Real time simulation of a VCM plant

Abstract A real time dynamic simulator of the Hydro Rafnes VCM plant has been developed. The simulator model covers the cracking and quench section of the plant, as well as the HCl column and refrigeration unit. A high fidelity emulation of the distributed control system, Honeywell TDC 3000, is an essential part of the simulator. The simulator is mainly used for operator training, but has also been very useful during tests of the control strategy of a new refrigeration compressor. New development for this specific simulator project includes development of a cracker furnace model and thermodynamic routines for “On-line K-value” computation and robust flash routines for mixtures with one dominant component and small amounts of impurities.