APPLICATION OF MULTIVARIABLE GENERALIZED PREDICTIVE CONTROL TO A PACKED DISTILLATION COLUMN

The present work deals with the application of Multivariate Generalized Predictive Control (MGPC) systems to a packed distillation column. The steady-state and dynamic behaviour of the system have been simulated using two film plug flow model. The model solutions have been obtained employing orthogonal collocation on finite element. The Jacobi polynomials within the finite element procedure was tested to determine the phase flow rates, the liquid and vapour composition profiles and the temperature profiles. All the theoretical results were compared with experimental data obtained from a pilot-plant packed distillation column distilling methanol-water mixture. Decoupling and MGPC control of overhead and/or bottom compositions were examined. Perturbation in feed composition and, reflux ratio and the reboiler heat duty were utilized as the disturbance and the manipulated variables respectively. Performance of these systems was tested by using an integral square of error (ISE and IAE) criterion.