Journal of Science Technology and Food 20 (4) (2020) 13-22

CONTROL THE OVERHEAD TEMPERATURE OF CRUDE OIL

DISTILLATION COLUMN BY PID AND FUZZY PID
CONTROLLERS

Huynh Van Tien*, Ha Kim Thanh Vy,

Van Tan Luong, Giang Ngoc Ha
Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry
*Email: [email protected]
Received: 9 July 2020; Accepted: 25 September 2020

ABSTRACT

Gasoline is mainly created by converting light and heavy naphtha from crude oil
distillation column. Overhead temperature of main column is the most important parameter in
quality control of gasoline. This protocol would offer two pathways to control the overhead
temperature of crude oil distillation column in refinery. In this offer, temperature, flow
parameters are cotrolled by proportional integral and derivative (PID) and fuzzy PID
controllers. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by the
simulation results using Matlab/Simulink.
Keywords: PID, fuzzy PID, controller parameter, overhead temperature, crude oil, distillation.

1. INTRODUCTION

Temperature, pressure, flow and level are four main parametters in process control. In
order to antomatic maintain the quality of product, the process must be in automatic. In
refinery, Crude Oil Distillation Unit (CDU) is as the heart of plant. CDU provides primary
separation of crude oil feedstocks: Crude oil is preheated against product and pumparound
streams before being routed to a fire heater. The primary fractionation is carried out in the
main crude column fractionator and associated side stream strippers. Overhead naphtha is
further processed in the naphtha stabilizer column. Products are cooled and rundown to
intermediate storage or further processing as appropriate. Light gas oil and heavy gas oil
streams are vacuum dried prior to rundown.
In order to rearch the desire specification, a very complex and precise control process is
required. In particular, the improvement of control methods brings very high efficiency in
quickly achieving the specification, maintain the stability and rapid response to emergencies
case to ensure the plant to be stable and safety.
Figure 1 describes that the top pumparound (P-01) circuit of the main fractionator
provides reflux to the top section of column and maintains the temperature of column overhead
vapour by controlling the amount of heat removed from the (P-01) circuit. Under normal
operation, for a given unit throughput, the flow around the P-01 circuit remains constant and
the heat duty is controlled by passing more or less flow around exchanger (E-01). The top
temperature, TIC-01 resets the set point of duty controller UIC-01. Depending on the crude oil
and product requirements, the setpoint for TIC-01 is from 120 °C to 150 °C [1].
Any increase in duty above the setpoint at UIC-01 will produce a decrease in the duty

13
Huynh Van Tien, Ha Kim Thanh Vy, Van Tan Luong, Giang Ngoc Ha

controller output B which will close valve UV-02 via calculation block FY-03 and hand
controller HIC-02 and open valve UV-01 via calculation block FY-01 and controller HIC-01.
The result will be to pass less liquid through the exchanger E-01 and more through bypass
valve UV-01, i.e. duty is reduced.

Figure 1. Functional description of overhead temperature control

Any increase in flow above the setpoint at controller FIC-01 will produce a decrease in
flow controller output A, which will close both valve UV-01 and UV-02 by the same amount
via their calculation blocks FY-01/FY-03 and hand controllers HIC-01/HIC-02, i.e. total flow
is reduced. The flow controller FIC-01 must have priority above duty controller UIC-01 to
prevent both valve close in temperature or duty failure case. In other hand, the flow controller
has to be able to keep the flow in control otherwise duty controller failure for itself or for
temperature indicator failure. UIC-01 output shall be limited to be from 10% to 90%.
Recently, many researches have fucused on automation control the crude oil distillation
column [2-5]. Accordingly, proportional (P), proportional intergral (PI), proportional
derivative (PD) and proportional intergral derivative (PID) methods were applied. Among
them, PID method shows more superiority than other ones. However, compared to the fuzzy
PID, the PID controller presents its limitations, which is that the original designed controller
parameter is only suitable at a given operating time. At other operating times, the parameter
is long convergence and fluctuating [6].
In this paper, we typically introduce the PID and fuzzy PID controllers to control the
overhead temperature of crude oil distillation column (Main fractionator) and compare the

14
Control the overhead temperature of crude oil distillation column by PID and fuzzy PID…

effectiveness of these two control methods. The simulation results demonstrate that the fuzzy
PID controller is better than the conventional PID controller.

