Laboratory Exercise No.

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Basic Concepts of Process Dynamics and Control

1. Objective:
The activity aims to understand the basic concepts of process dynamics and control.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
The students shall be able to:
2.1 Determine the input and output in the different chemical processes.
2.2 Provide instrumentation requirements for a chemical process.
2.3 Identify the different process variables in a chemical process.
2.4 Specifiy the controlled variables (CVs), manipulated variables (MVs) and disturbance variables
(DVs) from the different chemical processes.
3. Discussion:
Most chemical processing plants were run essentially manually prior to the 1940s. Only the most
elementary types of controllers were used. Many operators were needed to keep watch on the many
variables in the plant. Large tanks were employed to act as buffers or surge capacities between various
units in the plant. These tanks, although sometimes quite expensive, served the function of filtering out
some of the dynamic disturbances by isolating one part of the process from upsets occurring in another
part.

With increasing labor and equipment costs and with the development of more severe, higher-capacity,
higher-performance equipment and processes in the 1940s and early 195Os, it became uneconomical and
often impossible to run plants without automatic control devices. At this stage feedback controllers were
added to the plants with little real consideration of or appreciation for the dynamics of the process itself.
Rule-of-thumb guides and experience were the only design techniques.

In the 1960s chemical engineers began to apply dynamic analysis and control theory to chemical
engineering processes. Most of the techniques were adapted from the work in the aerospace and electrical
engineering fields. In addition to designing better control systems, processes and plants were developed or
modified so that they were easier to control. The concept of examining the many parts of a complex plant
together as a single unit, with all the interactions included, and devising ways to control the entire plant is
called systems engineering. The current popular “buzz” words artificial intelligence and expert systems
are being applied to these types of studies.

The rapid rise in energy prices in the 1970s provided additional needs for effective control systems. The
design and redesign of many plants to reduce energy consumption resulted in more complex, integrated
plants that were much more interacting. So the challenges to the process control engineer have continued
to grow over the years. This makes the study of dynamics and control even more vital in the chemical
engineering curriculum than it was 30 years ago.

Feedback control. The traditional way to control a process is to measure the variable that is to be
controlled, compare its value with the desired value (the set-point to the controller) and feed the difference
(the error) into a feedback controller that will change a manipulated variable to drive the controlled variable
back to the desired value. Information is thus “fed back” from the controlled variable to a manipulated
variable, as sketched in the figure below.
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Feed-forward control. The basic idea is shown in the figure below .

The disturbance is detected as it enters the process and an appropriate change is made in the manipulated
variable such that the controlled variable is held constant. Thus we begin to take corrective action as soon
as a disturbance entering the system is detected instead of waiting (as we do with feedback control) for the
disturbance to propagate all the way through the process before a correction is made.

4. Resources:
Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes
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 Process Modeling, Simulation and Control for Chemical Engineers
5. Procedure:
1. Explain each of the chemical processes that chemical engineers usually encounter in chemical
plants with a corresponding block diagram noting what enters into it and what comes out. Tabulate
your answers in Table 1.

2. Consider the heat exchanger as shown below:

An oil stream passes through the tube side of a tube-in-shell heat exchanger and is heated by condensing
steam on the shell side. The steam condensate leaves through a steam trap ( a device that only liquid to
pass through, thus preventing “blow through” of the steam vapor). To control the temperature of the oil
leaving in the heat exchanger, a thermocouple is inserted in a thermowell in the exit oil pipe. The
thermocouple wires are connected to a “temperature transmitter”, an electronic device that converts the
millivolt thermocouple output into a 4- to20-milliampere “control signal.” The current signal is sent into a
temperature controller, an electronic or digital or pneumatic device that compares the desired temperature
(the “setpoint”) with the actual temperature, and sends out a signal to a control valve. The temperature
controller opens the steam valve more if the temperature is too low and closes it a little if the temperature is
too high.

In order to provide automatic control of some variable in a process, in the above case temperature,
determine the requirements/instrumentation that must be installed in the system. Also, provide explanation
of its role in the automation. Tabulate your answers in Table 2.

3. Consider the simple schematic sketch of the process configuration and its control system, as
shown below:

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Two liquid feeds are pumped into a reactor in which they react to form products. The reaction is exothermic,
and therefore heat must be removed from the reactor. This is accomplished by adding cooling water to a
jacket surrounding the reactor. Reactor effluent is pumped through a pre-heater into a distillation column
that splits it into two product streams.

