INTERACTIVE SUPERVISION OF BATCH DISTILLATION WITH ADVANCED CONTROL CAPABILITIES

Industrial interest in batch distillation has increased significantly in recent years as more batch processing is being used for low-volume and high-value fine chemicals, but only a few studies of such a proces s has been reported in the literature concerned with advanced control. This work presents an interactive software that can be used for both simulation and control; studies of a batch distillation column. The pa ckage uses a rigorous model and a suitable numerical integrator to int egrate the stiff DAE system; the phase equilibria can be calculated us ing several thermodynamic models according to the nature of the system . Three control strategies-were investigated to properly regulate the batch distillation process, namely, PID, predictive and adaptive contr ol. Simulation results for closed loop operation are shown as well as a discussion about the recovery of more than one component in the batc h column. The software shown here can be easily used to evaluate chang es in all the process conditions, as well as in the controller setting s, in order to minimise difficulties in the operation of Such process. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.