A Geometric Programming Model for the Optimal Design of Wastewater Treatment Plants

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Abstract
We present a complete mathematical model describing the various interactions in a wastewater treatment plant. The optimal design of the plant is studied by first reformulating the model as a signomial program; this reformulation eases function and gradient evaluations as well as data manipulation, and allows the user to test and exploit the model in an interactive and repeated way. The model departs significantly from previous work in the area by introducing no ad hoc simplification in the constituting process models, nor in the optimization procedure. Since the model includes various nonconvexities due to signomial expressions, we tested convexifying procedures, which did not produce better solutions than those obtained from the model under its original signomial form. Application of the model is illustrated not only for design purposes, but also as a useful tool for generating various types of cost information required in regional water quality management models.

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