Copyright © IFAC 12th Triennial World Congress.

Sydney. Australia. 1993

INSTRUMENT ATION, CONTROL AND

MANAGEMENT OF BATCH REACTORS USING
DISTRIBUTED CONTROLS

A. Kaya*, A. Kumar* and J. Glass"

"Industrial Control and Automation Laho ratory. The University of Akron (M.E . Department) .
Akron. OH 44325. USA
""EPIC Mini ·PIIll Polymerization Plant. Th e University of Akron. OH 44325. USA

Abstract. The work reported here demonstrates the implementation of various instrumen-
tation , contro l, and management fun c tions by using a distributed control system . A batch
reactor is used for demon strating the results . Starting with smart instruments (trans-
mitters) , feed forward, cascade, adaptive features of feedback control are con figured .
More s ignificantly , all versatilities for user convenience and management ease are
included in addition to safety, alarm and control integrity . The system uses a reactor
simul a tor to predict the results of reaction on new recipes which are never tried.
Furthe rmore , a complete data acqui sition, logging , and storing capabilities re sident in
control room plus remotely by P.e. 's are all utilized . In conclusion, this work is the
demon stration of the capabilities of state-of-the-art distributed controls as used in a pilot
reac tor plant.

Key Words . Reactor control, simulation , di stributed control, real time control , process
control .

The operating range of Smart transmitters can be changed

1. INTRODUCTION
by simple keyboard configuration procedure to permit a
measurement with high resolution for better control and
C urrently some 200 million metric tons per year of
monitoring. Universal functions embedded into distributed
synthetic polymers are produced in the world. Hence the
controls can be con figured to permit the valve positions to
fi e ld of polymerization reaction engineering is of
be arranged such as reverse acting, split-range at any time
signifi cant economic importance . It is necessary to
or automatically.
operate the polymerization reactors in an optimal and yet
practical and profitable manner such that consi stent 3. DESCRIPTION OF CONTROL AND
product quality can be ma intained . OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONS

Contribution by this work is to demonstrate the functional
features for control and management of a batch reactor
implemented in real time including the real time simula-
ti on of reactor to serv e as a guide for research and learn -
in g for the betterment of reaction operation.
The principle difficulties in achieving good control of
polymerization reactors are due to : (i) inadequate on-line
measurement; (ii) a lack of understanding of the dynamics;
(iii) non -linear behavior of reactors; (iv) the lack of
techniques for the control of non-linear processes.

There are two levels of mechanistic models in practice,

2. DESCRIPTION OF PROCESS
AND INSTRUMENTS
The actual reactor and the related hardware are shown in
F ig ure I . This jac keted stirred reactor is of Hoppes make
with a working press ure of 150 psi.
The 4-20 mA signa ls fro m transmitters which are the
input s of the syste m are brou ght to the termination unit s
o f di stributed control system. T he outputs which control
the pne umatic valves are again 4-20 mA signals which are
sent to the liP converters , which convert these signals to
3- 15 psi air press ure to operate these va lves .
na mely :
I. The reactor material and energy balances to
predict the temperature, pressure and mono mer
concentrations in the reactors .
2. The model to predict polymer quality variables
such as molecular weights or branching fre-
quencies along with the variables mentioned in
the first type.
Among the various control methods, temperature control
is pursued in this application as described below.

Thi s reactor can be operated at differe nt temperature 3. 1 Temperature Control

ranges by shifting the va lve positions and by operating
different valves at a predetermined arrangement for eac h
case. All these are done by pushing a single button .
Temperature control in a batch reactor can be divided into
two phases : above ambient and below the ambient. In this
work, a feedback control with feedforward features based
on coolant and steam enthalpies , and cascade control to

