Modeling and Parameter Optimization of Plant Factory Production System Under Low-Carbon Constraints

Abstract

Highlights A life cycle approach to modeling the carbon footprint of leafy vegetables. Determine the optimal design parameters through logical and mathematical relationship derivation. The simulation model of leaf vegetable production line was established. The optimal parameter scheme was determined by multifactorial simulation tests. Abstract. In recent years, a plant factory has gradually become a new model of facility agriculture, and the optimization problem of low-carbon design of production system in a plant factory has become more prominent. In the design of the production system, needs of high efficiency, high yield, and low carbon emission must be considered. In this study, the leafy vegetable factory is taken as the research object, and the carbon footprint calculation model of products is established based on the life cycle assessment method. Taking production capacity and carbon footprint as design indicators, the logical correlation and mathematical relationship between them and production line design parameters are analyzed layer by layer to determine the key design parameters. The leafy vegetable production line is modeled by plant simulation software, and multifactor simulation experiments are set up to explore the influence of key design parameters on design indexes to guide the optimal decision of parameter design scheme. The new design scheme increases the productivity of the plant factory by 35.40%, reduces the carbon footprint of leafy vegetables by 15.54%, and solves the problem that leafy vegetables at the bottom of the planting frame in the original plant factory grow poorly because of insufficient light. Keywords: Carbon footprint, Life cycle assessment, Plant factory, Product system, Production line modeling.