Identify the different process variables that must be controlled and provide available instrumentation for
each process variable. Tabulate your answers in Table 3.
4. For the heat exchanger in Procedure 2, determine the type of the different variables in the system
as Manipulated Variables (MV), Controlled Variables (CV), Uncontrolled Variables (UV) and Load
Disturbances (LD) or Disturbance Variables (DV). Tabulate your answers in Table 4.

5. For the distillation column in Procedure 3, determine the type of the different variables in the
system as Manipulated Variables (MV), Controlled Variables (CV), Uncontrolled Variables (UV) and
Load Disturbances (LD). Tabulate your answers in Table 4.

6. Consider the schematic diagram of a heat exchanger as shown below:

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A process fluid on the tube side is cooled by cooling water on the shell side, determine the type of the
different variables in the system as Manipulated Variables (MV), Controlled Variables (CV), Uncontrolled
Variables (UV) and Load Disturbances (LD). Tabulate your answers in Table 6.
7. Consider the schematic diagram of continuous-stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) as shown below:

If the reaction is highly exothermic, it is necessary to control the reactor temperature by manipulating the
flow rate of coolant in a jacket or cooling coil. Determine the type of the different variables in the system as
Manipulated Variables (MV), Controlled Variables (CV), Uncontrolled Variables (UV) and Load Disturbances
(LD). Tabulate your answers in Table 7.
8. Consider the thermal cracking furnace as shown below:

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Crude oil is broken down (“cracked”) into a number of lighter petroleum fractions by the heat transferred
from a burning fuel/air mixture. Determine the type of the different variables in the system as Manipulated
Variables (MV), Controlled Variables (CV), Uncontrolled Variables (UV) and Load Disturbances (LD).
Tabulate your answers a Table 8.
9. Consider the schematic diagram of a batch or semi-batch reactor as shown below:

An initial charge of reactants is brought up to reaction conditions, and the reactions are allowed to proceed
for a specified period of time or until a specified conversion is obtained. Batch and semi-batch reactors are
used routinely in specialty chemical plants, polymerization plants ( where a reaction by-product typically is
removed during the reaction), and in pharmaceutical and other bio-processing facilities (where a feed
stream, e.g. glucose, is fed into the reactor during a portion of the cycle to feed a living organism, such as a
yeast or protein). Determine the type of the different variables in the system as Manipulated Variables
(MV), Controlled Variables (CV), Uncontrolled Variables (UV) and Load Disturbances (LD). Tabulate your
answers in Table 9.

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 10. Consider a schematic diagram of a batch digester in a pulp mill as shown below:

Both continuous and semi-batch digesters are used in paper manufacturing to break down wood chips in
order to extract the cellulosic fibers. The end-point of the chemical reaction is indicated by the kappa
number, a measure of lignin content. Determine the type of the different variables in the system as
Manipulated Variables (MV), Controlled Variables (CV), Uncontrolled Variables (UV) and Load Disturbances
(LD). Tabulate your answers in Table 10.

Course: ECE 006 Laboratory Exercise No.: 1

Group No.: Section: CH42FB2
Group Members: Date Performed: June 15, 2019
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Princess Dianne Dug-a Date Submitted:July 6,2019
Instructor: Engr. Crispulo G. Maranan

6. Data and Results:

1.
Table 1. Different Chemical Processes, Its Block Diagram and Explanation

Chemical Process Block Diagram

1 Absorption

Explanation: The figure above is a schematic diagram of adsorption

process consisted of gas supply unit, a fixed-bed reactor in the horizontal
furnace, and gas monitor system. The mixture of He and H2S gas that was
controlled by mass flow controllers was pass through the fixed-bed
reactor. The reactor (12.0 mm of internal diameter and 70 cm of length)
was filled with adsorbent bed. The amount of activated carbon in the
reactor was 1.0 g. The H2S continuous monitor system used QRAE model
PGM-50Q to measure concentration of H2S from the outlet of reactor.

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2 Condensation

Explanation: The function of the condenser is to condense exhaust steam from

the steam turbine by rejecting the heat of vaporization to the cooling water passing
through the condenser. Once the steam has passed through the turbine, it enters
the condenser where heat is removed until it condenses back into liquid water. This
is done by passing the wet steam around thousands of small cold water tubes.

3 Crystallization

Explanation: Crystallization is the process of forming a crystalline material from a

liquid, gas or amorphous solid. The crystals thus formed have highly regular
internal structure, the basis of which is called the crystal lattice. Since the formation
of such a highly ordered structure prohibits foreign molecules from being

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 incorporated into the lattice, a solid product of high purity is obtained. The
simultaneous formation and purification of a solid product makes crystallization an
important operation in the process industry.

