Title: Towards A Circular Economy with Waste-to-Resource System Optimization Models

Report Abstract: 

Motivated by mounting pressures to achieve environmental sustainability, and the emergence of online waste exchange platforms, in this talk we propose an optimization-based framework for studying waste-to- resource formation in the industry. We first develop a linear programming market clearing model comprising of self-interested agents participating in waste-to-resource trading. This is embedded in a bi-level capacity optimization problem under uncertainties in the agents’ reserve prices, the goal of which is to maximize the economic savings achieved by waste-to-resource. We show that the resulting optimization models admit linear mixed integer programming formulations that can be readily computed using available solvers. Furthermore, we provide the formulas for applying an equitable levy and incentive scheme, to enable capacity cost-sharing among the agents. Numerical studies based on a case of organic waste streams in the city state of Singapore demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed models in generating valuable insights for decision support in the design of waste-to-resource markets.

Speaker: Adam Ng Tsan Sheng

Date/Time: 15:00 – 17:00PM, 5 January, 2023

Online Platform: Join Zoom Meeting: https://meeting.tencent.com Meeting ID: 257-302-579

Speaker Biography: 

Adam Ng Tsan Sheng is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head with the Dept of Industrial and Systems Engineering Management, National University of Singapore (NUS). He obtained his PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2005 and Beng in Electrical (Hons 1st Class), 2000 from the National University of Singapore. His research interests are broadly in systems modelling and operations research applications in energy sustainability and resilience. These include developing risk and resilience performance metrics that for decision making under uncertainty in environmental and energy economic problems that can be implemented using optimization solvers. Other contributions include developing computational models for optimizing and planning of energy systems under uncertainty, such as waste-to-energy systems. He has led industrial and research projects involving natural gas network planning, robust optimization modelling, environmental and energy sustainability, and future resilience systems. He has published widely in journals such as Production and Operations Management, Transportation Science, Transportation Research, IISE Transactions, Energy Economics, European Journal of Operations Research, etc. He is also an associate editor for the Journal of Simulation, and an editorial board member of the International Journal of Automation and Logistics.