Leveraging stochastic design‐dependent equipment availability for process design optimization

In resilience‐aware process design, an important component that determines the system's ability to maintain business continuity is the availability of its components. Component availability needs to be treated as a design‐dependent, probabilistic parameter during conceptual process design. In this work, the Combined Flexibility‐Availability‐Resilience Index (CFARI), which describes the likelihood that a design is feasible under production goals, uncertainty range, and disruption events postulated by the decision‐maker, is used to assess the performance of design alternatives given discrete choices of equipment with different availability profiles. Through the CFARI metric, the impact of specific design decisions, which lead to a specific availability profile being realized, on overall resilience and economic performance is explored. A case study on a biorefinery supply chain is presented to illustrate the value of a design‐dependent, probabilistic consideration of availability within process design.