Multiple objectives Pinch Analysis

Abstract

Pinch Analysis, an algebraic and efficient optimization technique, has been applied to a wide array of problems ranging from water networks to power systems. Primarily, it has been applied to optimize resource conservation problems with single objective. In this paper, techniques of Pinch Analysis are extended to address resource conservation problems with multiple objectives. The concept of prioritized cost, originally proposed for optimizing single objective problems with multiple resources, is extended to address Multiple Objectives Pinch Analysis (MOPA) problems. Multiple objectives prioritized cost (MOPC) provides a trade off between cost and quality of different resources. A prioritizing sequence is proposed to arrange multiple resources in the order of decreasing quality and increasing MOPC. Prioritized sequence helps in solving MOPA problems and generating Pareto optimal front through simplified solution procedure. Applicability of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through two objectives hydrogen and water conservation problems. Additionally, the proposed methodology is applied to analyse the Indian power sector with constraint on emission of carbon dioxide to optimize cost and water footprint of new power plants.