Managing steam and concentration disturbances in multi-effect evaporators via nonlinear modelling and control

Abstract Evaporators are core units in many industrial processes including sugar mills. The dynamics of these systems are complex and hence the systems have been frequently used to demonstrate unusual systems and control behaviour. In this paper we explore a particular control architecture commonly employed in industry. We show that the architecture can lead to poor performance due to steam and concentration disturbances. An alternative architecture is then proposed which overcomes the difficulties.