4 Distillation

Explanation:

Distillation is a commonly used method for purifying liquids and separating

mixtures of liquids into their individual components. Familiar examples
include the distillation of crude fermentation broths into alcoholic spirits
such as gin and vodka, and the fractionation of crude oil into useful
products such as gasoline and heating oil. In the organic lab, distillation is
used for purifying solvents and liquid reaction products.

5 Drying

Explanation: This is a flow diagram of the spray drying process. The spray
dryer is normally dry heat sterilized by a hot air system that is used for
drying the product. All lines entering the spray dryer must be sterilizable.
The selection of spray dryer size and solution atomizing device is best
determined by trial runs on sized pilot equipment. As with freeze drying,
operational expense may limit spray drying operations to specific product

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 applications

6 Evaporation

Explanation: Evaporation is the process by which water changes from a liquid to a

gas or vapor. Evaporation is the primary pathway that water moves from the liquid
state back into the water cycle as atmospheric water vapor. It is the process
whereby atoms or molecules in a liquid state (or solid state if the substance
sublimes) gain sufficient energy to enter the gaseous state.

7 Extraction

Explanation:

Extraction is a process in which one or more components are separated

selectively from a liquid or solid mixture, the feed (Phase 1), by means of a
liquid immiscible solvent (Phase 2). The transfer of the components from
the feed to the solvent is controlled by the solubility behavior of each

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 component in the corresponding phase. Two phases result from the
extraction step: one enriched (EXTRACT Phase) and the other depleted
(RAFFINATE Phase) in the components to be separated, respectively.
Afterwards in order to regenerate the solvent, another separation step (e.g.
distillation) is finally required.

8 Filtration

Explanation: This is a schematic presentation of filtration process. First,

hydrogen cyanide was generated by the drop wise addition of sulfuric acid
to potassium cyanide. The generated vapor was introduced directly into
condenser and finally, the aqueous hydrogen cyanide was collected and
stored in a freezer.

9 Flash Vaporization

Explanation:

Explanation:

Flash Vaporization are used for processes with vapor/liquid-equilibrium (VLE). A typical proce
calculations, is when a feed stream (F) is separated into a vapor (V) and liquid (L) produc
vaporizations are straightforward and involve combining the VLE equations with the compon
and in some cases the energy balance.

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10 Heat Exchange/ing

Explanation: Heat exchanger system is widely used in chemical process

industries, including petroleum refining and petrochemical processing,
especially in the hazard zones because its convert the fluid from high
range of temperature and pressure from the storage tanks to the pipe
lines. A heat exchanger consists of two main modules, the first module is
mechanical (vessel, shell, tube) It happens inside heat transfer, the second
module is the controller circuit which controls the mechanical module by
opening and closing the valves according to the set point temperature.
This paper will focus on improving the performance of control circuits
which is used in the heat exchanger.

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 11 Stripping

Explanation: Stripping is the operation of removing the absorbed solute from the
solvent. Absorbers are normally used with strippers to permit regeneration (or
recovery) and recycling of the absorbent. Since stripping is not perfect, absorbent
recycled to the absorber contains species present in the vapor entering the
absorber. When water is used as the absorbent, it is normally separated from the
solute by distillation rather than stripping.

2.
Table 2. Different Instrumentation Requirements and Its Explanation

Requirements/Instrumentation Explanation

Controller and Control Value An instrument used to control

temperatures and a controller in a
temperature control system will accept a
temperature sensor such as a
thermocouple as input and compare the
actual temperature to the desired control
temperature, or setpoint. It will then
provide an output to a control element.

Sensor An instrument or a is a device,(thermocouple) that

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 provides for temperature measurement through an
electrical signal.

Transmitter An instrument that interfaces a

temperature sensor (thermocouple) to a
measurement or control device.

