Reconciliation of process flow rates when measurements are subject to detection limits: The bilinear case

In this paper we generalize the fundamental methods of process data reconci liation developed by Crowe (AIChE J. 1986, 32, 616-623), to allow for the p resence of censored concentration measurements in the bilinear mass balance equations. The resulting statistical analysis leads to the maximization of a general likelihood function subject to linear constraints. The differenc e with respect to both Crowe's analysis and a previous algorithm that consi dered only linear mass balances (Dovi et al. Chem. Eng. Sci. 1997, 52 (17), 3047-3050) is considered, and an example is examined for illustration purp oses.