Day-ahead economic optimization of energy use in an olive mill

• An EMPC scheme is applied on the energy level of the virgin olive oil extraction process.
• EMPC realizes the optimal production timing and optimal power dispatch of the olive mill.
• The energy hub concept is generalized to handle energy and mass simultaneously.
• Load shaping is used to leverage hourly variations on energy prices to reduce energy costs.
• The proposed control strategy can be easily adapted to fit other continuous manufacturing processes.

This article presents an economic case study on biomass and power dispatch focused on the olive oil extraction industry. A method is proposed to minimize the energy cost associated to olive oil production. This is realized through load shaping and optimal selection of the destination of subproducts and wastes. The mill and the loads linked to the extraction process are modeled using the energy hub concept, and an Economic Model Predictive Control (EMPC) based power and biomass dispatcher is introduced. The control strategy has been simulated over different scenarios to validate the optimization scheme.