Plantwide control structure design of the methoxy-methyl-heptane process

Abstract

The design of plantwide control structure for the methoxy-methyl-heptane process using Wongsri’s design procedure is studied. The eight stepsof the design procedure focus on plantwide level designwhich is establishing a fixture plantand thermal and material disturbance managements for quality control. The process involves the reaction of methanol with 2-methyl-1-heptene to form 2-methoxy-2-methylheptane. The flowsheet features a continuous stirred tank reactor, three distillation columns, and one recycle stream. The combined feed of fresh and recycled 2-methyl-1-heptene is regulated and is ratioed to the fresh methanol. 2-methyl-1-heptene disturbance is pushed away via the distillate of the second column and recycled to maintain 2-methoxy-2-methylheptane purity in the third column. All components are handled at their identified quantifiers. The designed plantwide control structure performance is compared with the Luyben’s design.