Thermal stability criterion integrated in model predictive control for batch reactors

Abstract Thermal runaways can have a significant impact on the performance and normal operation of reaction processes, causing safety issues and financial loss, which hinder the intensification of such processes. More specifically, a control system that does not possess proper detection mechanisms of the boundary of stability will by necessity be overly conservative. This leads to poorer performance and the inability to intensify the process, i.e. to reduce process times for example and also to achieve higher yields. For the intensification of batch processes a stability criterion, based on the divergence criterion, is presented. The derivation of the stability criterion and a comparison to the original divergence criterion is shown for several batch reactions. It is shown that the stability criterion classifies the system behaviour more reliably for the case studies considered. This stability criterion is embedded in Model Predictive Control, which is a novel control scheme. This scheme allows the controlled increase of the reaction temperature while keeping the processes in a stable region, hence reducing the risk of thermal runaways. This control system enables batch processes to achieve a target conversion in a reduced completion time of reaction and an intensification of batch processes.

[1]  David Q. Mayne,et al.  Model predictive control: Recent developments and future promise , 2014, Autom..

[2]  Fernanda Strozzi,et al.  A general method for assessing the thermal stability of batch chemical reactors by sensitivity calculation based on Lyapunov exponents , 1994 .

[3]  Fernanda Strozzi,et al.  On-Line Runaway Detection in Batch Reactors Using Chaos Theory Techniques. , 1999 .

[4]  Amyn S. Teja,et al.  Simple method for the calculation of heat capacities of liquid mixtures , 1983 .

[5]  D. D. Perlmutter.  Stability of chemical reactors , 1972 .

[6]  E. Obermeier,et al.  Thermal, Conductivity, Density, Viscosity, and Prandtl-Numbers of Ethylene Glycol-Water Mixtures , 1984 .

[7]  Marco Derudi,et al.  On the divergence criterion for runaway detection: Application to complex controlled systems , 2014 .

[8]  Eugeniusz Molga,et al.  Safety and Runaway Prevention in Batch and Semibatch Reactors—A Review , 2006 .

[9]  L. Biegler,et al.  Robust stability of economically oriented infinite horizon NMPC that include cyclic processes , 2012 .

[10]  C. F. Curtiss,et al.  Molecular Theory Of Gases And Liquids , 1954 .

[11]  Lawrence F. Shampine,et al.  Solving Index-1 DAEs in MATLAB and Simulink , 1999, SIAM Rev..

[12]  Vassilis M. Charitopoulos,et al.  Explicit model predictive control of hybrid systems and multiparametric mixed integer polynomial programming , 2016 .

[13]  Don W. Green,et al.  Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook , 2007 .

[14]  Flavio Manenti,et al.  Online model-based optimization and control for the combined optimal operation and runaway prediction and prevention in (fed-)batch systems , 2015 .

[15]  Kerry J. Howe,et al.  MWH's Water Treatment: Principles and Design , 2012 .

[16]  James B. Rawlings,et al.  Postface to “ Model Predictive Control : Theory and Design ” , 2012 .

[17]  许旱峤,et al.  Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology数据库介绍及实例 , 2007 .

[18]  Robert Haber,et al.  Predictive Control in Process Engineering: From the Basics to the Applications , 2011 .

[19]  Mark E. Davis,et al.  Fundamentals of Chemical Reaction Engineering , 2002 .

[20]  V. W. Noonburg,et al.  Ordinary Differential Equations , 2014 .

[21]  Joseph P. Zbilut,et al.  On-line runaway detection in isoperibolic batch and semibatch reactors using the divergence criterion , 2004, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[22]  Andreas Potschka,et al.  Partial stability for nonlinear model predictive control , 2017, Autom..

[23]  Michio Takahashi,et al.  Stability of chemical reaction in fluid catalytic reactors. , 1978 .

[24]  Stephanopoulos.  Chemical Process Control , 2008 .

[25]  N. N. Semenov,et al.  Thermal Theory of Combustion and Explosion , 1942 .