Unbiased Selection of Decision Variables for Optimization

Complex chemical processes require complex simulation models. Selecting decision variables for optimization is increasingly difficult. This paper presents a study of a Subset Selection Algorithm (SSA) applied to the selection of decision variables to facili-tate a reduction of the decision variable combination sets to consider for a process designer, aimed towards improving said selection, optimization, and thereby resource efficiency. The results help conclude that SSA is able to reduce the consideration set of decision variable combinations for the process designer, and selects combination sets that are more effective in terms of minimizing the objective.