A state-space model for chemical production scheduling

We express a general mixed-integer programming (MIP) scheduling model in state-space form, and show how common scheduling disruptions, which lead to rescheduling, can be modeled as disturbances in the state-space model. We also discuss how a wide range of scheduling models, with different types of decisions and processing constraints, can be expressed in state-space form. The proposed framework offers a natural representation of dynamic systems, thereby enabling researchers in the chemical process control area to study scheduling problems. It also facilitates the application of known results for hybrid systems, as well as the development of new tools necessary to address scheduling applications. We hope that it will lead to the development of scheduling solution methods with desired closed-loop properties, a topic that has received no attention in the process operations literature. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.