Economic load allocation

Abstract The presented algorithm provides solution of the economic load allocation (ELA) problem, minimizing total steam production costs, as well as dynamic allocation. The total fuel feed trajectory demand is provided by a predictive master pressure controller which controls pressure in a common steam header. Application of a model-based predictive controller as the master pressure controller provides additional features to the allocation algorithm: fuel flow at the end of the prediction horizon is used as an estimate of the steady state value for evaluation of the economic allocation, while the transient part can be allocated independently.