Multi-objective optimization strategy for industrial catalytic cracking units: Kinetic model and enhanced SPEA-2 algorithm with economic, CO2, and SO2 emission considerations

Abstract

The multi-objective optimization of the economics and environmental protection of the fluidized catalytic cracking reaction-regeneration (FCC-RR) process can achieve a balanced production of light olefins, and other chemicals while mitigating pollutant gas emissions. This paper proposes a novel multi-objective optimization framework that integrates the FCC-RR lumped kinetic model and SPEA-2 algorithm based on the path evolution reproduction operator. The proposed FCC-RR model not only provides insights into the influence of various reaction variables on product yields from a mechanistic perspective but also accurately simulates the distribution of products during the reaction-regeneration process. Additionally, we present an improved SPEA-2 algorithm that incorporates the path evolution operator and applies it to a real FCC-RR device to speed up the optimization process in terms of solution speed and quality. The results of the case study demonstrate that the proposed optimization framework has significant advantages in solving multi-objective optimization in the catalytic cracking process.