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Simulation and control based on temperature measurements for Petlyuk distillation columns

2013; Wiley; Volume: 8; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/apj.1733

1932-2143

D. Matla‐González, Galo Rafael Urrea-García, José Álvarez‐Ramírez, E. Bolaños‐Reynoso, Guadalupe Luna‐Solano,

Analytical Chemistry and Chromatography

ABSTRACT This paper presents a control strategy based on stage temperature measurements to control composition of the products in a Petlyuk‐type distillation column. This column is formed by a prefractionator in which feed is introduced and a main column from which three product streams are extracted. Prefractionator and main‐column modules are connected through the exchange of liquid and vapor streams resulting in a strong interaction that can result in operating problems, poor control performance, and instability due to their complex structure. Different steady‐state methods for the selection of appropriate control structures were analyzed. The control structure comprises four controllers implemented as follows: three Proportional‐Integral (PI) controllers to regulate the temperature of three stages along the main column and a cascade controller to regulate temperature at a stage in the main column manipulating temperature in a prefractionator stage. Controllers were designed using internal model control guidelines for traditional PI compensation. Feed composition disturbances were introduced in order to observe the response of the control system. The obtained results show that the control structure maintains the purity of the final products within acceptable ranges despite the existence of disturbance. Copyright © 2013 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.