Using Column Generation To Solve A Coal Blending Problem

Daniel de Wolf (1, 2) , Stéphane Auray (3, 2) , Yves Smeers (4, 5)

1 TVES - Territoires, Villes, Environnement & Société - ULR 4477
2 ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale
3 EQUIPPE - Economie Quantitative, Intégration, Politiques Publiques et Econométrie
4 CORE - Center of Operation Research and Econometrics [Louvain]
5 UCLouvain

In this paper, we formulate and solve a real life coal blending problem using a Column Generation Approach. The objective of the model is to prescribe optimal mixes of coal to produce coke. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer program. It involves various types of constraints arising from technical considerations of the blending process. The model also incorporates nonlinear constraints. It results in a large-scale problem that cannot be solved by classical operations research methods. Defining three heuristic methods based on column generation techniques, this paper proposes reasonable solutions for the industry.

Mots clés: Column generation; coal blending

Domaines: Gestion et management

Daniel de Wolf, Stéphane Auray, Yves Smeers. Using Column Generation To Solve A Coal Blending Problem. RAIRO - Operations Research, 2015, 49 (1), pp.15-37. ⟨10.1051/ro/2014033⟩. ⟨halshs-02396784⟩