REFINER CONTROL EFFECTIVELY ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH ADAPTIVE-CONTROL

Adaptive and self-tuning controllers have been available for many year s and are finding increasing acceptance in practical applications in m ill environments. The example reported in this paper is the use of ada ptive predictive controllers on pressurized refiners using a new on-li ne consistency measurement to control both dilution water and fibre fl ow. This approach overcomes the disturbances and non-linearities of th e process and achieves large improvements in stability of TMP and CTMP plants as well as forming a firm basis for optimizing energy consumpt ion and/or product quality.