Embedded control for optimizing flexible dynamic process performance

High performance processes require design that operates close to design boundaries and specifications while still guaranteeing robust performance without design constraint violations. In order to safely approach tighter boundaries of process performance, much attention has been devoted to integrating design and control in which dynamic controllability as well the design decisions are taken simultaneously. However rigorous methods solving design and control simultaneously lead to challenging mathematical formulations which easily become intractable numerically and computationally. This paper introduces a new mathematical formulation to reduce this combinatorial complexity of integrating design and control. We will show substantial reduction in the problem size can be achieved by embedded control decisions within specific designs. This embedded control decisions avoid combinatorial explosion of control configuration by using a full state space model that does not require pairing of control variables and loops. The current capabilities of the methodology will be demonstrated using a realistic reactor-column flowsheet.