2. EXPERIMENTAL

2.1. Rule adjustment of PID controller

The function of PID controller is

t
de(t )
u ( t ) = K p e ( t ) + K I  e(t )dt + K D (1)
0
dt
As shown in (1), the control parameters (KP, KI, KD) are adjusted according to each
controller separately based on the error e(t) and its derivative error. Many different methods
have been applied to adjust the parameters of the PID such as: direct calibration method,
method based on the minimum target function, calibration method according to Zhao,
Tomizuka and Isaka ... [7-12]. The general principle of these methods is to start with KP, KI
and KD values according to Zeigler-Nichols. Then, based on the changing response of the
output signal and the gradual change of KP, KI, KD, their appropriate alignment direction is
found.

Ouput
c1
set point d1
b1 b2
a2

a1 Time

Figure 2. Rule adjustment of PID controller

The rule adjustment as shown in Figure 2 is done as follows:

- For the adjacent point a1 we need strong control to shorten the time so we choose KP
and KI large, KD small
- For the adjacent point b1 we avoid large overshoot, so choose KP and KI small, KD
large
- For the adjacent point c1 and d1 we perform the same as a1 and b1

2.2. PID controller simulation for crude oil distillation overhead temperature control system

The temperature of the top of the distillation tower is controlled via reflux. Depending on
the quality of crude oil and product requirements, the temperature of the top of the column is
set at a value from 120 °C to 160 °C. Both the reflux flow and the ovehead temperature
normally are controlled by adjust the opening of reflux valve, the block diagram of the column
overhead temperature control system is shown in the Figure 3.

15
Huynh Van Tien, Ha Kim Thanh Vy, Van Tan Luong, Giang Ngoc Ha

Figure 3. Block diagram of the column overhead temperature control system

using the conventional PID controller

−2 s
In Figure 2, the tranfer functions: W = 0.9e 0.2e−2 s , 1.2e −1s , 1.0
, W12 = W21 = W22 =
70s + 1 60s + 1 30s + 1 20 s + 1
11

are created by Ziegler-Nichols method [6].

By enter expressions for proportional, intergral and dervivative terms in the functional
block parameters on Matlab/Simulink simulation software, the result indicates that the
overhead temperature of the column responds well, the settling time is about 400 seconds, the
error is 0 and the overshoot is 13%. The convergence time to the setting value of the reflux
flow controller is 500 seconds, the error is 0 and the overshoot is high.

Figure 4. Responding of overhead temperature by PID controller

16
Control the overhead temperature of crude oil distillation column by PID and fuzzy PID…

Figure 5. Responding of refux flow by PID controller

The PID controller responds well for this system but it has a relatively long setting time,
high control overshoot so other control methods are needed to reduce these problems.

2.3. Simulate fuzzy PID controller for crude oil distillation overhead temperature control
system

The parameters KP, KI, KD or KP, TI, TD of PID controller are adjusted base on the analysis
of error e(t) and de(t)/dt derivative of the error. Many methods of adjusting parameters for PID
controller have been implemented. However, in this paper, the fuzzy calibration methods of
Zhao, Tomizuka and Isaka are studied with the following assumption: K P  K P , K P  and
min max

K D  K Dmin ,K Dmax  . In particular, KP and KD parameters have been standardized as follows:
K P − K Pmin K D − K Dmin . The fuzzy equalizer will have two inputs e(t), de(t)/dt and
KP = K =
P − KP D − KD
D
K max min
K max min

three outputs are 𝐾𝑃 , 𝐾𝐷 , 𝛼, in particular, 𝛼 = 𝑇𝐼 /𝑇𝐷 𝑜𝑟 𝐾𝐼 = 𝐾𝐷2 /𝛼𝐾𝐷 . Therefore, KP, KI, KD
can be considered as three fuzzy equalizers with two inputs ET, DET and three outputs KP, KD
and KI (see in Figure 6).

