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James B.

Riggs
M. Nazmul Karim

Introduction

A Career in Process
Control
Requires that engineers use all of their
chemical engineering training (i.e.,
provides an excellent technical profession
that can last an entire career)
Can become a technical Top Gun
Allows engineers to work on projects that
can result in significant savings for their
companies (i.e., provides good visibility
within a company)

A Career in Process
Control
Provides professional mobility. There is a
shortage of experienced process control
engineers.
Is a well paid technical profession for chemical
engineers.

Chemical Process Industries


(CPI)
Hydrocarbon fuels
Chemical products

Pulp and paper products


Agrochemicals
Man-made fibers

Bio-Process Industries
Use micro-organisms to produce useful

products
Pharmaceutical industry
Ethanol from grain industry

Importance of Process Control for


the CPI
PC directly affects the safety and reliability of

a process.
PC determines the quality of the products
produced by a process.
PC can affect how efficient a process is
operated.
Bottom Line: PC has a major impact on the
profitability of a company in the CPI.

Safety and Reliability


The control system must provide safe

operation
Alarms, safety constraint control, start-up and

shutdown.

A control system must be able to absorb a

variety of disturbances and keep the process


in a good operating region:
Thunderstorms, feed composition upsets,

temporary loss of utilities (e.g., steam supply),


day to night variation in the ambient conditions

Benefits of Improved Control


Impurity
Concentration

Old Controller
Limit

Time

Benefits of Improved Control


Limit

Time

New Controller
Impurity
Concentration

Impurity
Concentration

Old Controller

Limit

Time

Better Control Means


Products with Reduced
For many cases, reduced variability
Variability
products are in high demand and have high
value added (e.g., feedstocks for
polymers).
Product certification procedures (e.g., ISO
9000) are used to guarantee product
quality and place a large emphasis on
process control.

Impurity
Concentration

Limit

Time

Improved Performance
Impurity
Concentration

Impurity
Concentration

Benefits of Improved
Control
Old Controller
New Controller

Limit

Time

Limit

Time

Maximizing the Profit of a


Plant
Many times involves controlling against
constraints.
The closer that you are able to operate to
these constraints, the more profit you can
make. For example, maximizing the product
production rate usually involving controlling
the process against one or more process
constraints.

Constraint Control
Example
Consider a reactor temperature control
example for which at excessively high
temperatures the reactor will experience a
temperature runaway and explode.
But the higher the temperature the greater
the product yield.
Therefore, better reactor temperature
control allows safe operation at a higher
reactor temperature and thus more profit.

Importance of Process Control


for the Bio-Process Industries
Improved product quality.
Faster and less expensive process

validation.
Increased production rates.

Driving a Car: An
Everyday
Example
of
Control Objective
(Setpoint): Maintain car in
proper lane. Control
Process

Controlled variable- Location on the road


Manipulated variable- Orientation of the
front wheels
Actuator- Drivers arms/steering wheel
Sensor- Drivers eyes
Controller- Driver
Disturbance- Curve in road

Logic Flow Diagram for


a Feedback Control
Loop

Temperature Control for a


Heat Exchanger: ChE Control
Example

Heat Exchanger Control


Controlled variable- Outlet temperature of

product stream
Manipulated variable- Steam flow
Actuator- Control valve on steam line
Sensor- Thermocouple on product stream
Disturbance- Changes in the inlet feed
temperature

DO Control in a BioReactor

DO Control
Controlled variable- the measured

dissolved O2 concentration
Manipulated variable- air flow rate to the
bio-reactor
Actuator- variable speed air compressor
Sensor- ion-specific electrode in contact
with the broth in the bio-reactor
Disturbance- Changes in the metabolism of
the microorganisms in the bio-reactor

Logic Flow Diagram for


a Feedback Control
Loop

Comparison of Driving a
Car and Control of a Heat
Actuator: Drivers arm and steering
Exchanger
wheel vs. Control valve
Controller: the driver vs. an electronic

controller
Sensor: the drivers eyes vs. thermocouple
Controlled variable: cars position on the
road vs. temperature of outlet stream

The key feature of all feedback control


loops is that the measured value of the
controlled variable is compared with
the setpoint and this difference is used
to determine the control action taken.

In-Class Exercise
Consider a person skiing down a mountain.

Identify the controller, the actuator, the


process, the sensor and the controlled
variable. Also, indicate the setpoint and
potential disturbances. Remember that the
process is affected by the actuator to change
the value of the controlled variable.

