DMC controller design for an integrated Allam cycle and air separation plant

Abstract

Advanced process control is developed for a novel oxy-fuel Allam cycle power plant integrated with an Air Separation Unit (ASU) with no greenhouse gas and NOx emissions. The Dynamic Matrix Control (DMC) controller was developed with AspenTech's DMC Technology Version 11 engineering software. The DMC controller improves nitrogen purity, carbon dioxide purity and flowrate, and power output by an average of 4%. Also, the DMC controller is able to handle disturbances in the range of 12.5% for feed flow changes and 10% for feed composition changes. Substantial enhancement was observed in upgrading carbon dioxide purity from 97% Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) grade to 99.9% food/medical grade. Therefore, this advanced control strategy is superior to regulatory PID controllers and the developed DMC controller can be used as a seed model in the actual plant control by combining with the actual plant test data in the calibrate mode.