and cost associated with safety issues, have been employed. Based on these MILP problems, various optimization solvers have been applied to investigate the optimal solutions. To consider safety issues on the objective function of MILP problems together, the accurate information about the impact and the frequency of potential accidents in a plant should be required to evaluate the safety issues. However, it is really impossible to obtain accurate information about potential accidents and this limitation may reduce the reliability of a plant layout problem. Moreover, in real industries such as plant engineering companies, the plant layout is previously fixed and the considerations of various safety instruments and systems have been performed to guarantee the plant safety. To reflect these situations, the two step optimization problems have been designed in this study. The first MILP model aims to minimize the costs of pipelines and the land size as complying sufficient spaces for the maintenance and safety. After the plant layout is determined by the first MILP model, the optimal locations of blast walls have been investigated to maximize the mitigation impacts of blast walls. The particle swarm optimization technique, which is one of the representative sampling approaches, is employed throughout the consideration of the characteristics of MILP models in this study. The ethylene oxide plant is tested to verify the efficacy of the proposed model.