Process control Part Dr.

Mai :

Requirements a Chemical Plant Must Satisfy These are imposed by the

designers and general technical, economic and social conditions
1.Safe plant operation
2.Production Specifications
3.Environmental Regulations
4.Operational constraints
5.Economics
This dictates the need for continuous monitoring and control.
This accomplished by : equipment (valves, controllers and measuring
devices) and human intervention (designers and operators) .
There are three general classes of needs that a control system is called
on to satisfy:
a. Suppressing(‫ )كبح‬the influence for external disturbances:
This is the most common objective of a controller in a chemical plant.
e.g.: controlling the operation of a CSTR:
The main operational objective is to keep the effluent temperature at a desired value Ts (set
point)
The operation of the tank is disturbed by external factors e.g. change in inlet flow rate or inlet
temperature (Fi, Ti). Thus some sort of control is needed.

If T<Ts i.e. the error ε>0 then the controller opens the steam valve so more heat is supplied.
If T>Ts i.e. the error ε>0 then the controller closes the steam valve so less heat is supplied.
It T=Ts i.e. ε=0 the controller does nothing.
b. Ensure stability of a chemical process
If x is a process variable and at t=to x is disturbed by an external factor, if as time progresses
x returns to its initial value and stays, there then the process is stable or self-regulating and no
control mechanism is needed.
If x does not return to its original value after the disturbance the process is unstable
and thus requires external control.
Example: CSTR: which an irreversible exothermic reaction A gives B takes place.
The heat of reaction is removed by a coolant medium that flows through a jacket
around the reactor.
The heat released by the exothermic reaction is a sigmoidal function of the
temperature T in the reactor (curve A in the figure below). On the other hand, the
heat removed by the coolant is a linear function of the temperature T in the reactor
(line B). The intersection of curves A and B yield 3 steady states. P1 and P3 are
stable, whereas P2 is unstable.

P1 and P3 are stable as any change in T will return naturally to its initial
state but P2 is unstable as any change won't return.
P1 gives low yield as low T and no product
P3 gives high yield but high temp that can destroy the catalyst
So we sometimes have to operate at P2 (unstable) and controlling is
required to ensure the stability of operation.
b. Optimizing the performance of a chemical process:
the main operational objectives is to make the operation of the plant more profitable.
So control is used to change the plant operation (P,T,..) to make max profit.
Example: Batch reactor: two consecutive endothermic reactions take place: A gives B&C:
The heat required for the reaction is supplied by steam, The desired product is B and C is an
undesired waste:
‫الربح‬ – cost of steam }dt – cost of purchasing A , Tr:
period of reaction.
The only variable that we can change in order to maximize the profit is the steam flow rate
Q, Q can vary with time and affects temp which affects production rates of B&C
Firstly, CA is high and high yield of B and high amount of steam so high cost and if we don't
use any steam Q=0 …no steam cost but no reaction and no product so we need to optimize
the amount of steam by using controller which allows the Q is high at first then by time CA is
low and decrease the steam flowrate.
Controller computes the best steam flow rate for every time during the reaction period.
2- Classification of Variables in a Chemical Process: like P,T,Flowrate.conc:
Input: denote the effect of surroundings on chemical process: Disturbance (can't be
adjusted by human operator or control mechanism) and manipulated (values can be
adjusted by operator or control)
Output: denote the effect of chemical process on surroundings:
Measured (directly) or unmeasured (indirectly measured).
3. Design Elements of a Control System:
a. Define control objectives: qualitative: control on what? & quantitative :control
with any amounts ?!
b. Select measurements: Whatever our objectives are we need some means to
monitor the performance of a chemical process by measuring:
Primary: measure directly the variable you want
Secondary: measure other variables then develop a mathematical relation between
the unmeasured objective and secondary measurement, that is done when the control
objectives are not measurable quantities.
c.Select manipulated variables: We have to select the manipulated variables, from
the available input variables, that are to be used to control a chemical process.
d. Select the control configuration:
A control configuration is the information structure that is used to connect the
available measurements to the available manipulated variables.
e. Design the controller:
The controller is the active element that receives the information from the
measurements and takes appropriate control action to adjust the values of the
manipulated variables.
we want to develop a control law that defines how should Q change in order keep T
constant in example of CSTR.
4. Hardware Elements of a Control System:
a. The chemical process: It represents the material equipment ‫اللي بعمل عليها كنترول‬
b. The measuring instruments or sensors: Such instruments are used to
measure the disturbances, the controlled output variables, or secondary output
variables: like thermocouple, venture meters, gas chromatograph
A mercury thermometer is not a good measuring device to be used for
control since its measurement cannot be readily transmitted. On the other
hand, a thermocouple is acceptable because it develops an electric voltage
which can be readily transmitted.
c. Transducers: convert the signal like converting pressure signal to electric
signal.
d. Transmission lines: to transport the signals from measuring devices to the
controller.
e. Controller : that takes the action and develop control law
f. Final control element: like control valves and variable speed pumps
It implements the decision taken by the controller
g. Recording elements..
5. Types of Control Configurations:
5.1. Feedback Control (closed loop)
Consider a process with an output c, disturbance u and available manipulated variable
m.(using direct measurements of controller)

our control objective is to keep the value of the output c at desired level.
A feedback action takes the following steps:
1. Measures the value of the output using appropriate measuring device. The value
indicated by the measuring sensor is b (primary feedback signal)
2. Compares the indicated value b to the desired value r (set point) of the output. The
deviation (error) is e.
3. The error e is supplied to the main controller. The controller in turn changes the
value of the manipulated variable m through sending a signal p to the final control
element (usually a control valve).
We can control more than one variable and the num of variables I can control we can
get through degrees of freedom.

