A general analysis and control framework for process systems with inventory recycling

SUMMARY In this work, we generalize our previous results concerning the impact of material recycling and energy recovery on plant dynamics and control. We define a generic class of integrated process systems, in which an extensive quantity that obeys conservation laws is recovered from the process output and recycled to the process feed; the operation of the system is assumed to be subject to time‐varying, measurable disturbances. We establish, in this general case, that integration is conducive to the emergence of a two‐time‐scale dynamic behavior and derive reduced‐order models for the dynamics in each time scale. Subsequently, we postulate a hierarchical control framework that exploits these dynamics results in the design of coordinated fast and slow feedback/feedforward controllers and formulate a stability result for the closed‐loop system. We demonstrate these concepts on a case study concerning an energy‐integrated process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.