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Control of a high‐purity ethylene glycol reactive distillation column with insights of process dynamics
Author(s) -
Huang Kejin,
Zhu Fanghong,
Ding Wenming,
Wang SanJang
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.11808
Subject(s) - reactive distillation , condenser (optics) , fractionating column , controllability , ethylene glycol , process (computing) , process engineering , process dynamics , process control , distillation , column (typography) , control theory (sociology) , control (management) , computer science , chemistry , control engineering , engineering , chromatography , chemical engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematics , physics , light source , connection (principal bundle) , artificial intelligence , optics , operating system
Inventory control is often regarded as less important than product quality control in the operation of reactive and nonreactive distillation columns (i.e., often detuned considerably in control system design). For the high‐purity ethylene glycol reactive distillation column, the inventory control of top condenser is, however, an exception and plays actually a crucial role in the stable and effective process operation, reminding the necessity to thoroughly investigate the intricate dynamic mechanism and its complicated implications on control system synthesis and design. In this article, the dynamics of a high‐purity ethylene glycol reactive distillation column is examined, and it is found that the complicated dynamics, for example, the nonminimum phase behavior and process nonlinearity, can be suppressed considerably with the tight inventory control of the top condenser. Moreover, an extremely low controllability is detected, implying the potential difficulties in process operation and thus the need of process design modification. In terms of these insights obtained, two control schemes are devised and studied. It is demonstrated that sharp improvement could be acquired in control system performance when the tight inventory control has been implemented in the top condenser. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009