2010 International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Cognitive Informatics
Model Predictive Control of Distillation Column based Recursive Parameter
Estimation Method Using HYSYS Simulation
HESAM KOMARI ALAEIa, KARIM SALAHSHOORa, HAMED KOMARI ALAEIb
a
Department of Automation & Instrumentation, Petroleum University of Technology (PUT), Ahvaz , IRAN
b
Department of Engineering, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, IRAN
hesamkomari@yahoo.com, salahshoor@put.ac.ir, hamed.komari@gmail.com
Abstract Some chemical plants such as distillation column
have highly nonlinear behavior. these processes demand a
powerful identification method such as linear and
nonlinear models. In this paper, a distillation column is
simulated in a rather realistic environment by HYSYS
and the obtained data is in connection with MATLAB for
identification and control purpose. In this case, the
identified model is characterized by two structures, Linear
model structure based on ARX ( Autoregressive with
external input) and nonlinear model structure based on
neural network. For control goals, two linear and
nonlinear model predictive controllers are applied.
General predict control (GPC) and nonlinear predict
control (NPC) are compared based adaptive identification
of model. Since, practical systems change with time and
the parameters of system are time varying, using real-time
identification based recursive parameter estimation is
necessary, although, desired control strategy is reached
with a good parameter estimation. The algorithm has been
tested on an distillation column. The resulting
performances show the successful and promising
capabilities of the proposed algorithm .
Keywords Adaptive identification, Kalman filter, Distillation
column, Neural network, predictive control, Parameter
estimation, HYSYS.
1 INTRODUCTION
The analysis, design, operation, control, and
optimization of distillation columns have been
extensively studied for almost a century. There are very
few design techniques that can be proven to stabilize
processes in the presence of nonlinearities and
constraints. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is one of
these techniques. There are three general approaches to
predictive control design. Each approaches uses a
unique model structure. Transfer function models give a
more parsimonious description of process dynamics and
are applicable to both stable and unstable plants [1].
Representatives of transfer function model-based
predictive control include the predictive control
algorithm of Peterka (Peterka, 1984) and the
generalized predictive control (GPC) algorithm of
Clarke and colleagues. System identification is an
integral part of any control designs and deals with the
problem of building reliable mathematical model of
dynamic process based on observed input-output data
[2]. In many cases it is necessary, or useful, to have a
978-0-7695-4014-6/10 $26.00 2010 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICICCI.2010.133
model of system available online while the system in
operation. The main goal of this paper consist on
obtaining a mathematical model that adequately
describes the stream composition variation process
inside a distillation column by using system
identification techniques. The distillate and bottoms
streams compositions can be inferred by measuring the
temperature of trays near each of the column. The tray
temperature measurement dynamics are typically more
rapid than the product stream composition
measurements, so tighter disturbance rejection may be
possible with this strategy. The paper is organized as
follows. The system identification procedure is
described in Section 2. Section 3 discusses the Adaptive
identification methodology and recursive estimation
method. predictive control based real-time
identification is introduced in Section 4. System
identification and control of a distillation column is
developed in Section 5 and the conclusion is given in
the last section.
2 System Identification Procedure
System identification is the task of inferring a
mathematical description and a model of dynamic
system from a series of measurements on the system.
By using system identification techniques it is possible
to obtain models that are in agreement with the physical
reality and are also useful for model-based control
systems design (Martin Sanchez & Rodellar, 2005).
2.1. Experimental design
In order to identifying the process, data is collected
from a distillation column that is simulated in HYSYS.
Steady-state calculations indicate that a reflux to feed
ratio scheme should do a pretty good job of maintaining
product purities in the face of feed composition
disturbances and of course, feed flow rate changes [5].
Fig.1 shows the simulated distillation column.
Mathematical model of distillation column has been
discussed in [6, 7].Whereas, top tray temperature is a
good indicator of product compositions, is used for
control aims. It is assumed that experimental data has
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been obtained before hand with a proper choice of
sampling frequency:
Z N = {[u (t ), y (t ) ] | t = 1,..., N } (1)
Where t specifies sampling instance number.
Fig. 1. Simple distillation column schematic.
2.2. Model structure selection and parameter estimation
Model structure selection constitutes one of the most
important and difficult decisions that has to be made
within the system identification procedure, since model
complexity can affect the exactitude at which the model
describes the real process (Ljung, 1999). Several
different model structures were evaluated, including
structures of the following types: OE, ARX, ARMAX
and Box-Jenkins. (t) is a vector containing the
regressors and is a vector containing the parameters.
For convenience a generalized model structure is used:
B (q ) C (q)
A(q) y (t ) = u (t ) + e(t ) (2)
F (q) D (q)
Polynomial A(q), B(q), C(q), D(q) and F(q) are defined
in terms of the backward shift operator q -1 . e(t) is the
white noise sequence with zero mean value, used to
characterize mathematically the dynamic behavior of
disturbances. The ARX structure can be represented by
using the following polynomial expression
(Johansson,1993, Ljung, 1999):
B (q) - nk 1 Recursive algorithms include, two important quantities
y ARX (t ) = q u (t ) + e (t ) (3)
A(q) A(q)
According to Ljung (1999) a system is called linear if it
is possible to describe it by a model that takes the form:
y (t ) = G ( q -1 )u (t ) + H ( q -1 )e(t ) (4)
Where G and H are transfer functions in the time delay
operator, q -1 . If the system is linear the objective of the
identification procedure is to determine good estimates
of the two transfer functions G and H. For the general
linear system described by (4), it is easily verified that
the one-step ahead prediction is given by [4]:
y (t | t - 1,q ) = H -1( q -1, q )G( q -1 ,q )u (t ) + 1 - H -1 ( q -1,q ) y(t ) (5)
for ARX model structure the G and H are considered
as :
B( q -1 ) 1 If the noise e(k) in (9) is white and Gaussian, then the
