NN Based Optimisation Algorithm

Solution of optimisation problems using rigorous mathematical methods have received considerable attention in the past (Chapter 5). It is worth mentioning here that these techniques require the repetitive solution of the model equations (to evaluate the objective function and the constraints and their gradients with respect to the optimisation variables) and therefore computationally can be very expensive. 

Greaves et al. (2001) and Greaves (2003) presented two simple algorithms which is computationally less expensive to obtain the minimum batch time for a given separation task. These algorithms are the results of the application of some of the unique properties of batch distillation process to the general optimisation framework discussed earlier. The algorithm-1 is based on experiment and is presented in section 3.4 of Chapter 3. 

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