Techno-economical optimization of a solid waste management system using evolutionary algorithms

Abstract

Renewable energy technologies are becomming popular due to higher depletion rate of fossil fuel resources. In such circumstances conversion of municipal solid waste into energy is helpful in many ways. However, it is difficult to come up with an optimum conversion technique which depends on number of techno-economical factors. There are number of difficulties in using classical optimization to optimize solid waste management systems. This research paper introduces a novel optimization algorithm based on evolutionary algorithms to conduct the optimization. The novel optimization algorithm is having the capability to conduct Pareto multi objective optimization considering constraints in both objective and decision spaces. Life cycle cost, net energy produced and landfilling capacity were taken as objective functions in the multi objective optimization. Finally, a brief discussion is presented based on the results obtained.