| Summary: | Process systems engineering (PSE) approaches are useful for facilitating the optimal design and operation of industrial plants. This study develops a modified Luus-Jaakola adaptive random search (LJ-ARS) procedure by incorporating some features from the line-up competition algorithm (LCA). The search procedure is conducted using multiple points, and cooperation is exhibited as each point moves toward the next-best point to improve its position. The search space of each point is influenced by its rank, but a lower limit for the space reduction factor is specified to prevent premature convergence. A probabilistic rounding- off procedure is used for integer variables, while the penalty function approach is used for constraint resolution. This modified algorithm is encoded in Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic for Applications and is used to optimize a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model of an integrated algal bioenergy system, while the original LJ-ARS is unable to locate a feasible solution. The model considers six processes: cultivation of the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, dewatering, cell disruption, pretreatment, oil extraction, and transesterification. The optimal solution, which has been verified using LINGO 14.0, involves microfiltration (for dewatering) and oven drying, but does not utilize any cell disruption process due to high capital cost and energy requirement. This implies that if residual biomass can be sold, it may be more economical to cultivate more algae than to increase the oil yield by means of cell disruption. Furthermore, it is essential to utilize the residual biomass to ensure that the system produces more energy than it consumes. Finally, it is more economical to use residual biomass to supply energy rather than to sell the residual biomass while purchasing electricity.
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