G ( q -1, q ) = q -d , H ( q -1, q ) =
A( q -1 ) A( q -1 )
Parameter estimation constitutes a procedure that make
it possible to adjust a model with a specific structure.
The most common strategy is to pick the model that
provides the best one-step ahead predictions in terms of
the smallest expected squared error between observed
outputs and predictions. The process of picking a model
from the model structure is in the statistical literature
known as estimation. The prediction error can be
represented by the following expression (Ljung, 1999):
e (t , q ) = y (t ) - j T (t )q (7)
A well-defined scalar valued function of the model
parameter q is introduced as:
2
1 N
1
VN (q , Z N ) =
N
t =1 2
y (t ) - j T (t )q (8)
This is the least-squares criterion for the linear
regression. N is the total number of input-output data
used in the estimation process. 1000 samples of data
are used for parameter estimation. The ARX structure is
chosen as a candidate structure to obtain the
mathematical model of the process under study.
3 Adaptive identification methodology and recursive
estimation method
An important reason for using adaptive methods and
recursive identification is that the properties of the
system may be time varying and that the identification
algorithm is wanted to track the variations. Three basic
and common classes of recursive methods can be
distinguished as [4]:
1. Recursive prediction-error methods (RPEM)
2. Recursive pseudolinear regressions (RPLR)
3. Recursive instrumental-variable methods
(RIV)
that may have a considerable effect on the quality of the
estimates: the update direction and the gain. The
asymptotic properties obtained by a RPEM on a
constant system, using a Gauss-Newton update
direction, that, is a very good choice of update
direction. The Kalman filtering process has been
designed to estimate the state vector in a linear model.
If the model turns out to be nonlinear, a linearization
procedure is usually performed in deriving the filtering
equations. The kalman filter is very closely related to
the RLS algorithm with forgetting factor. Usually the
kalman filter is applied as an observer for the estimation
of states, not parameters. However, formally the
parameter estimation problem can be stated in the
following state space form [8]:
q ( k + 1) = q (k ), y (k ) = xT (k )q (k ) + e(k ) (9)
(6)
kalman filter theory tells us that the posterior
distribution of q (k ) , given z k -1 , is Gaussian with mean
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 ) In this method, the search direction is introduced:
value q (k ) and covariance matrix as follow (Ljung,
1999):
t -1
P (t ) = [ j ( k )j T (k )] = p -1 (k - 1) + j (k )j T (k )
k =1
-1
= p (k - 1) - p ( k - 1)j (k ) I + j T ( k ) p ( k - 1)j (k ) j T ( k ) p ( k - 1)
So the kalman filter gives the conditional expectation of
q (k ) as :
) ) )
q ( k ) = q ( k - 1) + K ( k ) y ( k ) - j T ( k )q ( k - 1)
Where the K is introduced kalman gain as follow:
p(k - 1)j (k )
K (k ) = (12)
T
1 + j (k ) p(k - 1)j (k )
The problem of time varying parameters of system is
tackled by assigning less weight to older measurements
that are no longer representative for the system [4].
4 model predictive control based real time
identification
4.1 Generalized Predictive Control (GPC)
GPC is predictive control approach with linear models
such as ARX, ARMAX and ARIX. In GPC
implementation the first step is system identification.
ARIX model has been chosen for this algorithm. The
structure of ARIX models has been demonstrated
below:
y ( k ) = G ( z -1 )u ( k ) + H ( z -1 )e ( k )
A( z -1 ) 1 z - k B( z -1 )
G ( z -1 ) = , H ( z -1 ) =
B ( z -1 ) 1 - z -1
y% ( k + 1) = H ( z -1 ) -1 G ( z -1 )u ( k ) + (1 - H ( z -1 ) -1 ) y ( k )
y% ( k + 1) = G ( z ) Du ( k ) + z y ( k )
-1 -1
As you can see from the equations for deriving a ARIX
model, first a derivate from the input and output data
can be taken then use the ARX algorithm for parameter
estimation. Least square approach has been used for
parameter estimation algorithm.
4.2 Neural Network Predictive Control (NPC)
By using the descriptions mentioned about neural
network, the desired plant with neural network can be
modeled. Minimizing the GPC criterion when the
predictions are nonlinear in the control inputs is a quite
elaborate optimization problem. In order to determine
the minimum it is necessary to apply an iterative search
method similar to the strategies used when training
neural networks:
U (i +1) = U ( i ) + m (i ) f (i )
f ( ) = - B ( ) G (U ( ) ( t ))
i i i
-1
(15)
(10)
Where, G is gradient vector and B specifies the
approximation of the inverse Hessian [1].
6 System identification and control of a distillation
column
(11) In this Section, two types of predictive control are
investigated and their corresponding results are
compared. To link between MATLAB and HYSYS, a
MATLAB file from O.T.Berglihn with some
modifications is used [9]. In this paper, an online
connection between HYSYS and MATLAB is
implemented to control of Distillate product
composition. In industrial application, control of
product composition was accomplished by top tray
temperature control . whereas, accessing to product
composition data needs an expensive sensors and
implement large lag to the plant , using top tray
temperature is more common to use .Hence top tray
temperature will be used to control of product
composition . In distillation column, reflux mass flow is
selected as a manipulated variable. Reflex mass flow,
has direct effect on the top tray temperature and
consequently on the product composition. The steady
state value of reflux mass flow is 100 kg/h and the top
tray temperature is 58.93C. Earlier, discussed that using
model for GPC algorithm is known as Auto Regressive
and Moving Average (ARIX) model. Thus, the process
model adopted by GPC is:
C ( z -1 )
y (t ) = -1
u (t ) + e(t ) (16)
(13) A( z ) A( z -1 ) D
Where, D = 1 - z -1 is differencing operator and the
disturbance model is claimed to be appropriate for
many industrial applications. Control of distillation
column based GPC is comparatively investigated by
implementing two algorithm. One is the common GPC,
that the identification procedure is implemented by
static identification based ordinary least square
estimation while, the other algorithm concerns the real
time identification based recursive least square
estimation. Investigating on behavior of Adaptive GPC
and ordinary GPC, is implemented by assuming that
the system changed during the time. Whereas, GPC
algorithm needs a prior data, the change must be
exerted to system smoothly because of, large change in
process will led to confusing in controller. In this paper,
the change is exerted to Temperature of Azeo Feed that
is a inlet Feed of Distillation column and its steady state
value is 77C. the change is increased from 100th to 350th
sample from 77C to 700C. The results of ordinary GPC
consist of reference trajectory is shown in Fig .2 .
(14) Figure .2 illustrate that, ordinary GPC algorithm can
310
track the reference when the exerted changes are small. 2
Nonlinear
Control
Predictive

