PROCESS AND FOOD PLANT

DESIGN (EPF4802)
CHAPTER 7 (PART 2):
INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL
By:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Hajar Othman
Department of Process and Food Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
[email protected]
Learning Outcomes

• Able to develop P&I diagram using appropriate

symbols, letter codes, instruments, etc.
• Able to understand the objectives and rules in
process instrumentation and controls
• Able to propose and construct different control
schemes – level, pressure, flow, heat exchangers,
cascade, ratio, distillation column, solid handling,
reactor (batch/semi-batch)
 Control Schemes

Level Control
In any equipment where an interface exists between two phases (e.g. a liquid and a
vapor), some means of maintaining the interface at the required level must be
provided. This may be incorporated in the design of the equipment, for example by
providing an internal weir, or by automatic control of the flow from the equipment. The
figure shows a typical arrangement for the level control at the
base of a column. The control valve should be placed on the discharge line from the
pump.
 Control Schemes
Venting of
Pressure Control noncondensables after a
Pressure control by
Pressure control will be necessary condenser
direct venting
for most systems handling vapor or
gas. The method of control depends
on the nature of the process. The
scheme shown in Figure a would
not be used where the vented gas
was toxic or valuable. In these
circumstances the vent should be
taken to a vent recovery system,
such as a scrubber.
The controls shown in Figure b, c,
and d are commonly used for
controlling the pressure of
distillation columns.
Condenser pressure control Pressure control of a
by controlling coolant flow condenser by varying the
heat-transfer area, area
dependent on liquid level.
 Control Schemes
Flow Control
Flow control is usually associated with Spill-back flow control for a
inventory control in a storage tank or other reciprocating pump
equipment or with feeds to the process. There
must be a reservoir upstream of the control
valve to take up the changes in flow rate. To
provide flow control on a compressor or pump
running at a fixed speed and supplying a near
constant volume output, a bypass control
would be used, as shown in Figure a. The use of
variable speed motors as shown in Figure c is
more energy efficient than the traditional
arrangement shown in Figure b, and is
becoming increasingly common. The overall
process material balance is usually set by flow
controllers on the feed streams. These will
often control feeds in ratio to a flow of valuable Centrifugal pump with
Flow control for a
feed, a solid stream flow (which is difficult to variable speed drive
centrifugal pump
change quickly), or a measured flow of process
mixture. Flow rates of small streams are often
controlled using special metering pumps that
deliver a constant mass flow rate.
 Control Schemes

Heat Exchangers Temperature control of Bypass

Figure a shows the simplest one fluid stream control
arrangement, the temperature
being controlled by varying the
flow of the cooling or heating
medium. If the exchange is
between two process streams
whose flows are fixed, bypass
control will have to be used, as
shown in Figure b. For air
coolers, the coolant
temperature may vary widely
on a seasonal (or even hourly)
basis. A bypass on the process
side can be used as shown in
Figure c, or else a variable
speed motor can be used as
shown in Figure d. Air cooler with Air cooler with variable
bypass control speed drive
 Control Schemes

Cascade Control
With this arrangement, the
output of one controller is The level
used to adjust the set point of controller kept the
another. Cascade control can level in check, and
give smoother control in adjusted the flow
set point
situations where direct
control of the variable would
lead to unstable operation. https://blog.opticontrols.
com/archives/872
The “slave” controller can be
used to compensate for any
short-term variations in, say, a Temperature
controller drives a
utility stream flow, which
setpoint signal to a
would upset the controlled “slave” steam flow
variable, the primary controller
TSP
(“master”) controller FSP

controlling long-term
variations.
https://instrumentationtools.com
/analyze-cascade-control-loop/
 Control Schemes

Ratio Control
Ratio control can be used where it is desired to maintain two flows at a constant ratio;
for example, reactor feeds or distillation column reflux. A typical scheme for ratio
control is shown in the figure.
 Control Schemes

Distillation Column Control

The primary objective of distillation column control is
to maintain the specified composition of the top and
bottom products and any side streams, correcting for
the effects of disturbances in:
1. Feed flow rate, composition, and temperature
2. Steam or other hot utility supply
3. Cooling water or air cooler conditions
4. Ambient conditions, which can cause cooling of the
column shell and changes in internal reflux

The feed flow rate is often set by the level controller on

a preceding column. It can be independently controlled
if the column is fed from a storage or surge tank.

Feed temperature is not normally controlled, unless a

feed preheater is used. In the usual case where the
feed rate is set by upstream operations and the column
produces a liquid distillate product, there are five Control valves and degrees of freedom for
control valves, and hence five degrees of freedom; see a simple distillation column
the figure.
 Control Schemes

Distillation Column Control

 Control Schemes
Temperature control Reflux rate control
composition composition

Distillation Column Control

Material balance
control schemes for
controlling overhead
product composition.
Flow control on
reboiler can be in
ratio to feed if feed
rate varies

Direct control of distillate by Indirect control of distillate,

composition composition controls reflux
 Control Schemes
Temperature control Reboiler level control
composition composition

Distillation Column Control

Material balance control

schemes for controlling
bottoms product
composition. Flow
control on reflux can be
in ratio to feed if feed
rate varies.

