PROCESS CONTROL 3

EHPBH3B/EHPCO2A
Presented by:

John Kabuba Tshilenge

Lecturer 2

January 2019
Learning Unit 1: The Control of a Chemical
Process
I. Incentive of Chemical Process Control

• A chemical plant is an arrangement of processing

units (reactors, heat exchangers, pumps, distillation
columns, absorbers, evaporators), integrated with one
another in a systematic and rational manner.
• During its operation, a chemical plant must satisfy
several requirements imposed by its designers and
the general technical, economic and social conditions
in the presence of ever-changing external influences
(disturbances).
• Among such requirements are the following:
1. Safety
2. Production specifications
3. Environmental regulations
4. Operational constraints
5. Economics
• All the requirements dictate the need for continuous
monitoring of the operation of a chemical plant and
external intervention (control) to guarantee the
satisfaction of the operational objectives.
• This is accomplished through a rational arrangement of
equipment and human intervention, which together
constitute the control system.
• There are three general classes of needs that
a control system is called on to satisfy:
1. Suppressing the influence of external
disturbances
2. Ensuring the stability of a chemical
process
3. Optimizing the performance of a chemical
process
 I.1 Suppress the Influence of External
Disturbances
• Consider the tank heater system shown in Figure
1.1.
• A. liquid enters the tank with a flow rate F1 and a
temperature T1, where it is heated with steam.
• Let F and T be the flow rate and temperature of the
stream leaving the tank.
• The operational objectives of this heater are:
1. To keep the effluent temperature T at a
desired value Ts.
2. To keep the volume of the liquid in the tank at
a desired value Vs.
• The operation of the heater is disturbed by external
factors such as changes in the feed flow rate and
temperature. If nothing changed, then after
attaining T = Ts and V = Vs, we could leave the
system alone without any supervision and control.
Figure 1.1 Stirred tank heater
 In Figure 1.2 we see such a control
Action to keep T = Ts when Ti or Fi
Changes. A thermocouple measures
Thermocouple
The temperature T of the liquid in
The Tank. Then T is compared with
T the Desired value Ts, yielding a
Set-point (Ts) deviation ε = Ts – T. The value of the
-+ deviation ε is sent to a control
mechanism which
Deviation,ε Decides what must be done in order
Controller
for the temperature T to return back
to the desired value Ts.

Figure 1.2 Feedback temperature control for a tank heater

 I.2 Ensure the Stability of a Process

• Consider the behavior of the variable x

shown in Figure 1.3. Notice that at time
t = to the constant value of x is
disturbed by some external factors, but
that as time progresses the value of x
returns to its initial value and stays
there.
• If x is a process variable such as Figure 1.5 Response of a stable system
temperature, pressure, concentration, or
flow rate, we say that the process is
stable or self-regulating and needs no
external intervention for its stabilization.
• It is clear that no control mechanism is
needed to force x to return to its initial
value.
• In contrast to the behavior described,
the variable y shown in Figure 1.4 does
not return to its initial value after it is Figure 1.6 Alternative
disturbed by external influences. responses of unstable systems
• Processes whose variables follow the pattern indicated by y in Figure 1.4
(curves A, B, C) are called unstable processes and require external control
for the stabilization of their behavior

Example 1.2: Controlling the operation of an unstable reactor

• Consider a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in which an irreversible

exothermic reaction A→B takes place.
• The heat of reaction is removed by a coolant medium that flows through a
jacket around the reactor in Figure 1.5.

Figure 1.5 CSTR with cooling jacket.

 I.3 Optimize the Performance of a
Chemical Process
• Safety and satisfaction of production specifications are
the two principal operational objectives for a chemical
plant.
• Once these are achieved, the next goal is how to
make the operation of the plant more profitable.
• Given the fact that the conditions which affect the
operation of the plant do not remain the same, it is
clear that we would like to be able to change the
operation of the plant (flow rates, pressures,
concentrations, temperatures) in such a way that an
economic objective (profit) is always maximized.
• This task is undertaken by the automatic controllers of
the plant and its human operators.
 II. Design Aspect of a Process
Control System
II. 1 Classification of the Variables in a
Chemical Process
The variables associated with a chemical process
are divided into two groups:
1. Input variables, which denote the effect of the
surrounding the chemical process
2. Output variables, which denote the effect of the
process on the surroundings
• For the tank heater discussed in Figure 1.1, we have:
Input variables: Fi, Ti, F
Output variables: F, V, T
The input variables can be further classified into the
following categories:
1. Manipulated (or adjustable) variables
2. Disturbances
The output variables are also classified into the following
categories:
1. Measured output variables
2. Unmeasured output variables
 II. 2 Design Elements of a Control
System
1. Define control objectives
2. Select measurements
3. Select manipulated variables
4. Select the control configuration
• Depending on how many controlled outputs and
manipulated inputs we have in a chemical process, we
can distinguish the control configurations as either single-
input, single output (SISO) or multiple input, multiple
output (MIMO) control systems.
• The three general types of control configurations
(a) Feedback control configuration
(b) Inferential control configuration
(c) Feedforward control configuration
5. Design the controller
 II. 3 Control Aspects of a Complete
Chemical Plant
• The control of integrated processes is the basic
objective for a chemical engineer.
• Due to its complexity, though, we will start by
analyzing the control problems for single units
and eventually we will treat the integrated
processes.
 III. Hardware for a Process Control
System
III. 1 Hardware Elements of a Control
System
In every control configuration we can distinguish the
following hardware elements:
1. The chemical process
2. The measuring instruments or sensors
3. Transducers/ Transmitters
4. Transmission lines
5. The controller
6. The final control element
7. Recording elements
Hardware elements (instrumentation)
• The sensor, transmitter and control valve are
located on the process equipment.
• The controller is usually located in a control
room that is some distance from the process
equipment.
• Wires connect the two locations carrying
current signals from transmitters to the
controller and from the controller to the final
control element.
Hardware elements : Locations
III. 2 Use of Digital Computers in Process
Control
1. Direct digital control (DDC)
2. Supervisory computer control
3. Scheduling computer control