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Robust control of homogeneous azeotropic distillation columns
Author(s) -
Jacobsen Elling W.,
Laroche Lionel,
Morari Manfred,
Skogestad Sigurd,
Andersen Henrik W.
Publication year - 1991
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.690371206
Subject(s) - azeotropic distillation , distillation , homogeneous , fractionating column , control theory (sociology) , simple (philosophy) , chemistry , control engineering , process engineering , chromatography , control (management) , computer science , engineering , thermodynamics , physics , artificial intelligence , epistemology , philosophy
The entrainer feed used in homogeneous azeotropic distillation provides an extra degree of freedom in the steady‐state design compared to simple distillation. In this article, we discuss the control of azeotropic distillation columns in the region close to minimum entrainer feed. Both industrial experience and previous research indicate that this is a difficult task. However, by considering the high‐frequency behavior (initial response) of the column, we show that tight and robust control can be obtained with simple single‐loop PI controllers. The results depend on the presence of high‐frequency phenomena such as flow dynamics.