plant-wide control of industrial processes using rigorous simulation and heuristics

Abstract

Due to the globalization of chemical process industry in the 20th century, the need for efficient and effective plant-wide control (PWC) systems is more than ever. First, a comprehensive review of various PWC methodologies in the literature is carried out, and systematic classifications of PWC methodologies are presented. Then, a methodically-driven integrated framework, that capitalizes the strengths of both the heuristics and rigorous simulation tools, is proposed. Thirdly, a new metric called a??Dynamic Disturbance Sensitivitya?? is proposed to gauge the dynamic performance of alternate control structures and process designs using nonlinear dynamic simulation. Finally, a modified sequential approach is proposed by combining the proposed PWC methodology with the improved process design methodology to study the interaction between design and control from plant-wide perspective. The studies and findings outlined above should facilitate realistic PWC system design as well as increased use of rigorous dynamic simulations in both the academia and industry.