Model predictive control of a reactive distillation for butyl acetate production

Abstract

Application of a reactive distillation for butyl acetate production has been received increasing attention over last decades because it can reduce both operating costs as well as capital investments. However, the control of reactive distillation is a challenging problem due to its complex dynamics which results from combining the reaction and separation into single unit. Conventional PID control cannot always handle its high nonlinearity. Therefore, this research considers the application of a model predictive control (MPC) to a butyl acetate reactive distillation column. A dynamic model of the reactive distillation for butyl acetate production is developed based on material and energy balances, vapor-liquid equilibrium and reaction kinetics. The accuracy of simulation results is compared with the literature and a good agreement is observed. Two alternative control structures based on a MPC controller are proposed and the performances of both the control structures for disturbance rejection and set-point tracking are investigated and discussed. Finally, the performance of MPC controller is evaluated and compared to that of a conventional PI controller.