Optimization Model for a Regional System of Solid-Waste and Wastewater Disposal Which Considers Legal Pollution Standards

Abstract

This paper describes an operations research procedure based on the theory of graphs. It serves to determine optimal locations for the facilities of a regional system of solid-waste and wastewater disposals, with consideration of transportation costs, processing costs, and pollution standards. In the literature, planning problems of this kind are solved by means of combined, binary, linear optimization algorithms. The procedure presented here is based on a branch-and-bound method and a flow-graph algorithm. Within this approach it is possible to integrate explicitly equipment such as incinerators, or composting plants, or sewage treatment plants, where quantity reducing processes occur.