Forget Laplace Transforms

Industrial process control involves a lot more than just Laplace transforms and loop tuning Combination of both theory and practice Understanding of core engineering principles is key (thermodynamics, mass transfer, etc) Control design requires collaboration with others to understand objectives and provide process design guidance Importance of both big picture and details

Maintain the process at the desired state or set of conditions keep it out of the ditch
Safety
Ensure the process conditions minimize risk Running at the appropriate operating conditions improves quality, yield, plant capacity, energy consumption, etc

Optimal operation

Recover from upsets or disturbances

Its not just about optimization; its about successful operation of the entire plant

A primary objective of the process control system is to keep the process running at the desired operating conditions
Presumably these conditions have been chosen appropriately from a safety standpoint (hint, hint, design engineer )

Cruise control
The basic process control system should be able to handle many disturbances, but not all Cruise control on your car can handle hills and curves, but if theres an accident ahead, youll have to stop the car yourself Safety Instrumented Systems (interlocks)

A good process control system will keep the process running stably, even when hit with disturbances or upsets This results in better efficiency, higher capacity, etc.

Improvements to this temp control strategy resulted in a steam savings of $260K/yr, or $1.1M NPV

Running at the optimal operating conditions can maximize production rate and yield, improve energy consumption, and is crucial for product quality However, these objectives often compete
Best product quality may be attained at the cost of additional energy consumption

Advanced Control techniques can help with balancing this tradeoff

Advanced control applications provide an additional layer of control, to meet a variety of control objectives
Feed-back composition control based on lab data Feed-forward to other unit operations or plant areas Perform complicated online calculations and close the loop to manipulated variables Plant-wide supervisory control strategies can balance rates, maximize throughput, minimize conversion costs or energy consumption Model Predictive Control (MPC) incorporates a process model to optimize operation when there are multiple input, output, and disturbance variables

Youre a chemical engineer first and foremost!

If you truly understand the chemical principles at work in the process, then controlling it is easy!
Or easier, at least

You have to understand the fundamental stuff thats going on in order to determine:
What the control objectives are in the first place, and which variables should be controlled
What your control knobs are and how they will affect the process as a whole how it all fits together
If you increase the steam flow to a distillation columns reboiler, what will happen to the composition on tray 15? What about the distillate? What about the pressure profile?

Another way to think about it: the goal is to move variability to some place where you dont care about it
If the temperature in a reactor cycles or varies, thats bad We can control this temperature (keep it stable) by implementing a control loop which manipulates steam flow to the reactor jacket
Who cares if the steam flow moves around? The reactor temperature is constant, and thats what we want.

Comes back to fundamental process understanding

Must understand where variability is acceptable, and where its not Must understand how everything fits together

Distillation Control

Need to understand manipulated variables (control knobs) available to us Chemical Engineering knowledge tells us
Increasing the reflux will help purify the distillate

The hotter the base, the more material will boil overhead the entire composition profile will shift
The dynamics of liquid effects vs. vapor effects are very different

The temperature on each tray is a function of the trays composition and pressure

In order to maintain the desired top and bottom compositions, it is important to prevent the composition profile from moving The temperature profile of a column is indicative of the composition profile
By selecting the right temperature to control, we can actually peg the entire temperature profile The appropriate temperature control strategy (tray location, manipulated variable, etc) is highly dependent on the individual column design

Manage inventory
Need to ensure there is always reflux available Likewise, need sufficient holdup in the column base

Maintain desired product compositions

What are acceptable impurity ranges? Is one product stream more important?

Other objectives
Pressure control, column loading, minimize steam

Respond to certain upsets

What process upsets is this column likely to see?

First, obtain or develop a steady-state model

Need to know target compositions, normal flows, pressures, the columns temperature profile, etc. This gives you a snapshot of the desired operation A steady-state model also yields insight on the control knobs

Next, pair controlled variables with manipulated variables

Based on Chemical Engineering knowledge Utilizing information regarding key control objectives and predicted disturbances

LC

FFC

Tray 8

TC

LC

Steam

VACUUM LINE TO HEADER PC LC CONDENSATE FC PC

XC

HOT CONDENSER

FC

FC

FC IX REFLUX RATIO TARGET SGI TI COMPOSITION FI

TO REACTORS

REFLUX DRUM

FY

LC

FI

PRODUCT FEED

And more
LC HC FC 600 PSIG STEAM LC LC CONDENSATE PC

Plant-wide supervisory control Feed-forward to other unit ops or plant areas Model predictive control (MPC) And so on

Beneficial to create a dynamic simulation of the column using this control strategy
Allows for testing of the strategy under various disturbance scenarios Gives valuable information regarding dynamic behavior of the column Provides initial tuning data
Tray 8

LC

FFC

TC

LC

Steam

Tray 8 to Steam Control Strategy

Tray 42 to Reflux Control Strategy

Double-Ended Temperature Control Strategy

Once the control strategy framework has been laid out, then you get into the nuts and bolts of configuration
Algorithm type Controller action Tuning (gain, time constants, etc)

Capital Project Involvement

For each unit operation, work closely with design engineer and other project/operations representatives to
Understand design intent, including steady-state flows, desired recoveries, conversions, etc. Gain insight on potential process disturbances Define key control objectives Provide guidance on the actual process design
Determine residence times required for stable operation Specify instrumentation placement Other recommendations based on dynamic simulation and other analysis (is desired steady-state operation feasible?)

Provide guidance on plant-wide control

Decouple interactions as much as possible Control valve placement, piping layouts Inventory management

Instrumentation selection Safety considerations, interlocks Control Narrative

Detailed document describing control objectives and strategies for each unit operation, the plan for managing inventory plant-wide, etc.

Remember: always think about process control from the perspective of Chemical Engineering fundamentals Understand your process, as well as your control objectives
What needs to be controlled? Which variables effect each other (and how)? Where does variability hurt you most? Etc.

Remember theres a dynamic component Think about control early in design phase

Other Business
Next Lecture March 22
Integration of design and control part I SSLW 322-340

Seminar Tomorrow March 21, 3:00 PM

Dr. Andreas Linninger, University of Illinois Chicago

Biomedical Engineering Problem Solving with Systems Engineering Methods

Reception in ChemE Conference Room at 2:30 PM Seminar in McMillan Auditorium 3:00 PM Please, please attend if at all possible!