Direct control of bottoms Indirect control of bottoms,

by composition composition controls boil-up.
 Control Schemes
Solid Handling Control
Solid materials are not fluids. In the vast majority of cases, we can’t simply put solids in a pipe,
apply a pressure, and expect it to move through the process. Solids transport systems can be
divided into three basic categories:
1. Mix the solid with a gas (entrainment, fluidization)/liquid (slurry, fluidization); the mixture
behaves like a fluid.
2. Place the solid on a physical surface that moves.
3. Use physical pressure or gravity directly on the solid for short distance transport.

ESP = external set point

RSP = remote set point FE = FT

SC = speed controller

LE = LT
SE = ST

Solid flow rate is set by Solid flow rate is set by a

an upstream unit downstream process and
operation. Density (ρ) is viscosity (μ) is used as an
used as an indirect indirect measure of the
quality of the blended AE = AT
measure of the solids
product Reference[7]
content in the blended
slurry product.
 Control Schemes
Reactor Control
A typical stirred-tank reactor control
scheme, temperature cascade
For small stirred-tank reactors, control of coolant flow, and flow
temperature will normally be control of reagents
controlled by regulating the flow of
the heating or cooling medium. For
larger reactors, temperature is often
controlled by recycling a part of the
product stream or adding inert
material to the feed to act as a heat
sink. Pressure is usually held constant.
For liquid-phase reactors, pressure is
often controlled by maintaining a
vapor space above the liquid
reagents. This space can be
pressurized with nitrogen or other
suitable gases. Material balance The schemes used for reactor control depend on the process
control will be necessary to maintain and the type of reactor. If a reliable online composition
the correct flow of reactants to the analyzer is available and the reactor dynamics are suitable,
reactor and the flow of products and the product composition can be monitored continuously and
unreacted materials from the reactor. the reactor conditions and feed flows controlled
A typical control scheme for a simple automatically to maintain the desired product composition
liquid-phase reactor is shown in the and yield.
figure.
 Control Schemes
Reactor Control (Batch)
 Batch/Semi-Batch Process Control

There are many unit operations that must

be used in batch mode, even though we
may want to use them in a continuous
process. Consider, for example, a process
stream that must be filtered to remove
solid material from a liquid as shown in the
figure. Most filtration methods operate as
batch operations. The solids build up on the
filtration media to a certain thickness or
pressure drop, and then the material is
physically removed from the filter and
collected. Another example is the use of a
physical adsorption agent to remove one or
more chemical constituents from a gaseous
or liquid mixture. The feed material flows
through a fixed bed of the adsorbing
material until the entire bed reaches Two-step batch process: (a) Filtration of solids out
saturation. The flow is then stopped and of a liquid stream and (b) removal of the solid
the adsorbent is regenerated, removing the particles collected on the filter [7] (continued)
adsorbed constituents that are recovered.
Batch/Semi-Batch Process Control

Pdl = Pressure Differential

Indicator

(continued) Two-step batch process: (c) in a semi-batch process, two or more

filters (3 in this example) are placed in parallel so that liquid can be continuously
filtered even when one or more filters are taken out of filtration service for
particle removal.
 Batch/Semi-Batch Process Control
sequential logic
controller, SLC
Example: Simple batch process to mix,
heat, and react two components, A and
B, in a stepwise manner. For some
reversible reactions, adding only a small
quantity of one reactant to the other
will facilitate the forward reaction [7]
The sequential logic controller, SLC-1, sends a “1” to XC-101
during the heating step and a “0” during all other steps in the
batch process. The * in the information box of XC-101 indicates
102
that the signal from the continuous temperature controller, TC-
101, is multiplied by the signal from SLC-1 with the product
sent to XC-102, which is an open/close type relay on the
electrical supply to the heating coil.

Figure A
Batch/Semi-Batch Process Control

The initial design of a batch process can be facilitated through the use of a
logic flow diagram. This diagram, borrowed from the computer
programming world, shows the sequence of steps and decisions that occur
between steps in a batch process[7]
Batch/Semi-Batch Process Control
Logic diagram for the batch process described in
Figure A

LA = LH,A?

LB = LH,B?
Figure
B
 Batch/Semi-Batch Process Control

Sequential logic table for the process

scheme shown and described in Figures A MC
101
102
and B [7]

Figure A
Batch/Semi-Batch Process Control

A more complete sequential logic table for the process scheme shown and described
in Figures A and B
P&ID depiction
of a four-step
semi-batch
filtration
process step
embedded in a
continuous
process. In this
example, the
valves are
denoted by
their number.
Note, one of
the filters is an
installed spare
and is not
needed to
complete the
sequence [7]
 A
33

23

B
 A
33

23

B
 A
33

23

B
 A
33

23

B
Control scheme for the first stage of a semi-batch seed reactor configuration for the
production of lactic acid [7]
[7]
 Recall
• Control schemes – level, pressure, flow, heat
exchangers, cascade, ratio, distillation column,
solid handling, reactor (batch/semi-batch)