Hybrid many-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm for green coal production problem

Abstract The key aspect in coal production is realizing safe and efficient mining to maximize the utilization of the resources. A requirement for sustainable economic development is realizing green coal production, which is influenced by factors of coal economic, energy, ecological, coal gangue economic and social benefits. To balance these factors, this paper proposes a many-objective optimization model with five objectives for green coal production. Furthermore, a hybrid many-objective particle swarm optimization (HMaPSO) algorithm is designed to solve the established model. A new offspring of the alternative pool is generated by employing different evolutionary operators. The environmental selection mechanism is adopted to select and store the excellent solutions. Two sets of experiments are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach: First, the HMaPSO algorithm is tested on the DTLZ functions, and its performance is compared with that of several widely used many-objective algorithms. Second, the HMaPSO algorithm is applied to solve the many-objective green coal production optimization model. The computational results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, and the simulation results prove that the designed approach can provide promising choices for decision makers in regional planning.