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control jacket temperature are utilized (D' Azzo , 1988 ;
Deshpande , 1988). Also, the coil in reactor is utilized
selectively at extreme conditions to insure a robust
operation and prevent the damage of material. All valves
were standard actuating type, but they were made to
operate as reverse acting, split range, or at any other
desired mode by sending the control output through func -
tional blocks . Also these functions were used selectively
and as signed automatically.
3.2 Safety Features
Control system has provided many alarm features when
limits are reached. Furthermore, emergency stops/ starts
are provided to protect reactor and people . Some of them
are:
Automatic emergency mode when control air pres-
sure is lost, which turns on full coolant flow .
Automatic light and bell "on" when reactor room
pressure is above a certain vacuum value.
Operator activated single emergency button.
- Inability to start reactor when certain conditions
are not met
3.3 Meas urement of Reaction
Degree of reaction is estimated from measurements as the
heat gen erated in reactor. Due to the tran sient conditions,
heat storage variations in reactor are estimated to compen-
sated for what is called ' ' dynamic error" . Estimation is
done by recursive relations of least squares estimate in
real time . A model is tested and it was found out that
(Nowi c ki , 1991) the dynamic error is estimated closely
from an averaged energy of fluid in reactor jacket and the
heat released to the water from fluid . The error value is
found as,
Ed (I.)
I
= (_1_)
n+l
t
k = l
Q. (t. - kT) - Q (t.)
J I W I
(I)
wherc ,
T =sampling time (such that nT = fluid resident
time)
Qw(t,) = rate of energy absorbed by water
Q;(t;) = heat content of fluid resident in reactor
Then, energy released by the reactor , Qm, is found by ;
(2)
The Q; values in Equation (I) is found in real time by a
" BASIC" program embedded into a control module.
The sampling time T is varied adaptively by fluid flow
measurements such that the resident time of fluid is nT .
Given fluid flow -through and volume of fluid in reactor
determines resident time for an assigned n value . Then T
is found accordingly and modified in real time. Viscosity
is measured , controlled, and utilized as an indicator for
reaction. It has been used to dictate several operating
conditions.
3.4 Data Acquisition and Information Management
Over 40 points are measured and many more parameters
are calculated in real time. These are all monitored,
displayed and trended as necessary. The position of
va lves and signals to actuators are displayed. In brief,
any parameter in the system is monitored in any form
desired as shown in operator displays of distributed
control system . Furthermore, all process information are
monitored, recorded, and control configurations are
modified by remote personal computers (PC).
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4. REACTOR SIMULATION
FOR RESEARCH GUIDANCE
The simulated reactor and its related instrumentation is
shown in Figure 2 as it appears on operator display (CRT)
of distributed control system.
4.1 Assumptions for Modelling
I. Conversion in the reactor is a first order
reaction .
2. The temperature of the circulating steam and
water mixture is below the boiling point of
water. This is ensured by limiting the flow of
steam such that the temperature of steam and
water mixture does not exceed 358 deg F,
which is the saturation temperature corre-
sponding to the operating pressure of ISO psi.
3. Density and volume of reaction mixture is
constant.
4. The reactor system is modelled by applying the
laws of conservation of mass, and, conserva-
tion of energy.
The governing equations for steam, water mixing , jacket
temperature, wall temperature, tube water temperature,
tube wall temperature, reaction temperature and reaction
kinetics are found in literature (Levenspeil, 1970; Luyben,
1973) and are not repeated here.
4.2 Simulation and Operation Procedure
The simulation is con figured in two distributed control
modules as one module is the controller and the other for
simulating the entire reactor. The following gives the
operating procedures of the simulation and the salient
features of the configuration :
I. The above ambient or below ambient mode can
be selected by the user by using the appropriate
switch provided in the operator interface unit
(01U) .
2. During initialization the reactor temperatures
are set to the ambient. The reactor is then
allowed to stabilize for few minutes .
3. The values of constants like city water tempera-
ture, mass flow rate of circulating water, etc . ,
can be changed by the user at any time in the
configuration or the 01U .
4. The PID controller acts as a reverse acting
controller in the above ambient mode and as a
direct acting controller in the below ambient
mode, and tuning values are automatically
assigned for each mode.
S. The exothermic heat of reaction can also be
started by switching the REACTION switch to
the "ON" position.
6. Provision has been made to initialize the
reactor during emerge ncies by the
EMERGENCY switch on the OIU keyboard.
7. The graphic display of the reactor system dis-
plays dynamic values of the reactor variables as
seen in Figure 2.
Operator notices no difference between actual and simu-
lated reactor. More information on distributed controls is
found in literature (Bailey, 1990). Simulated reactor is
utilized to try new polymers and new initiators for
reaction behavior. Upon the simulation studies, the con-
trol functions, reactor preparation are decided or trial is
abandoned.
6. REFERENCES
Bailey Control s Company (1990) . Function Code and
OIU Application Manual , Wickliffe , Ohio.
D'Azzo , John 1., and Constantine H. Houpis (1988).
Linear Control System Analysis and Design, McGraw-
Hill.

5. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Deshpande , Pradeep B., and Raymond H. Ash (1988) .
Computer Process Control , Instrument Societ y of
In this work, the benefits of using distributed controls in Amcrica.
controlling and managing batch reactors are described.
This work has helped researchers to fully study, docu- Levenspeil (1970). The Chemical Reactor Minibook , pp.
ment, duplicate the experiments, and develop control 20-27.
systems plus reaction procedures for polymer production.
Many parallel processing takes place. Furthermore, Nowicki, Paul L. (1991). Improve Reactor Control,
sampling time has a range from 50 miliseconds to several Chemical Engineering Progress, December.
minutes and can be set to different values for each control
loop . So, multiple sampling times can be con figured . William, Luyben L. (1973) . Process Modelling Simula-
tion and Control for Chemical Engineers , Chemical
Operator display (CRT) is shown as a sample in Figure 3. Engineering Series, pp. 62-67 , 160-162.
Figure 3 describes a trend for reactor temperature. At
operator disposal , the same display has the button to set
the operation below or above ambient , to turn on /off the
reaction, push the emergency button to bring the system
into emergency mode and initialize reactor to start.

Figure I ~C Hf:MATr CS Or' REACTOR PLANT

631
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Figure 3 DISPLAY OF CONTROL AND OPERATI ONS ON OPERATOR CRT

632