Figure 6. Structure of the fuzzy PID controller

17
Huynh Van Tien, Ha Kim Thanh Vy, Van Tan Luong, Giang Ngoc Ha

In Figure 6, ET is the deviation between the set signal and the feedback signal, DET =
(ETi+1-ETi)/T, where T is the signal receiving period. The output consists of three variables
KP, KI, KD which are factors of proportion, integral and derivative. Base on the structure of
fuzzy PID controller the block diagram of the column overhead temperature control system
use fuzzy PID controller were created.

Figure 7. Block diagram of the column overhead temperature control system

using the fuzzy PID controller

2.4. Control algorithms

For temperature controller, two input variables are ET (Error temperature) and DET
(Derivative of the error temperature). ET = Setpoint – Feedback value; Derivative of the error
ET(i+1)−E(i)
temperature: DET = T
, T is the signal receiving period. The three output variables are
KP, KI and KD.
Variable definitions: ET = {large minus_AN, medium minus_AV, alittle minus_AI,
zero_ZE, alittle positive _DI, medium positive_DV, large positive_DN; DET = {large
minus_AN, medium minus_AV, alittle minus_AI, zero_ZE, alittle positive _DI, medium
positive_DV, large positive_DN; KP = { zero, small, medium, large, ultimate} (Z, S, M, L, U);
KI = {level 1, level 2, level 3, level 4, level 5} (L1, L2, L3, L4, L5); KD = {zero, small, medium,
large, ultimate} (Z, S, M, L, U).
For flowrate controller, two input variables are ET (Error flowrate) and DET (Derivative
of the error flowrate). ET = Setpoint – Feedback value; Derivative of the error flowrate:
ET(i+1)−E(i)
DET = T
, T is the signal receiving period. The three output variables are KP, KI and
KD, any variable definitions are similar to temperature controller.

18
Control the overhead temperature of crude oil distillation column by PID and fuzzy PID…

2.5. Rule adjustment of fuzzy PID controller

By performing the rule adjusments in the fuzzy functional block parameters on

Matlab/Simulink simulation software, the result indicates that the overhead temperature of the
column responds well, the settling time is about 400 seconds, the error is 0 and the overshoot
is 1.49%. The convergence time to the setting value of the reflux flow controller is 250
seconds, the error is 0 and the overshoot is 6.7%.

Figure 8. Responding of overhead temperature by fuzzy PID controller

19
Huynh Van Tien, Ha Kim Thanh Vy, Van Tan Luong, Giang Ngoc Ha

Figure 9. Responding of reflux flowrate by PID controller

By fuzzy PID controller, the overhead temperature and reflux flow are stabilized, quickly
settling and negligible overshoot.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1. Simulation results of overhead temperature and reflux flow

Figure 10. Simulation results of overhead temperature by PID and fuzzy PID controllers

Figure 10 shows that the results of simulating of overhead temperature using the fuzzy
PID and PID controllers. As shown in Figure 10 and in Table 7, the overhead temperature was
reached to the set value after 400 seconds for both controllers. However, the overshoot was
only 1.94% in case of a fuzzy PID controller (compared to 13% of the conventional PID
controller). Therefore, the use of fuzzy PID controller results in better operation, compared to
the use of conventional PID controller.

Table 7. Overhead temperature responding comparing

between conventional PID and fuzzy PID controller

Conventional PID controller Fuzzy PID controller

Settling time (s) 400 400
Overshoot (%) 13 1.94

20
Control the overhead temperature of crude oil distillation column by PID and fuzzy PID…

Figure 11. Simulation results of reflux flowrate by using conventional PID and fuzzy PID controllers

Figure 11 shows that the results of simulating of reflux flowrate using the fuzzy PID and
PID controllers. As shown in Figure 10 and in Table 7, the reflux flowrate was reached to the
setpoint after 250 seconds and the overshoot was only 0.63% in case of the fuzzy PID
controller. Meanwhile, with the conventional PID controller, the set-up time needs to 500
seconds and overshoot is 1.2%. Therefore, the use of fuzzy PID controller results in better
operation, compared to the use of conventional PID controller.
As mentioned before, the PID controllers only works properly at one specific operating
point since the controller gains are seleted to be fixed. For this, to operate in a wide range, they
should be changed. Thus, the combination of fuzzy controller to generate a signal to
compensate for the PID controller.