Increasing in size of change will led to controller 0

1

confusing and oscillation. Now adaptive GPC is 0

0

investigated. The results of adaptive GPC consist of -

re at
f da
y at
reference trajectory is shown in Fig .3. Figure .3
10 da
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
0 0 0 0 Sample
0 0 0 0 0

demonstrate that, the parameters of system that are

s
20
0 u at
update based on real time identification with recursive 15
0
d
a

parameter estimation can track reference better than 10

0
5
ordinary GPC without oscillation. 0
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
0 0 0 0 0
Sample 0 0 0 0
s
outpu
4 t

2
Fig .4. NPC reference trajectory and manipulated variable
0

-
2
-
7 Conclusion:
40 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
inpu
60
0
t
In this paper, the task of applying model predictive
40
0 control based a complete system identification
20
0
procedure for a distillation column process is
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
considered. Whereas, distillation column has strong
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
nonlinearity and wide range of operating points, Real-
time identification based recursive parameter estimation
Fig .2. Ordinary GPC reference trajectory and manipulated variable
is used. The results show that adaptive GPC based
output recursive parameter estimation has successful and
promising capabilities in real-time identification and
15

10

5
control.
0
Reference:
-5

[1] Liuping Wang. Model predictive control system design

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

input
600
400
200
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Fig .3. Adaptive GPC reference trajectory and manipulated variable
NPC, which is abbreviated of Nonlinear Predictive
Control, is appropriate algorithm for highly nonlinear
process. In order to remove the superfluous weights
from the network, pruning determines the optimal
network architecture according to the Optimal Brain
Surgeon strategy [3]. Levenberg Marquardt algorithm is
used for network training. Set point tracking behavior
of the regulator system with NPC, corresponding to top
tray temperature is shown in Fig .4. It can be seen that
NPC couldnt track reference under large disturbances
exertion. So, adaptive GPC based recursive parameters
estimation has powerful ability to control of time-
varying systems.
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