4 PROCESS MODELING, SIMULATION, AND CONTROL FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
FIGURE 1.4
that only permits liquid to pass through it, thus preventing “blow through” of the
steam vapor). We want to control the temperature of the oil leaving the heat
exchanger. To do this, a thermocouple is inserted in a thermowell in the exit oil
pipe. The thermocouple wires are connected to a “temperature transmitter,” an elec-
tronic device that converts the millivolt thermocouple output into a 4- to 20-
milliampere “control signal.” The current signal is sent into a temperature
controller, an electronic or digital or pneumatic device that compares the desired
temperature (the “setpoint”) with the actual temperature, and sends out a signal to
a control valve. The temperature controller opens the steam valve more if the tem-
perature is too low or closes it a little if the temperature is too high.
We will consider all the components of this temperature control loop in more
detail later in this book. For now we need’only appreciate the fact that the auto-
matic control of some variable in a process requires the installation of a sensor, a
transmitter, a controller, and a final control element (usually a control valve). Most
of this book is aimed at learning how to decide what type of controller should be
used and how it should be “tuned,” i.e., how should the adjustable tuning param-
eters in the controller be set so that we do a good job of controlling temperature.
Example 1.3. Our third example illustrates a typical control scheme for an entire
simple chemical plant. Figure 1.5 gives a simple schematic sketch of the process
configuration and its control system. Two liquid feeds are pumped into a reactor in
which they react to form products. The reaction is exothermic, and therefore heat
must be removed from the reactor. This is accomplished by adding cooling water to
a jacket surrounding the reactor. Reactor emuent is pumped through a preheater
into a distillation column that splits it into two product streams.
‘Traditional steadystate design procedures would be used to specify the
various pieces of equipment in the plant:
Fluid mechanics. Pump heads, rates, and power; piping sizes; column tray
layout and sizing; heat-exchanger tube and shell side batlling and sizing
Heat transfer. Reactor heat removal; preheater, reboiler, and condenser heat
transfer areas; temperature levels of steam and cooling water
Chemical kinetics. Reactor size and operating conditions (temperature, pres-
sure, catalyst, etc.)
FC = flow control loop
TC = temperature control loop
PC = pressure control loop
LC = level control loop
Bottoms
product I I I -
FIGURE 15
Typical chemical plant and control system.
6 PROCESS MODELING. SIMULATION, AND CONTROL FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
Thermodynamics and mass transfer. Operating pressure, number of plates and
reflux ratio in the distillation column; temperature profile in the column; equi-
librium conditions in the reactor
But how do we decide how to control this plant? We will spend most of our time in
this book exploring this important design and operating problem. All our studies of
mathematical modeling, simulation, and control theory are aimed at understanding
the dynamics of processes and control systems so that we can develop and design
better, more easily controlled plants that operate more efficiently and more safely.
For now let us say merely that the control system shown in Fig. 1.5 is a
typical conventional system. It is about the minimum that would be needed to run
this plant automaticalljl without constant operator attention. Notice that even in
this simple plant with a minimum of instrumentation the total number of control
loops is IO. We will find that most chemical engineering processes are multivariable.
1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Most chemical processing plants were run essentially manually prior to the
1940s. Only the most elementary types of controllers were used. Many operators
were needed to keep watch on the many variables in the plant. Large tanks were
employed to act as buffers or surge capacities between various units in the plant.
These tanks, although sometimes quite expensive, served the function of filtering
out some of the dynamic disturbances by isolating one part of the process from
upsets occurring in another part.
With increasing labor and equipment costs and with the development of
more severe, higher-capacity, higher-performance equipment and processes in the
1940s and early 195Os, it became uneconomical and often impossible to run
plants without automatic control devices. At this stage feedback controllers were
added to the plants with little real consideration of or appreciation for the
dynamics of the process itself. Rule-of-thumb guides and experience were the only
design techniques.
In the 1960s chemical engineers began to apply dynamic analysis and
control theory to chemical engineering processes. Most of the techniques were
adapted from the work in the aerospace and electrical engineering fields. In addi-
tion to designing better control systems, processes and plants were developed or
modified so that they were easier to control. The concept of examining the many
parts of a complex plant together as a single unit, with all the interactions
included, and devising ways to control the entire plant is called systems engineer-
ing. The current popular “buzz” words artificial intelligence and expert systems
are being applied to these types of studies.
The rapid rise in energy prices in the 1970s provided additional needs for
effective control systems. The design and redesign of many plants to reduce
energy consumption resulted in more complex, integrated plants that were much
more interacting. So the challenges to the process control engineer have contin-
ued to grow over the years. This makes the study of dynamics and control even
more vital in the chemical engineering curriculum than it was 30 years ago.
INTRODUCTION 7
13 PERSPECTIVE
Lest I be accused of overstating the relative importance of process control to the
main stream of chemical engineering, let me make it perfectly clear that the tools
of dynamic analysis are but one part of the practicing engineer’s bag of tools and
techniques, albeit an increasingly important one. Certainly a solid foundation in
the more traditional areas of thermodynamics, kinetics, unit operations, and
transport phenomena is essential. In fact, such a foundation is a prerequisite for
any study of process dynamics. The mathematical models that we derive are
really nothing but extensions of the traditional chemical and physical laws to
include the time-dependent terms. Control engineers sometimes have a tendency
to get too wrapped up in the dynamics and to forget the steadystate aspects.
Keep in mind that if you cannot get the plant to work at steadystate you cannot
get it to work dynamically.