Table 8. Reflux flowrate responding comparing between conventional PID and fuzzy PID controller

Conventional PID controller Fuzzy PID controller

Settling time (s) 500 250
Overshoot (%) 100 6.7

4. CONCLUSIONS

In summary, a strategy to control the crude oil distillation column using the fuzzy PID
controller is proposed. The important control parametters such as overhead temperature and
reflux flowrate were simulated by PID and fuzzy PID controllers. The simulation results on
Matlab/Simulink have shown that the use of fuzzy PID controller is better than conventional PID.

REFERENCES

1. Uttam Ray Chaudhuri - Fundamentals of petroleum and petrochemical engineering,

Chemical industries 130, CRC Press (2011).
2. Puneet Mishra, Vineet Kumar, Rana K.P.S. - A fractional order fuzzy PID controller
for binary distillation column control, Expert Systems with Applications 42 (22)
(2015) 8533-8549.
3. Aaron James S., Antony Judice A., Kumaravel G. - Distillation column control in
Labview using fuzzy interference system, World Scientific News 98 (2018) 214-220.

21
Huynh Van Tien, Ha Kim Thanh Vy, Van Tan Luong, Giang Ngoc Ha

4. George Stephanopoulos - Chemical process control: An introduction to theory and

practice (Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology), Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (1984).
5. Page S. Buckley, William L. luyben, Joseph P. Shunta - Design of distillation columm
control Systems, Butterworth-Heinemann (1985).
6. Johnson M.A., Moradi M.H. - PID control: New identification and design methods,
Springer-Verlag London Limited (2005).
7. Nguyen Van Chi - Process control in industry, Science and Technics Publishing House
(2017).
8. Nguyen Doan Phuoc, Phan Xuan Minh - Theory of fuzzy control, Science and
Technics Publishing House (2006).
9. Nguyen Thi Phuong Ha - Theory of modern control, Ho Chi Minh City National
University Publishing House (2007).
10. Bui Quoc Khanh, Nguyen Van Lien, Pham Quoc Hai, Duong Van Nghi - Electric
drive automatic control, Science and Technics Publishing House (2008).
11. Duong Hoai Nghia - Multivariable system control, Ho Chi Minh City National
University Publishing House (2007).
12. Nguyen Doan Phuoc, Phan Xuan Minh, Han Thanh Trung - Theory of nonlinear
control, Science and Technics Publishing House (2006).
13. Gregory K. McMillan, Christian M. Toarmina - Advanced temperature measurement
and control, International Society of Automation (2012).

TÓM TẮT

ĐIỀU KHIỂN HỆ THỐNG CHƯNG CẤT DẦU THÔ DÙNG BỘ ĐIỀU KHIỂN PID MỜ

Huỳnh Văn Tiến*, Hà Kim Thanh Vy,

Văn Tấn Lượng, Giang Ngọc Hà
*Email: [email protected]

Xăng chủ yếu được tạo ra bằng cách chuyển hóa naphtha nhẹ và naphtha nặng từ tháp
chưng cất dầu thô. Nhiệt độ đỉnh tháp của cột chưng cất chính là thông số quan trọng nhất
trong kiểm soát chất lượng xăng. Bài báo đề xuất 2 phương pháp để kiểm soát nhiệt độ đỉnh
tháp chưng cất dầu thô trong nhà máy lọc dầu, trong đó các tham số nhiệt độ, lưu lượng được
điều khiển bằng bộ điều khiển tỷ lệ tích phân và đạo hàm (PID) và bộ điều khiển mờ. Tính khả
thi và hiệu quả của phương pháp đề xuất được xác minh bằng các kết quả mô phỏng sử dụng
Matlab/Simulink.
Từ khóa: PID, PID mờ, thông số bộ điều khiển, nhiệt độ đỉnh tháp, dầu thô, chưng cất.

22