Types of Feedback
Controllers
On-Off Control- e.g., room thermostat
Manual Control- Used by operators and

based on more or less open loop responses


PID control- Most commonly used
controller. Control action based on error
from setpoint (Chaps 6-8).
Advanced PID- Enhancements of PID: ratio,
cascade, feedforward (Chaps 9-11).
Model-based Control- Uses model of the
process directly for control (Chap 13).

Duties of a Control
Engineer
Tuning controllers for performance and
reliability (Chap 7)
Selecting the proper PID mode and/or
advanced PID options (Chap 6, 10-12)
Control loop troubleshooting (Chap 2 & 8)
Multi-unit controller design (Chap 14)
Documentation of process control changes

Characteristics of
Effective Process Control
Use their knowledge of the process to
Engineers
guide their process control applications.
They are process control engineers.
Have a fundamentally sound picture of
process dynamics and feedback control.
Work effectively with the operators.

Operator Acceptance
A good relationship with the operators is a

NECESSARY condition for the success of a


control engineer.
Build a relationship with the operators
based on mutual respect.
Operators are a valuable source of plant
experience.
A successful control project should make
the operators job easier, not harder.

Process Control and


Optimization
Control and optimization are terms that are

many times erroneously interchanged.


Control has to do with adjusting flow rates
to maintain the controlled variables of the
process at specified setpoints.
Optimization chooses the values for key
setpoints such that the process operates at
the best economic conditions.

Optimization and Control of a


CSTR

Optimization Example
ABC
Mole balance on A :
Q C A0 Q C A k1 exp[ E1 / RT ] C A Vr
Solving for C A
C A0
CA
k1 exp[ E1 / RT ]Vr
1
Q
Likewise, C B and CC are calculated from mole
balances.

Economic Objective
Function
Q C A VA Q C B VB Q CC VC Q C A0 VAF
VB > VC, VA, or VAF
At low T, little formation of B
At high T, too much of B reacts to form C
Therefore, the exits an optimum reactor

temperature, T*

Optimization Algorithm
1. Select initial guess for reactor temperature
2. Evaluate CA, CB, and CC
3. Evaluate
4. Choose new reactor temperature and

return to 2 until T* identified.

Graphical Solution of
Optimum Reactor
Temperature, T*
Economic Objective
Function,

2
1.5
1
T*

0.5
0
-0.5

250

275

300

325

Reactor Temperature (K)

350

Process Optimization
Typical optimization objective function, :

= Product values-Feed costs-Utility costs


The steady-state solution of process models is
usually used to determine process operating
conditions which yields flow rates of products,
feed, and utilities.
Unit costs of feed and sale price of products
are combined with flows to yield
Optimization variables are adjusted until is
maximized (optimization solution).

Generalized
Optimization Procedure
Numerical
Optimization
Algorithm

Initial Estimate
of Optimization
Variables

Economic
Function
Value

Optimization
Variables

Process
Model

Optimum
Operating
Conditions

Model
Results

Economic
Function
Evaluation

Economic
Parameters

Optimization and Control of a


CSTR

In-Class Exercise
Identify an example for which you use

optimization in your everyday life. List the


degrees of freedom (the things that you are
free to choose) and clearly define the process
and how you determine the objective function.

Overview of Course
Material
Control loop hardware (Chap 2)
Dynamic modeling (Chap 3)
Transfer functions and idealized dynamic

behavior (Chap 4-6)


PID controls (Chap 7-10)
Advanced PID controls (Chap 12-14)
Control of MIMO processes (Chap 15-18)

Fundamental
Understanding and
Fundamental UnderstandingIndustrially
Relevant
Laplace tranforms and
transfer functions (Ch
4-5)
Skills
Idealized dynamic behavior (Ch 6)
Frequency response analysis (Ch 11)

Industrially Relevant SkillsControl hardware and troubleshooting (Ch


2&10)
Controller Implementation and tuning (Ch 7-9)
Advanced PID techniques (Ch 12-14)
MIMO control (Ch 15-18)

Process Control
Terminology
Important to be able to communicate with
operators, peers, and boss.
New terminology appears in bold in the text
New terminology is summarized at the end of
each chapter.
Review the terminology regularly in order to
keep up with it.

Overall Course
Objectives
Develop the skills necessary to function as
an industrial process control engineer.
Skills

Tuning loops
Control loop design
Control loop troubleshooting
Command of the terminology

Fundamental understanding

Process dynamics
Feedback control

Overview
All feedback control loops have a controller,

an actuator, a process, and a sensor where


the controller chooses control action based
upon the error from setpoint.
Control has to do with adjusting flow rates
to maintain controlled variables at their
setpoints while for optimization the
setpoints for certain controllers are adjusted
to optimize the economic performance of
the plant.

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