Economic Plantwide Control of the Cumene Process

Abstract

Economic plantwide control of the cumene process over a large throughput range (design to maximum achievable throughput) is studied. The process has 12 steady state operating degrees of freedom (DOFs), which are optimized for maximum hourly profit. At maximum throughput, the highest number of constraints (eight) is active leaving four unconstrained degrees of freedom. Reasonable controlled variables (CVs) corresponding to these are chosen with implementation of a constant setpoint policy at lower throughputs providing near optimal operation. For economic plantwide control, the best pairings for tight control of the maximum throughput active constraints and self-optimizing CVs are first implemented followed by inventory control loop pairings using the remaining valves. The resulting control structure consists of long level loops that manipulate the two fresh feeds to maintain the bottom sump level of the first two distillation columns. Simulation results show that the unconventional control structure provides smooth operation over the wide throughput range with tight control of the active constraints and the self-optimizing CVs. Comparison with a conventional plantwide control system (throughput manipulator at fresh propylene feed) shows that the synthesized control structure is simpler in requiring no overrides for handling constraints and achieving superior economic performance.