CONTROL OF UNCONVENTIONAL PROCESSES

New modelling and control problems have arisen as chemical engineering has broadened its scope into areas such as materials processing and b iotechnology. In addition, a move towards flexible manufacturing of sp ecialty chemicals has generated more interest in batch operations, whi ch is the normal manufacturing scheme in the new technology arenas. Ad vances in modelling, control and measurement techniques will be requir ed to reach high levels of manufacturing productivity. This paper revi ews some of the challenges faced in control of unconventional or nontr aditional chemical processes. A number of vignettes exemplifying these challenges are presented in the areas of batch chemical processing, m aterials processing and microelectronics manufacturing.