To simplify the presentation of a feedback control system, we usually replace the

diagrammatic details of a controller mechanism with a simple circle.
 C= M.G(s)+U.GD(s)
The series of blocks between the comparator and the controlled output constitutes
the forward path, while the block H(s) is on the feedback path between the
controlled output and the comparator.
5.1.1. Servo and Regulator Operation:
Regulator: If it is desired to maintain a constant value of the controlled variable
inspite of disturbances (const conc and no change in set point)
Servo: change in set point if it is desired to produce new product specifications
The process should be designed to give maximum controllability which depends
largely on the type of operation required.
5.1.2. Lags in feedback control loops: time delay in the response because:
1-process lag 2-measuring device ‫بياخد وقت في القياس‬
3-the signal takes time for transmission from measuring device to the controller
4-the controller takes time to take action 5-signal takes time for transmission from
controller to valve 6-final control element (valve) takes time to implement signal
there are two types of lags in the feedback control system:
a- Transmission or distance/velocity lags whose magnitude depend upon the length of
transmission line as in 3 and 5
b- Transfer function lags that depend on the transfer functions of the different units as
in 1, 2, 4 and 6.
Output= input * transfer function …..Y(s)=G(s)*X(s)
5.1.3. Distance/velocity Lags: at first: Tin=Tout at st.st but when Tin changes , Tout
will change in same pattern but at end of pipe after time delay (td) (distance velocity
lag) (curve A for Tin and curve B for Tout)
If U is the average velocity of the fluid over the cross-sectional area of the pipe and L
is the length, then the distance velocity lag could be calculated as follows: td=L/U
5.2. Inferential Control
It uses secondary measurements to adjust the values of the manipulated variables.
The estimator uses the values of the available measured outputs, together with the
material and energy balances that govern the process, to compute mathematically the
values of the unmeasured control variables.
5.3. FeedForward Control
It uses direct measurement of the disturbances to adjust the values of the manipulated
variables

We notice that feed forward control does not wait until the effect of the disturbances
has been felt by the system,

5.3.1.Ratio Control
Ratio control is a special type of feed forward control where two disturbances are
measured and held in a constant ratio to each other. It is mostly used to control the
ratio of flow rates of two streams. Both flow rates are measured but only one can be
controlled. The stream whose flow rate is not under control is usually referred to as a
wild stream and the another stream is called controllable stream.
Used in chemical processes like : keep the fuel : air ration in burner- hold constant reflux
ratio in a distillation column.
Advantages Disadvantages
Feed forward
1. Acts before the effect of a disturbance has 1. Requires identification of all possible
been felt by the system. disturbances and their direct measurement.
2. It is good for slow systems 2. Cannot cope with unmeasured disturbance.
3. It does not introduce instability in the 3. Sensitive to process parameters variations
closed-loop response.
4. Requires good knowledge of the process
model.
Feedback
1. It does not require identification and 1. It waits until the effect of the disturbances
measurement of any disturbance has been felt by the system, before control
action is taken.
2. It is insensitive to modeling errors 2. It is unsatisfactory for slow processes or
with significant dead time.
3. It is insensitive to parameter changes 3. It may create instability in the closed-loop
response
Although feed forward control has the potential for perfect control but due to the
weaknesses stated in the above table, purely feed forward systems are not generally used.
Actual control systems are either feedback systems or a combination of the feed forward
and feedback schemes in what is known as cascade control.
5.4 cascade control: 2 control loops and 1 manipulated:
Consider the CSTR shown in figure. The reaction is exothermic and the heat generated is
removed by the coolant in the jacket. The control objective is to keep the temperature T
constant at a desired value.
Possible disturbances: Ti, TC, Manipulated variable: FC
Thus we have two control loops using two different measurements, T and TC, but sharing a
common manipulated variable, FC
a- The loop that measures T is the dominant, or primary, or master control loop and uses
a set point supplied by the operator.
b- The loop that measures TC uses the output of the primary controller as its set point
and is called the secondary or slave loop.
To generalize the discussion above, consider a process consisting of two parts; process I and
process II. Process I (primary) has its output the variable we want to control. Process II
(secondary) has an output that we are not interested in controlling but which affects the
output we want to control
The major benefit to be gained by cascade control;
Disturbances arising within the secondary loop are corrected by the secondary
controller before they can affect the value of the primary controlled output.
Modeling of chemical processes: look lec2 page 1,2
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