Multi-objective optimization using MS Excel with an application to design of a falling-film evaporator system

There are a number of multi-objective optimization (MOO) methods and programs, as well as many applications of MOO in food engineering. However, almost all these applications have been done using programs/platforms that are not readily used in the industry. On the other hand, engineers are familiar with MS Excel and use it in both research and industrial practice. Hence, in this work, an Excel-based MOO (EMOO) program is developed based on the elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and tested on benchmark problems. It is then applied for MOO of design of a falling-film evaporator system, consisting of a pre-heater, evaporator, vapor condenser and steam jet ejector, for milk concentration. The EMOO program gave well-distributed Pareto-optimal solutions for the MOO problems tested. Design equations and results for two bi-objective optimization problems are presented and discussed.

Research highlights
► Presents an Excel-based program for solving multi-objective optimization problems.
► The Excel-based program was used for designing a falling film evaporator system.
► The evaporator system was optimized for capital cost and annual operating cost.