Trap An instrument or a device that only liquid

to pass through, thus preventing “blow
through” of the steam vapor

3.
Table 3. Different Process Variables and Its Instrumentation

Process Variable Instrumentation

Temperature Transmitters, Sensors and Controllers

Pressure Condensers, Controllers, Sensors and

Transmitter

Volume Transmitter, Sensor, and Controllers

Flow Rate Transmitters, Pumps, Sensors, and

Controllers

4.
Table 4. Types of the different process variables for a heat exchanger

Process Variable MV/CV/UV/LD

oil feed flow rate F LD

oil inlet temperature TO LD

steam flow rate F MV

oil exit temperature T CV

5.
Table 5. Types of the different process variables for a distillation column

Process Variable MV/CV/UV/LD

feed flow rate LD

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 feed composition LD

Reflux MV

steam CV

cooling water CV

distillate CV

bottoms flow rates MV

distillate product composition LD

bottoms product composition LD

column pressure MV

base liquid level MV

reflux drum liquid level MV

compositions on all the trays LD

temperatures on all the trays LD

6.
Table 6. Types of the different process variables for a heat exchanger

Process Variable MV/CV/UV/LD

Exit temperature of the process fluid CV

Cooling water flow rate LD

Variation in inlet temperature MV

Process fluid flow rate LD

7.
Table 7. Types of the different process variables for a continuous-stirred-tank reactor (CSTR)

Process Variable MV/CV/UV/LD

Feed composition LD
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 Feed flow rate LD

Feed temperature LD

8.
Table 8. Types of the different process variables for a thermal cracking furnace
Process Variable MV/CV/UV/LD

Furnace temperature LD

Amount of excess air in the flue gas LD

Fuel flow rate LD

Fuel/air ratio CV

Crude oil composition CV

Heating quality of the fuel MV

9.
Table 9. Types of the different process variables for a batch or semi-batch reactor
Process Variable MV/CV/UV/LD

Reactor temperature LD

Coolant flow rate LD

End-point (final) concentration of the batch CV

Desired temperature MV

Flow of reactants (for semi-batch MV

operation)

Cycle time LD

10.
Table 10. Types of the different process variables for a batch digester in a pulp mill

Process Variable MV/CV/UV/LD

End-point (final) concentration of the batch LD

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 Digester temperature LD

Digester pressure LD

Cycle time LD

7.Conclusion:

I therefore conclude that this laboratory experiment provides familiarization on different unit operations. It
also provides basic concepts of process dynamics and control that involves different types of variables such
as manipulated, controlled, and disturbance variables. The different instrumentations on process dynamics
and control were introduced as well. This experiment lets the students know what are the different process
variable in each unit operations.

8. Further Readings:
Seborg Dale E., Edgar, Thomas F., and Mellichamp Duncan A. (2004). Process Dynamics and
Control. Singapore: Wiley.
Wiley.
Knopf, F. C. (2012). Modeling, analysis and optimization of process and energy systems.Hoboken,
New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.
Velten, K. (2009). Mathematical modeling and simulation: introduction for scientists and engineers.
Singapore: Wiley-VCH.

9. Assessment (Rubric for Laboratory Performance):

TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF THE PHILIPPINES
RUBRIC FOR MODERN TOOL USAGE
(Engineering Programs)
Student Outcome (e): Use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering
practice in complex engineering activities.
Program: Chemical Engineering Course: ECE006 Section: _CH42FB2______ __1st__Sem SY 2019-
2020 ________
Performance Unsatisfactor Developing Satisfactory Very Satisfactory Score
Indicators y 2 3 4
1
1. Apply Fails to identify Identifies Identifies modern Recognizes the
appropriate any modern modern techniques and is benefits and
techniques, techniques to techniques but able to apply constraints of
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 skills, and perform fails to apply these in modern
modern discipline- these in performing engineering tools
tools to specific performing discipline-specific and shows
perform a engineering discipline- engineering task. intention to apply
discipline- task. specific them for
specific engineering engineering
engineering task. practice.
task.
2. Demonstrate Fails to apply Attempts to Shows ability to Shows ability to
skills in any modern apply modern apply fundamental apply the most
applying tools to solve tools but has procedures in appropriate and
different engineering difficulties to using modern effective modern
techniques problems. solve tools when solving tools to solve
and modern engineering engineering engineering
tools to problems. problems. problems.
solve
engineering
problems.
3. Recognize Does not Recognizes Recognizes the Recognizes the
the benefits recognize the some benefits benefits and need for benefits
and benefits and and constraints of and constraints of
constraints constraints of constraints of modern modern
of modern modern modern engineering tools engineering tools
engineering engineering engineering and shows and makes good
tools. tools. tools. intention to apply use of them for
them for engineering
engineering practice.
practice.
Total Score
Mean Score = (Total Score / 3)
Percentage Rating = (Total Score / 12) x 100%
Evaluated by: Engr. Crispulo G. Maranan June 17, 2017
Printed Name and Signature of Faculty Member Date

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