A multiperiod location-routing problem arising in the collection of Olive Oil Mill Wastewater

Abstract

The process by which olive oil is produced yields two by-products, one of which is the brown-coloured Olive Oil Mill Wastewater (OMWW) and has no direct use. OMWW is generally disposed of into soil or rivers, potentially contaminating the environment. OMWW can be treated using ultrafiltration facilities, but this requires that OMWW is collected from oil mills and delivered to the treatment facilities using a fleet of vehicles in an economically viable manner. Such considerations give rise to a multiperiod location-routing problem. This paper formally introduces the problem and proposes an adaptive large neighbourhood search metaheuristic for its solution. The algorithm is applied on a case study drawn from one of the major olive oil producing countries. The paper presents computational and managerial results.

Keywords:

• location-routing problem
• Olive Oil Mill Wastewater
• environmental hazards
• treatment
• adaptive large neighbourhood metaheuristic

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge funding provided by the Southampton Business School at the University of Southampton, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK: 2219/1) and the British Council in carrying out this research. Thanks are due to the Associate Editor and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments.