ChE 4745
Process Control and Dynamics
Chapter 1
Introduction to Process
Control
What is a Process?
Process:
- A Heat Exchanger (heating/cooling)
- A Chemical/Biological Reactor (make
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petrochemicals or recombinant drugs)
- A Separator (Distillation column or a
chromatographic column for separating
proteins)
- A Feed or holding tank
- Human body
- A Car
- A Computer Drive
Chemical Process Industries (CPI)
Hydrocarbon fuels
Chemical products
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Pulp and paper products
Agrochemicals
Man-made fibers
Bio-Process Industries
Use micro-organisms to produce
useful products
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Pharmaceutical industry
Ethanol from grain industry
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Chapter 1
CONTROL
P
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Gas stream Gas stream
Empty vessel
Adjusting valves: Do you believe in automation?
Do we run around the
plant to adjust the
valves when required?
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Process pictures courtesy of Petro-Canada Products
Adjusting valves: Do you believe in automation?
Central control room • Overview of
entire process
• Make
immediate
adjustment
anywhere
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• Safe location
• History of past
operation
Process pictures courtesy of Petro-Canada Products
What is Process Control?
Outputs
Inputs
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(effects)
(cause)
Process
Output:
“off-specification”
Consequence:
Less profit!
Benefits of Improved Control
New Controller
Old Controller
Concentration
Limit
Concentration
Limit yt
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pu
ri
m
I
Time Time
Improved Performance
Concentration
Limit
y
t
pu
ri
m
I
Time
Objectives of Process Control
– Maintain a stable process operation
– Appropriate instruments/sensors are to be
implemented to operate under “fail/safe” conditions.
– Make sure no “disturbances” affect the process output(s).
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– Make sure when we make desired changes (set point) to the
process, it does achieve the desired goal.
– Make sure the process always remain within a “tight”
specification.
– Maximize the profitability of the plant
Process Dynamics
a) Refers to unsteady-state or transient behavior.
b) Steady-state vs. unsteady-state behavior
i. Steady state: variables do not change with time
ii. But on what scale? e.g., noisy measurement
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c) ChE curriculum emphasizes steady-state or
equilibrium situations:
d) Continuous processes: Examples of transient behavior:
i. Start up & shutdown
ii. Grade changes
iii. Major disturbance: e.g., refinery during stormy or
hurricane conditions
e) Batch processes
i. Inherently unsteady-state operation
ii. Example: Batch reactor
1. Composition changes with time
2. Other variables such as temperature could be constant.
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Process Control
Objective: to maintain or operate a process at the desired
operating conditions safely and efficiently, while satisfying
environmental and product quality requirements.
a) Large scale, continuous processes:
i. Oil refinery, ethylene plant, pulp mill
ii. Typically, 1000 – 5000 process variables are measured.
Process Control (cont’d.)
iii. Examples: flow rate, T, P, liquid level, composition
iv. Sampling rates:
1. Process variables: A few seconds to minutes
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2. Quality variables: once per 8 hr shift, daily, or weekly
b) Manipulated variables
i. We implement “process control” by manipulating process
variables, usually flow rates.
1. Examples: feed rate, cooling rate, product flow rate,
etc.
ii. Typically, several thousand manipulated variables in a
large continuous plant
Process Control (cont’d.)
c) Batch plants:
i. Smaller plants in most industries
1. Exception: microelectronics (200 – 300 processing
steps).
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ii. But still large numbers of measured variables.
d) Question: How do we control processes?
i. We will consider an illustrative example.
Chapter 1 1.1 Illustrative Example: Blending system
Notation:
• w1, w2 and w are mass flow rates
• x1, x2 and x are mass fractions of component A
Assumptions:
1. w1 is constant
2. x2 = constant = 1 (stream 2 is pure A)
3. Perfect mixing in the tank
Control Objective:
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Keep x at a desired value (or “set point”) xsp, despite variations in
x1(t). Flow rate w2 can be adjusted for this purpose.
Terminology:
• Controlled variable (or “output variable”): x
• Manipulated variable (or “input variable”): w2
• Disturbance variable (or “load variable”): x1
Design Question. What value of w2 is required to have
x xSP ?
Overall balance:
0 w1 w2 w (1-1)
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Component 'A' balance:
w1x1 w2 x2 wx 0 (1-2)
(The overbars denote nominal steady-state design values.)
• At the design conditions, x xSP. Substitute Eq. 1-2, x xSP and
x2 1 , then solve Eq. 1-2 for w2 :
xSP x1
w2 w1 (1-3)
1 xSP
• Equation 1-3 is the design equation for the
blending system.
• If our assumptions are correct, then this value of w2 will keep x
at xSP . But what if conditions change?
Control Question. Suppose that the inlet concentration x1
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changes with time. How can we ensure that x remains at or
near the set point xSP ?
As a specific example, if x1 x1 and w2 w2, then x > xSP.
Some Possible Control Strategies:
Method 1. Measure x and adjust w2.
• Intuitively, if x is too high, we should reduce w2;
• Manual control vs. automatic control
• Proportional feedback control law,
w2 t w2 Kc x
SP x t
(1-4)
1. where Kc is called the controller gain.
2. w2(t) and x(t) denote variables that change with time t.
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3. The change in the flow rate, w2 t w2 , is proportional to
the deviation from the set point, xSP – x(t).
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Method 2. Measure x1 and adjust w2.
• Thus, if x1 is greater than x1, we would decrease w2 so that
w2 w2 ;
• One approach: Consider Eq. (1-3) and replace x1 and w2 with
x1(t) and w2(t) to get a control law:
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xSP x1 t
w2 t w1 (1-5)
1 xSP
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• Because Eq. (1-3) applies only at steady state, it is not clear
how effective the control law in (1-5) will be for transient
conditions.
Method 3. Measure x1 and x, adjust w2.
• This approach is a combination of Methods 1 and 2.
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Method 4. Use a larger tank.
• If a larger tank is used, fluctuations in x1 will tend to be damped
out due to the larger capacitance of the tank contents.
• However, a larger tank means an increased capital cost.
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1.2 Classification of Control Strategies
Table. 1.1 Control Strategies for the Blending System
Method Measured Manipulated Category
Variable Variable
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1 x w2 FBa
2 x1 w2 FF
3 x1 and x w2 FF/FB
4 - - Design change
Feedback Control:
• Distinguishing feature: measure the controlled variable
• It is important to make a distinction between negative feedback
and positive feedback.
Engineering Usage vs. Social Sciences
• Advantages:
Corrective action is taken regardless of the source
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of the disturbance.
Reduces sensitivity of the controlled variable to
disturbances and changes in the process (shown later).
• Disadvantages:
No corrective action occurs until after the disturbance
has upset the process, that is, until after x differs from
xsp.
Very oscillatory response, or even instability
Feedforward Control:
Distinguishing feature: measure a disturbance
variable
• Advantage:
Correct for disturbance before it upsets the process.
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• Disadvantage:
Must be able to measure the disturbance.
No corrective action for unmeasured disturbances.
The key elements and principles of a feedback loop
– Cause and Effect
Exercise: The key
elements and
principles of a
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feedback loop
What is being measured?
valve L
sensor Is this a valid feedback
pump control loop?
pump valve
The key elements and principles of a feedback
loop – Cause and Effect
Exercise: You want to control the level, but you can
only measure the flow in. What is your
strategy? Are you using feedback?
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sensor F
valve
pump
pump valve
The key elements and principles of a feedback
loop – Cause and Effect
Exercise: The key elements and principles of a
feedback loop
What is being measured?
Chapter 1
Is this a valid feedback control loop?
Gas stream Gas stream
Empty vessel
2. The key elements and principles of a
feedback loop – Cause and Effect
Exercise: The key elements and principles of a
feedback loop
What is being measured?
Chapter 1
Is this a valid feedback control loop?
v8
F2 F5
v3
T5 P1
T4
F1 T1 T3 F3 T6 F4
L1
v1 v5 v6 L2
T7
v2 v7
T2 T8
T9 F6
Hot Oil Hot Oil
v4
The key elements and principles of a feedback
loop – Cause and Effect
Exercise: The key elements and principles of a
feedback loop
What is being measured?
Chapter 1
Is this a valid feedback control loop?
v8
F2 F5
v3
T5 P1
T4
F1 T1 T3 F3 T6 F4
L1
v1 v5 v6 L2
T7
v2 v7
T2 T8
T9 F6
Hot Oil Hot Oil
v4
The key elements and principles of a feedback
loop – Cause and Effect
Exercise: The key elements and principles of a
feedback loop
Chapter 1
Hot process fluid
into shell
Cooling water into
tubes
We want to
control the hot
outlet
temperature.
Add a sensor and a valve to make this possible.
The key elements and principles of a feedback
loop – Cause and Effect
Exercise: The key elements and principles of a
feedback loop
Chapter 1
Hot process fluid
Cooling water into shell
into tubes
We want to
control the hot
outlet
temperature.
TC
Add a sensor and a valve to make this possible.
Acknowledgement
Dr. M. A. A. Shoukat Choudhury
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, BUET
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