Use of neural networks for the control of pervaporative membrane reactor

Abstract

A reactor integrated with separation process has been widely proposed and studied to enhance the production of high value added chemicals. An example of such a process is a pervaporative membrane reactor which is the combination of a reactor and a pervaporation part. The inclusive of a pervaporation can shift the chemical equilibrium of esterification by passing water out of reaction mixture and therefore increase the yield of a desired product. In addition, the temperature of the reactor is one of key factors to define the rate of reactions involved. In this work, a neural network inverse models based control (NIMC) has been designed to control an optimal temperature of a pervaporation membrane reactor. Furthermore, a neural network estimator (NNE) has been incorporated to the strategy as an estimator to estimate the amount of heat released of an esterification reaction. The performance of the designed controller has been evaluated in both nominal and plant/model mismatch cases, and compared with GMC coupled with the Kalman Filter. Simulation study has shown that the NIMC with the NNE can successfully control the reactor temperature at a desired set point in nominal cases and plant/model mismatches. The performance of the NIMC with the NNE is equivalent to that of the GMC coupled with the Kalman Filter. As a result, the NIMC with the NNE is applicable to control the pervaporative membrane reactor without first principle models of the reactor is available. This shows the advantage of the NIMC with NNE over the GMC with the Kalman filter.