Inferential control of distillation compositions: selection of model and control configuration

This article is concerned with a classical problem of how to design an inferential control system for enhancing the performance of distillation composition control. In this article, a new inferential control, termed “predictive inferential control,” is proposed. In the predictive inferential control system, future compositions predicted from on-line measured process variables are controlled instead of the estimates of current compositions. The key concept of the predictive inferential control is to realize feedback control with a feedforward effect by the use of the inherent nature of a distillation column. The detailed dynamic simulation results show that the proposed predictive inferential control scheme integrated with cascade control works considerably better than other control schemes. Furthermore, the improvement of the control performance through iterative modeling or control-relevant identification is also demonstrated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]