An even greater pitfall into which many young process control engineers
fall, particularly in recent years, is to get so involved in the fancy computer
control hardware that is now available that they lose sight of the process control
objectives. All the beautiful CRT displays and the blue smoke and mirrors that
computer control salespersons are notorious for using to sell hardware and soft-
ware can easily seduce the unsuspecting control engineer. Keep in mind your
main objective: to come up with an effective control system. How you implement
it, in a sophisticated computer or in simple pneumatic instruments, is of much
less importance.
You should also appreciate the fact that fighting your way through this
book will not in itself make you an expert in process control. You will find that a
lot remains to be learned, not so much on a higher theoretical level as you might
expect, but more on a practical-experience level. A sharp engineer can learn a
tremendous amount about process dynamics and control that can never be put in
a book, no matter how practically oriented, by climbing around a plant, talking
with operators and instrument mechanics, tinkering in the instrument shop, and
keeping his or her eyes open in the control room.
You may question, as you go through this book, the degree to which the
dynamic analysis and controller design techniques discussed are really used in
industry. At the present time 70 to 80 percent of the control loops in a plant are
usually designed, installed, tuned, and operated quite successfully by simple, rule-
of-thumb, experience-generated techniques. The other 20 to 30 percent of the
loops are those on which the control engineer makes his money. They require
more technical knowledge. Plant testing, computer simulation, and detailed con-
troller design or process redesign may be required to achieve the desired per-
formance. These critical loops often make or break the operation of the plant.
I am confident that the techniques discussed in this book will receive wider
and wider applications as more young engineers with this training go to work in
chemical plants. This book is an attempt by an old dog to pass along some useful
engineering tools to the next generation of pups. It represents over thirty years of
experience in this lively and ever-challenging area. Like any “expert,” I’ve learned
8 PROCESS MODELING, SIMULATION, AND CONTROL FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
from my successes, but probably more from my failures. I hope this book helps
you to have many of the former and not too many of the latter. Remember the
old saying: “If you are making mistakes, but they are new ones, you are getting
smarter.”
1.4 MOTIVATION FOR STUDYING
PROCESS CONTROL
Some of the motivational reasons for studying the subjects presented in this book
are that they are of considerable practical importance, they are challenging, and
they are fun.
1. Importance. The control room is the major interface with the plant. Automa-
tion is increasingly common in all degrees of sophistication, from single-loop
systems to computer-control systems.
2. Challenging. You will have to draw on your knowledge of all areas of chemical
engineering. You will use most of the mathematical tools available (differential
equations, Laplace transforms, complex variables, numerical analysis, etc.) to
solve real problems.
3. Fun. I have found, and I hope you will too, that process dynamics is fun. You
will get the opportunity to use some simple as well as some fairly advanced
mathematics to solve real plant problems. There is nothing quite like the thrill
of working out a controller design on paper and then seeing it actually work
on the plant. You will get a lot of satisfaction out of going into a plant that is
having major control problems, diagnosing what is causing the problem and
getting the whole plant lined out on specification. Sometimes the problem is in
the process, in basic design, or in equipment malfunctioning. But sometimes it
is in the control system, in basic strategy, or in hardware malfunctioning. Just
your knowledge of what a given control device should do can be invaluable.
1.5 GENERAL CONCEPTS
I have tried to present in this book a logical development. We will begin with
fundamentals and simple concepts and extend them as far as they can be gain-
fully extended. First we will learn to derive mathematical models of chemical
engineering systems. Then we will study some of the ways to solve the resulting
equations, usually ordinary differential equations and nonlinear algebraic equa-
tions. Next we will explore their openloop (uncontrolled) dynamic behavior.
Finally we will learn to design controllers that will, if we are smart enough, make
the plant run automatically the way we want it to run: efficiently and safely.
Before we go into details in the subsequent chapters, it may be worthwhile
at this point to define some very broad and general concepts and some of the
terminology used in dynamics and control.
INTRODUCTION 9
1. Dynamics. Time-dependent behavior of a process. The behavior with no con-
trollers in the system is called the openloop response. The dynamic behavior
with feedback controllers included with the process is called the closedloop
response.
2. Variables.
a. Manipulated oariables. Typically flow rates of streams entering or leaving a
process that we can change in order to control the plant.
b. Controlled variables. Flow rates, compositions, temperatures, levels, and
pressures in the process that we will try to control, either trying to hold
them as constant as possible or trying to make them follow some desired
time trajectory.
c. Uncontrolled variables. Variables in the process that are not controlled.
d. Load disturbances. Flow rates, temperatures, or compositions of streams
entering (but sometimes leaving) the process. We are not free to manipulate
them. They are set by upstream or downstream parts of the plant. The
control system must be able to keep the plant under control despite the
effects of these disturbances.
Example 1.4. For the heat exchanger shown in Fig. 1.4, the load disturbances are oil
feed flow rate F and oil inlet temperature TO. The steam flow rate F, is the manipu-
lated variable. The controlled variable is the oil exit temperature T.
Example 1.5. For a binary distillation column (see Fig. 1.6), load disturbance vari-
ables might include feed flow rate and feed composition. Reflux, steam, cooling
water, distillate, and bottoms flow rates might be the manipulated variables. Con-
trolled variables might be distillate product composition, bottoms product composi-
tion, column pressure, base liquid level, and reflux drum liquid level. The
uncontrolled variables would include the compositions and temperatures on all the
trays. Note that one physical stream may be considered to contain many variables:
Feed flow rate fi Distillate composition xg
.
Load
disturbances Feed composition z Bottom composition x,,
w
1~Level reflux drum MR Controlled
variables
Manipulated
variables
Uncontrolled
variables
i
i
FIGURE 1.6
